Now keep in mind that while reading this the logical answer will pop into mind very quickly and however obvious it may be to you it seems very obscure to most. "I am having a problem with my tattoo/piercing, who do I ask for the answers to my many questions?".Ok now I realize that this article will be posted on BME so I can only hope that the people who read this right off the bat will say "contact your tattoo artist or piercer", well I can hope.
At A Glance Author MALAJUZTED Contact [email protected] When N/A Being the person that I am with an addictive personality about 5 years ago I stumbled upon a chat room on AOL called "Special Interests-Tattoo and Piercing" and have yet to kick the habit of frequenting it for any duration of time. You would expect that from the name Tattoo and Piercing that this chat room would be filled with the likes of professional artists and pierces who are discussing trade secrets and helpful commentary, which couldn't be farther from the truth. The first year that I was in this chat room I spent most of my time watching, just sitting there reading what people had to say (if you frequent AOL at all most of the conversation revolves around people begging for pictures and the ever lovely a/s/l question.)Bored to death one day from reading the same monotonous bullshit over and over I made the fatal mistake of asking other people in the chat what sort of body modifications they had, without hesitation these people begin to ramble off lists that would mak e even the most experienced artist or piercer scratch their heads.
Please keep in mind that even though 5 years does not seem like a long time ago piercing and tattoo art was nowhere near as predominant as it is today. There were grandiose stories of genital piercing, extreme body modifications, and award winning artwork. Needless to say I was happy but skeptical as to how so many people with all of these obscure and "award winning" modifications just happened upon each other on AOL. Now while I may not have the most extreme piercings (stretched ears, eyebrow, and tongue) or the most exciting tattoos (which can be viewed at bmeworld.com/malajztd) I do consider myself an aficionado of fine art so curiosity arose and I needed to see these mods to compare them to the meek ones that I adorn. Picture after picture began to flow into my e-mail, opening each one reminded me of being a child on Christmas morning (or Hanukah, Kwanza, Satan's Birthday, or whatever you might celebrate) but much to my displeasure most of these pictures amounted to not hing more then the thrill of opening a pair of socks. Ok maybe by now you feel I have ranted off course as to what this article was about but it all ties in, trust me. From time to time people would wander into this chat room looking for advice i.e. a recommended artist in a certain area of the world, a piercing shop, what to do if your eyebrow ring grows out...you get the point? To my amazement the same people that had sent me pictures of their fucked up work that either looked like someone scratched it on their skin or stuck a fucking ice pick through a part of their body were always the first ones to answer these questions. I would sit there and read some of the most fucked up explanations of piercing and tattoo aftercare that by any standards would make it feasible to understand why somewhere out there a person would die from a piercing. There was everything from putting alcohol on a tattoo too cutting off a keloid with a box cutter at home. Please keep in mind that mos t of the people asking these questions were children who more than lik ely had their best friend stick a sewing needle through their skin or finally got their hands on some Indian ink. To my amazement the people asking the questions would take this advice from a complete stranger and be on their merry way. Ok to set the record straight there were certain individuals who would actually tell them to go see their piercer or artist but those answers were few and far in-between mostly because people had grown tired or seeing the same questions posed to them time and time again.
My point for this rant? If someone asks you a question involving their body it is your responsibility to recommend them to a professional if you do not possess the intelligence to assist them, not to endanger the persons well being by playing a prank and handing out advice that could lead to a world of problems. When getting a tattoo or piercing I can only hope that people will take the time to listen to the person explaining aftercare procedures to them and if they have questions afterwards that they are smart enough to call or visit the same person who performed the body modification on them. It seems like such a simple thing to do but you would be amazed at how many people would rather take the advice of a complete stranger then go right to the source.