Piercing Passion First off, a confession: I had my tongue and my nose pierced when I was 18.
Piercee puts her stomach
Charlene Anne Rico
and friendship to the test
Star-BulletinAnd for the usual reasons -- rebellion against the parental unit, for the shock value (I didn't tell anyone beforehand that I was going to do it), to fly in the face of what I thought were other people's preconceived notions of who I was -- all very spur of the moment.
Then later I had them removed, realizing it was a silly thing to do.
Curiously, that's the continuing attraction about piercing to me. Because, about three months ago, I got the left side of my bottom lip pierced. It was to make a statement to myself not to take things too seriously, even after I graduate from Hawaii Pacific University this semester.
Now that students have a little time on their hands due to the teachers strike, they may be tempted or bored enough to do the deed.
But my experience may cause some to reconsider.
People who have never had parts of their body pierced tend to think they can just jump up from the chair soon afterward and happily walk away. A.J. Trayner, a tattoo artist and piercer at Hawaiian Tattoo and Piercing Co. in Kapahulu, says people who get up too fast after being pierced tend to fall down even faster. He said it's important to give your body, as well as your mind, enough time to recover."With any piercing," he said, "that split second that the piercing takes is the most painful thing that you've ever been through in your life. But then, about two seconds later, you're like, 'Oh, that wasn't so bad.'"
And I was ready for another piercing. I had planned on getting the upper right side of one of my ears pierced. But Trayner convinced me to pierce both ears instead (usually an awkward place to get pierced, but if done right, the earrings will fit into the curvature of the ears).
The piercing room in Trayner's parlor is set off to the side, with a table situated right in the center and a sink in the corner.
Just adjacent to the room and behind a door is a separate room where the piercing needles are sterilized.
I sat on the table, Indian style, while my good friend (and moral support) Sam stood by watching, along with David, Trayner's apprentice.
Trayner washed his hands with antibacterial soap and put on three pairs of rubber gloves. As he began to thoroughly clean the inside of my right ear, I began to get a little nervous. My stomach knotted up, my heart raced, and I was thinking, "Is this really what I want to be doing to myself right now?"In the meantime, Sam was grinning from ear to ear as Trayner got out the needles that were each sealed in their own separate packages.
"Wait," I said, "please don't let me see the needle!"
Everyone laughed but I was serious. I can't stand the sight of needles -- and these are not ordinary needles.
"Try to relax, OK?" Trayner said calmly. "Now, I want you to take a deep breath and let it out really slowly."
Even though I have been pierced three times before (and did I mention my two tattoos?), that moment just before you get pierced is still nerve-wracking.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I could feel my body tense up as the needle went through my right ear.
As I slowly exhaled, I heard a crunching noise in my ear and then a sharp pinch. My heart fluttered. I opened my eyes and looked at Sam. Her eyes were the size of saucers, but she was still smiling.I could feel my ear getting hot. My palms were sweating, my heartbeat was getting faster and, a couple of seconds later, in spite of Trayner's original comment, I was still thinking, "Owww!"
Trayner asked me if I was ready to get my left ear pierced or if I wanted to take a break. I looked at Sam, smiled and, before doubt and then fear set in, said, "No, let's just get it over with."
That's when I noticed Sam beginning to falter by the doorway.
Her eyes looked glassy, and she was beginning to lean into the corner. She suddenly reached for the doorknob, and David followed her out the door.
I called out to her from the table, "Sam, are you OK?"
Trayner walked to the doorway, and I heard David laughing from the other room. "David, put her down," he said. "Sam, just sit down -- sit down on the floor."
My "moral support" had apparently fainted. She had stumbled across the floor, and while trying to make it to the couch by the parlor's entrance, she ended up grabbing onto David's arm and sinking to the floor.
(She later told me that the room had started to close in on her and she couldn't breathe. This from a woman with three tattoos and a pierced nose!)
Even though I was laughing, my stomach was still in knots at the prospect of getting another piercing. Trayner came back and cleaned my other ear. The second time around was not as bad.
A sense of relief washed over me. I drank two glasses of water and took a lot of deep breaths before I got off the table -- and I made sure I was ready to get up beforehand.
Sam was slouched on the couch, a glass of water in her hand. Her face was a lighter shade of pale. All I could do was laugh.
All in all, it was a pretty painless experience. But here's some friendly advice: don't let your friends watch.
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