Expression. People do so through dabbing paintbrush on canvas, eclectic music, running your favorite path, writing and….piercings?
We all know the fad: that girl in high school who had everything pierced all before she was allowed to go on an official date with someone.
That ex who (when you were younger) you thought was all-the-cooler because of his piercings.
Or maybe you’ve ventured skeptically into a tattoo shop yourself, pointing to a part of your body and telling the inked person: “Pierce this.”
Walking along campus, you see girls with their noses pierced; guys with their lips pierced. It’s as common a scene as hot leather boots in winter.
You wonder if getting that Monroe hurt a little or a lot?
And what about those hip piercings? The whole dermal piercing thing is a lot more commonplace than you would think. Not just limited to the hips, people get their back dimples pierced; the back of their neck. Just a tiny rhinestone visible in the sunlight, it’s a seemingly pretty glimmer.
But like with anything you do to your body that isn’t natural, the side effects can be less than glamorous. I had an old friend with her hips pierced, and one of the rhinestones actually started retreating back into her skin. We had to make a trip to the tattoo shop so the piercer could dig it out again.
I used to have my “double navel,” where the top and bottom of my belly button was pierced. I had the top part of my belly button pierced once before. It rejected, which is where your skin starts to push the jewelry out of your body until it eventually falls out. I figured piercing through the scar tissue would make the area stronger, more resistant to rejection. And I loved it at first. It always looked like I was wearing a belly button ring that dangled. It was my own personal body art.
Apparently, my body didn’t agree with me. It didn’t want to be pierced and started rejecting the top ring again. I gave in and took it out. Shortly after, the bottom one started rejecting as well. A different piercer would later tell me the way I sit had something to do with it. So I can’t have my belly button pierced because I sit funny. Wish they’d mentioned something about posture before. So now I have two lovely little scars above and below my belly button where the jewelry used to twinkle.
I got my forward helix pierced last year, also excited about the new jewelry. It didn’t hurt, and I didn’t see harm in piercing it. Again my body disagreed. It fell out in my sleep. I went back to the piercer, and they put a new earring in. But it happened again only days later. The forward helix piercing was in my life for merely a week before I gave up on that one.
Another note college students should be especially keen to—Internships and potential jobs. Sure your job now may not mind the fact that your tongue is pierced. But I guarantee the people you’re looking to intern for do.
It may seem like a fun way to kill some time, but be warned, what looks good now may not look good later. And although piercings are unlike tattoos in their permanence, a scar is a scar is a scar is a scar. Once it’s there, it’s not going away.