a discussion and vague timeline of my body mod journey -WIP-

i think my first major memories of piercings would be a person who frequented my life on a daily basis as a young adolescent. this person had several facial piercings, however early on into their appearances stopped wearing the jewelry, leaving only small dimples as a sign of their existence. the then missing jewelry never did leave my mind. upon asking later why they had removed their jewelry, they responded that they were hoping for a more professional look, and also felt that the piercings were a safety hazard; they could be grabbed or snagged during a fight. i remember feeling let down at this response, though i wasnt sure why. i knew that i had liked the piercings, and found the idea fascinating in a way i couldnt articulate. later this person would actually go to explain an odd modification method which i will elaborate on later, which is of course a bit funny given their stance on such things.

my mother had a belly button piercing, and a set of pierced ear lobes. ear piercings are more or less the most common and accepted piercing out there; few would consider this to be bold or unsightly. these were the first piercings i ever got, if what i am told is correct, at the ripe age of 6 months. i suppose what i cant remember wont hurt me, and as it would seem this set me up for a life long path of piercing addiction. 

my desire to customize and personalize has always been quite strong, i like to give at least a hint of myself within all i do. the effort makes the average that much more worth the trouble in my eyes. and of course, i must customize my vessel. i travel within it at all hours, and if im going to be stuck in this skin i may as well develop an appearance that i enjoy. i dye and cut my hair, i accessorize as possible, even my work uniform pushes the bounds of what has been displayed as acceptable via the paperwork. and of course, i have piercings and tattoos. so.... lets get into that?

i intend to detail my piercings, body modifications, and tattoos with a sort of timeline when necessary, healing information, pain scales, opinions.... and i suppose whatever else i can bring to the table regarding my body mod journey. this wont really be written in any formal style, but ill do my best to keep things relevant and potentially useful.

before i begin though, a caution on subject matter. there will likely be mentions of blood, needles (a given), descriptions of pain or slightly gross things, and also mention of genital piercings. i wont be saying anything terribly revolutionary, but still, a caution. stay safe!

and lastly, this all is just my word and is not to condone nor encourage what i do! do your research, go to piercing shops with good reputations, dont diy what you know nothing about. or do. you make your own rules, not me buddy.

ear piercings/ lobe stretching

simple enough, starting with a familiar concept. my initial lobe piercings from all those years ago are now stretched, in high school they sat at a shocking 1 inch diameter, though now i have shrunk down to half an inch. in addition, i stretched my secondary lobe piercings as well, which now sit empty at about a 4g. i do have hoops through these, but the gap is visible of course. i have many (10+) piercings throughout the lobe and cartilage of my ear, several of both. i will say that in my experience, ear piercings are actually a bit of a struggle to heal. while theyre an excellent beginner piercing pain and upkeep wise, you must taker into account side sleeping, long hair, and even just taking clothing on and off. even now i have 1 to 2 piercings which are quite stubborn, not fully healed and willing to give me trouble on some days. i dont really have much to say about this subject, i find these quite straight forward; with the occasional obstacle of floating cartilage which i would not recommend braving. the healing time can range from a month to several depending.

pain wise these will be up to location, cartilage can be quite uncomfortable, though what i typically find discomfort in is that hole punch through cardboard feeling crunch of the needle. lobe piercings are easy peasy, a pinch and a poke, though if you have sensitive ears will still cause some discomfort.

eyebrows

jumping adjacent, eyebrow piercings are another beginner friendly piercing in my opinion. the pain level is actually quite low, and if you reach up and pinch your eyebrow you might notice there isnt a whole ton going on their feeling wise. the swelling can be a bit startling if youre not used to it, but that really will be different for everyone. my initial eyebrow piercings actually bruised, and at the time this frightened me, though now i understand this isnt really the worst. these are another type that can snag on clothing, and of course if you have long hair that can be a danger too. the healing was always quite smooth for me on these, roughly 3-4 weeks, though i usually size down the bar when swelling allows to avoid introducing bacteria/long bars snagging on stuff since this has always been my struggle. i find this piercing to look good on almost anyone, especially because it allows for use of a curved barbell, a hoop, or a ring. lots of options. i do find that when removed these do tend to leave a scar, which i sure with proper care could be reduced. i currently have a set of two on each side, starting at the middle aligned with my eye and going outwards.

anti- eyebrows

i am just going to follow a path downward and talk about what may be a top five piercing for me. anti eyebrows look scary. theyre intimidating, almost mean looking. you poked a hole in your cheek? so close to your eye? funny enough, in my experience the pain level on these is maybe a .5. i have done these a total of four times, with only two remaining and plans for two more as i write. my first one, i removed due to a placement issue, it was just at this perfect angle where if i slept on my side it would push against the bed or pillow, causing pretty consistent irritation. (so, if you chose to go for this maybe consider that!) my second one fell out, and i went a whole day without realizing. so.... woops! and the two i have now are both on the same side. one small curved barbell, and a secondary one much lower. i had theorized that you could do an anti eyebrow relatively far down your cheek, so long as the fat pad on your cheek bone allows for it. this went swimmingly, save for me not accounting for quite how much it was going to swell. an uncomfortable size up later, and the healing went quite well. i now have an inch long curved barbell about an inch and a half below my eye, much lower than where id consider a standard anti eyebrow piercing to sit. and i love it. it healed great and gave me that much more metal in my face.

-wip- 

ill be back to write more as i feel like it, i just wanted to write about my piercings i guess, since theyve been such a big part of my life. if you want to comment and talk about piercings or your piercings or body mods or whatever thats fine, i intend to also talk about:

lip piercings

nose piercings

bridge piercings

tongue piercing

cheek piercing

belly button piercing

tattoos

tongue splitting

scarification

and also discrimination and social impact of having piercings. if you do read, thanks and hi :)