Woot!

[koncupiscence]

Go Fish is on Showtime tonight! it stars the lovely Guinevere Turner who is so destined to be my girlfriend omg.

crispay!

eta: it was in this movie that i first saw nipple piercings on women. so fucking sexy. 10 years later and i still have yet to pierce mine, but i keep thinking about it. i want to, i really realy want to, but ooof! or rather, owwwwwwww! whyfor must there be pain? *sigh*

Comments

[teawithbears.livejournal.com]

*waves*

I have mine done. Got them back in March for my 20th birthday. They're my babies. I love them so.

And er, yes, it does hurt. Quite a lot. But it's over *so* quickly. The pain in intense for maybe 10 full seconds, which seem interminable, but then they do the other one, and you're FAR more worried about that. I was petrified of the second one, but I was too chickenshit to say 'stop', and now I'm so glad. That one hurt MUCH more, but it was, like the first, bearable, if shocking.

Once they're in, they kinda pulse-throb pleasantly for an hour or so, and then vaguely sting for maybe another hour, and then just don't bump or brush them or wash them vigorously for a week or two, and you're fine. I highly recommend them. They're prettyful, and the whole 'increases sensation' thing is OMG SO TRUE. And you get to freak out all your friends, which is INSANELY fun.

But do your homework. Get barbells, which heal 10 times faster than rings according to everyone I've talked to. If you have small nipples, ask about a smaller gauge of bar. Mine are teeny (on D-cups, WTF?), and I went from a 12 to a 14 gauge, something I'm told is very rare, but if you're concerned, ask. That's another thing - ask any and all questions you have, no matter how dumb. That's what the people are there for, to help you.

Once you're pierced, they require saltings in warm water 2-4 times a day for 15 minutes for the entire healing period, which is 3-6 months. It's hellish. Not because it hurt, but because it's so BORING. Don't tell anyone, but I stopped ages ago. You're also supposed to clean them with warm water and a Q-tip after every shower or salting, because they get a bit crusty, which is natural and supposed to happen. And you can't go swimming until they stop crusting like that, which means they've fully healed. This, for me is the worst bit. OMG I WANNA SWIM YOU H0RS HEAL DAMN YOU.

But yeah. I can give you a rundown on the procedure too, if you want.
=oD

[koncupiscence.livejournal.com]

akjasldjrflsd! where do i even begin...

okay. by saltings do you mean soaking them in saltwater? o.O i've never heard of this. i have my bellybutton pierced and an orbital piercing in my ear cartilage, but i just used bactine and anti-bacterial soap to clean them (bactine is my friend - don't leave home without it).

i have heard that barbells are better, but is that true at the beginning as well? wouldn't the rings be easier in the beginning so you can turn them to get the insides really clean? and a small gauge, definitely, no way do i want fat rods through my breasts.

i assume the procedure would be pretty standard: clamp, needle, jewelry (and pain, lets not forget the pain). is there anything more to it that i'm missing?

here's my main issue. i'm not a fast healer. those "healing periods", "6 months or so", utter bullshit as far as my body's concerned. i got my bellybutton pierced in 1993 (i think) and it was not happy for a long time, maybe a year, two? it was fine as long as i didn't touch it (or look at it funny). i'd say for a good 5 years i had to clean my piercing in the shower every day to ensure all was well with it. if i missed a day or two, hello infection! and puss! yay. only in the past 5 years has it been 100% fine. don't do a damn thing to it, i forget it's still there most of the time. i'm just not sure at this point in my life if i have the patience to deal with the cleaning and the pain for what will probably be a couple of years (for me). that's a long time to have painful boobs. :/

okay, and here's my random/dumb question... breast feeding. will the piercings fuck that up? if/when i have a baby i don't want to NOT be able to breast feed because i thought something was 'sexy'. i would imagine that the piercing itself wouldn't be a problem, but that if there's any scar tissue, it might block things up so to speak. i've never heard anyone bring up this issue before, so maybe it's just me being stoopid. =)

[teawithbears.livejournal.com]

Yeah, soaking in saltwater. The place I went (and everywhere else I've heard of) says to use those. And no anti-bacterial stuff was recommended, or even mentioned, which I found odd. But the intense salt treatments not only kill bacteria naturally, without irritating the healing areas, but they just generally clean places out too, and seasalt is supposed to have soothing benefits for skin anyhow.

Anyways, for all piercings they said something like a teaspoon of seasalt for every 8 ounces of water. Which is assuming all piercees are incredibly anal, and I'm not, so I went for the 'guaze' method most of the time, meaning I made incredibly salty warm water, soaked some Kleenexes in it (or soaked some Kleenexes and dipped them in the salt, because I'm lazeh like that), lay down on a towel and smacked them on for 20 minutes or so (usually killing the time by reading 'The Hobbit', so now forever after when reading about Bilbo I get weird nipple-salting flashes o_O). And like I said, I was religous about doing it at least once a day for...yeah, maybe two weeks if I'm lying. Bad pierced Tea. I do it every few weeks now, although I haven't for a bit now and they seem to be fine.

I was worried about infection too, because, ick, BAD place to have it and my third earring holes are *still* flaring up 3 years later, but mine have been totally fine. I soap them up good in the shower every day with the rest of me, and they're happy. Still healing, and if there's any crust I just clear it and any ooze away. Not bad at all. I can even play with them a bit, although I'm incredibly wary about it still. And I've taken them out to really clean them out, which I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to do, but I was curious. After 2 months, the insides are still fairly raw, but it didn't hurt to push them back through, it just took some diligence.

