The Foolish Idea that is Self Piercing

My strange stage of obsessive violence and self mutilation took place between the ages of 13 and 17, thankfully no longer than that. In that time I carved many images into my skin and performed many surface piercings that I should never have done. I no longer condone this kind of thing, especially self piercing, it is worth saving the money and getting it done properly.

It was a desire to be unique, yes a lot of my friends had visible piercings like septum's and snakebites, but my religious parents wouldn't hear of anything past the ears, so I took it upon my self to release built up anger and resentment.

I hadn't really heard much about surface piercings at that age, and didn't know anyone who had any. One night I was sitting at home, having read and been heavily influenced by the Marilyn Manson autobiography The Long Hard Road Out Of Hell. That book was full of crazy stories about self mutilation, and I envied the people depicted and the lives they were leading. I know a life fueled by drugs and alcohol isn't one that should be envied by people more fortunate, but I just wanted to escape the tight religious clutches of my family. Over independence is not a good thing.

Anyway that night I decided I wanted a sternum piercing. I ventured into the laundry and sniffed out Mum's sewing box. In there I found various sizes of safety pins, and picked out one I felt would be best. I went back to my room, burnt the safety pin and washed it. Not exactly sterile, and definitely not safe, but I was naive, and pretty messed up in the head at that time. So I sat there and shoved the safety pin vertically through my skin, and when it popped out at the other end i snapped it shut. Amazingly, I didn't feel a thing, maybe if I had I would have stopped there but NO! This crazy alter ego I had developed had other plans.

I showed my friend the next day and she was like 'Dude that's fucking awesome!' and she told me she was going to do it as well. By the end of the day two more of my friends also decided they were going to go home and pierce themselves. I was a bit annoyed, but it wasn't really my business. So to go one better than them, that night I performed five more dodgy surface piercings.

Two were either side of my sternum piercing, diagonally on each boob. The next was beneath the sternum, but horizontally. See the pain was so little I didn't see the point in stopping. Then I thought 'hey what about hip piercings too! They look nice'. So I took two smaller pins and did two hip piercings. That I DEFINITELY felt! It hurt so much It could have been a Samurai sword being plunged into my stomach.

It only took a few days for my six home made piercings to go wrong. First off, they were safety pins, clearly not the top of the range surgical steel you will purchase in a good piercing place. Secondly, they weren't properly cleaned, so the holes began to look pretty nasty after a while. Thirdly, surface piercings, even professional ones can be temperamental and often reject, so thats not really a good one to mess around with yourself if you don't know exactly what you are doing.

I disgusted many people with those piercings! Which deep down pleased me a bit. It's good to do something out of the ordinary every once in a while. And depending on who you are, that ability to sicken people can actually be quite an achievement, but next time I will most definitely get them done properly, and disgust people with pride!

This was two years ago now, and I have only a couple of very faint scars where the holes were, which is a relief. I have moved out now, so there is no more built up anger directed at my smothering parents. I got more PROPER piercings and a tattoo, so there is no longer any deep need to do silly things like I did. I think dermal implants are quickly replacing traditional surface piercings around here. I'm thinking now of maybe getting a couple of those vertically down my sternum instead. They actually look really pretty.

NOTE TO READERS: Don't even bother doing these things yourself, no matter how pissed off you are at life, or how awesome and unique you think it will be. They wont last, get them done properly by someone qualified, and if its a surface piercing, make sure you follow the after care guidelines as if your life depends on it! You don't want them to reject and get all nasty.