In case you didn’t already know… I recently had my lip pierced! It’s something I’ve always liked since Emo was popular back in the early 2000’s (it was a golden year for rock music, am I right?), and now I’ve gone and done it for myself.

So far, I’ve come across three key things you should know before getting your own lip done.

 

• People will tell you not do it. Ignore them and do what’s right for you.

• It does hurt a bit, it’s a needle through your lip for crying out loud, but it’s over in less than a second.

• People won’t notice it 9 times out of 10. (Either that, or they hate it and they’re just politely ignoring it.) I’ll let you know when I figure out which it is.

 

But anyway, onwards to what you’re really here for!

 

What’s it like having your lip pierced?

OK, so it’s a pretty simple procedure. I worried about it all the way there, whilst playing it cool so my fiance didn’t notice (pretty sure he did anyway), and once I was out I was so full of adrenaline that Pete literally grabbed my shoulders as I searched for a bottle of Listerine in Wilkinsons and told me to calm down.

I went to get it done in Afflecks, Manchester, at a place called The Studio. I’d FB messaged before to check whether I needed an appointment and they just told me to come in before 5:30pm.

I went to the back of the shop, past all the black clothes, and was greeted by a really nice guy. He was super calm, asked me what I wanted done, and had me fill in a consent form. He was really professional and chilled – so much so  that he also managed to relax me about it all too.

I went for a labret bar in my lower lip on the left hand side (My left, your right). He then went to set up whilst my fiance repeatedly asked me if I was alright, and I perched nervously on the edge of a brown leather sofa trying, and failing, to look relaxed.

Minutes later he was back, and he took me into their piercing room. Pete was allowed to come too, and I saw that the piercing guy had set out all the clean equipment in packaging and I tried to not look too hard at the needle. He got me to sit down, gloved up, and cleaned my lip off before marking a spot on with a pen. He was super cool about it, and made sure I was 100% happy before he did it.

Once I was satisfied with the positioning, he clamped my lip. I read about this bit online and expected like some kind of huge clamping machine which would require me to rest my chin on it like I was going for an eye test. It wasn’t. It was a small pair of tongues like a tiny version of what you’d use to turn your sausages on a BBQ, and once he had shone a light through to check all was good to go, he told me to take a breath, and the needle went in!

 

Does having your lip pierced hurt?

It hurt, but not to the point where I was screaming with tears rolling down my face – and I’d definitely get it done again if I needed to for some reason. I read up online before and found that some people said it was on par with ear piercing – I’d agree with that.

So I sat there with the needle dangling out of my lip. I looked at Pete who was facing the other way, examining a plain white wall with great intensity, and it was then that I realised there was a bloody needle dangling from my lip!

Whilst I remained pretty chilled (seeing Pete thrown off made me calm down), the piercing guy told me he was putting the bar in, and that actually hurt more than the needle going through. Then he was like, check it in the mirror! And there it was. He gave me instructions on how to care for it, then thankfully gave me a copy on paper cos I could hardly hear him I was that excited about it all, and so far, so good.

They’re going to swap it out for me for a shorter bar in two weeks (they put a long one in incase of swelling) which is irritating and makes eating a whole lot more challenging. It’s also kind of annoying cos my lip has hardly swelled at all – but safety first.

Basically, I love it! So if you’re worried about the procedure, don’t be. I was out of there in less than 5 minutes. I’ve literally had longer doctor appointments.

Below are some pics of the piercing. The one on the left is about an hour after it, and the one on the right is four days later!

I’ve no idea why it sticks out more on the first image – I guess I was just getting used to it in my mouth. You can see its a little red, and perhaps a tiny bit swollen The one on the right is me a few days later wearing Urban Decay Vice Liquid Lipstick in Amulet.