Making this into two comments, as it's over-long. =o)

[teawithbears.livejournal.com]

About the pain...I didn't touch mine directly for a week. I was terrified. But they tell you to make sure the balls are tight (and yes, barbells are the best for healing and the first year in general), and so I did, and they were fine. I touch thme regularly now, with no effects. I've been extremely careful not to catch them on anything after the first time because...well, there aren't words for that. I'm so exaggerated in my care about putting on and taking off my bras and towelling off and such. It's quite funny to see, I'd imagine, but I ain't taking no chances. Even mostly healed, it just doesn't feel good to have them yanked about that visciously.

But honestly, I slept on my chest 3 nights after, and shower water hitting them doesn't hurt, and even tugging them playfully is fine now. There was a bit of the healing process that lasted maybe a week where they were so sensitive that I had to be outrageously careful not to even brush them, or I'd experience a very private thing in public. Yeah. Fun, but also not. That's done now, but they're still quite nice to rub, especially when I'm cold. The bar is right behind the mass of nerves, and so pushes it forward and spreads it out. Good times.

About your healing process, that's certainly comething to consider. You might want to check with spazzbot, who I got mine done with, and who had a much more harrowing experience than I did. She also got the 12 gauge normal bars. I think you would be alright, but then I'm no expert. The saltings were boring, yeah, but I'm just phenomenally lazy. They're not bad, honestly. 15 minutes out of your day isn't much, especially if you can do other things while you're at it, like I did. And to my information you would most definitely not be in pain for the entire healing process. The pain only lasts as long as the inflamation, and that, even in the slowest healers, isn't long.

I too was concerned about breast-feeding, but I was assured that no problems could come of if they were healed. If you do get infected and scar tissue forms that, there can be complicatinos, but that's extremely rare. It can be a pain in the butt though, because either you have to leave them out and just see what happens or you have to take them out and clean them throughly before baby can have a go. Overall, if they're clean and they're not oozing anything, then safe for baby and non-ouchy for you. Acually, they said that it's pretty funny, because instead of one route for the milk to travel, there are three, and so it feels really cool and you spend less time actually feeding. But leakage can be much more of a problem.

=oD

*feels like a fountain of knowledge*

[koncupiscence.livejournal.com]

*bathes in your fountain* ...wait, i don't think that came out right. O.O

I've been extremely careful not to catch them on anything after the first time because...well, there aren't words for that.

in 10 years of having my belly ring, nothing ever snagged, until last month, cleaning up my room, and the head of a hanger somehow worked itself into the ring. OOOF! not fun. thank god it's a deep piercing otherwise... i don't even want to consider the otherwise.

I slept on my chest 3 nights after

o_O wow. well that's encouraging. hadn't thought much about sleeping positions. hmm, things to consider.

But leakage can be much more of a problem.

o_O huh. i never thought about leakage either. good to know that chances are breast feeding wouldn't be a problem (aside from the pain, this has definitely been at the top of my list of reasons NOT to get pierced).

[teawithbears.livejournal.com]

AND! About the procedure, yeah, pretty much it. Although they make dots, which is funny. And you look at them, and they look at them and yes.

Just in case you were wondering, disrobing in front of a guy I'd met 1 minute and 10 seconds before wasn't so bad, really. They're very professional, so I felt completely comfortable. And they kept squeeing over my tiny nipples, whihc was hysterical. He was all, "In four years of doing this, I've *never* had to go down a gauge! Wow!"

I asked if, from a guy's point of view, it was good or bad (I've never had comments before, although I was aware of it), and he said that most guys probably wouldn't even really notice, but on the plus side it did make my breasts seem larger. And then he smiled very sweetly, not at all coming on to me and still being very professional, almost doctor-like, said, "But you don't really need that, do you?" And I said, no, not really. St00pid D-cups. And then we discussed how guys who come in for genital piercings almost always are rather small to begin with, and so why do it, because it just draws attention to that?

And yes. Hi!

[koncupiscence.livejournal.com]

i think the fear and anxiety of getting pierced would certainly outweigh any insecurity about baring my chest to a complete stranger. besides, like you said, it's like going to the doctor, they've seen it all before.

(i'd say "tmi to follow" but this whole thread is tmi, so whatever) my nipples are on the average to small size and i'm only a B, so not much going on there. but i do seem to have that 'jennifer aniston' syndrome in which they are hard 90% of the time for no apparent reason. just the slightest hint of a breeze and hello! but i would think that might be better for the piercing and all. *shrug*

anyhow, THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of your help, you have been VERY informative!!! =)

And then we discussed how guys who come in for genital piercings almost always are rather small to begin with, and so why do it, because it just draws attention to that?

Bahahahahahahahahahahahaha... that's hysterical. stoopid boys. maybe they think since they don't have much going on down there, they ought to get something interesting going on down there to make up for it.

[teawithbears.livejournal.com]

Interestingly, the barbells have increased the time mine are hard, likely because they're more sensitive than before. And the barbells are infinitely more visible when they are, because they can't semi-squish into my skin, but stand on top of it. Hiding thme is somewhat of an issue at times. I usually rely on people either not noticing or being to polite to look for long and realize it's a line of three dots, not one dot.

Happy to help, love!

And the boys....boys are silly. I think your reasoning is sound, but...it still just draws attention to it!