Derek woke up early on Tuesday morning and showered. As he was about to shave he noticed something was off. He couldn't pin-point it, but it was something about his ears, the same sensation he'd been feeling for almost a month now. Every time he looked in the mirror, they almost looked . . . naked . . . It was the weirdest sensation he'd ever felt. It wasn't just his ears either; everything looked so bland. He had necklaces and watches galore, but nothing seemed to fill his longing. He needed . . . something. He had his ears pierced three or four years ago, so he didn't know what it could be . . . what the problem was. Giving up trying to figure it out, he went to school.
At A Glance Author Bryce Contact [email protected] IAM FleshTunnel When N/A Artist Drew Studio Psycho City Location Moose Jaw, SK, Canada He haphazardly threw his things into an open locker. As he started down the hallway to the stairs, a new student by the name of Patricia caught his eye. The reason? Simple. She had very large, stretched holes in her earlobes. Derek looked at this in wonder. They were beautiful. He couldn't figure out the exact reason, but everything about them radiated a light that Derek had never seen before. It was so different. It was an indescribable attraction; there was no real reason to be attracted to them, except attraction itself. That was what he needed. He knew it as soon as he saw her. That, Derek believed would answer the longing he had felt that morning.
Derek talked to this new student and found out a little about the procedures. It was simple really; he could go down to a shop in town, and each time he bought new earrings, they could "taper", or stretch, them for him. Derek had had his earlobes pierced for quite some time and they were thoroughly healed, so he figured he'd give it a shot.
He talked to his parents about it and they said, "No way! No how! Not in our house! That kind of self-mutilation we will not stand for."
Derek tried to convince his parents that it was safe. As much as he told them that, as long as he stayed at a reasonably small size, he could almost completely reverse the process, it just didn't do it for his parents.
Derek was the kind of teenager who usually lived in absolute fear of his parents' power and control, but the longing became too intense. About a week later he had to have this done; there was no two ways about it.
For reference purposes, in the piercing world, the "sizes" - called gauges - go down in increments of two, becoming increasingly larger the lower the number. The average piercing, if done with a gun (which is incredibly dangerous compared to getting it done by a licensed professional), is an eighteen gauge. A professional body piercer, however, will usually pierce almost any hole with a
fourteen gauge needle.Getting holes done with a gun is dangerous because it's done simply by an employee of a hair salon or crappy teenybopper store. The gun is mostly made of plastic, and therefore cannot be autoclaved, which is the only sterilization method suitable for something you're going to be putting through your body.
Another advantage of going to a professional piercer is less pain. The gun forces a blunt object through your ear, as opposed to a very sharp needle, so the pain is less intense with a piercer. Also, the positioning of the holes is important, especially if you intend to stretch. You see, you need centered holes in your ears to expand them to any decent size or your lobe will thin out and not look nearly as good.
His first jump to a sixteen gauge he had done on his own, when he was down in Saskatoon visiting one of his friends. He had simply bought some rings, and put them in his ears. There was very little resistance, so that was all fine and
dandy.The next time Derek caught the stretching bug, he went downtown to the shop Psycho City, with one of his friends. He had done a lot of research on the Internet and decided in order to be safe, and do it right, he would have to take it slow. One size at a time, meaning two gauges.
"They're pretty centered," he thought, considering his initial piercings, and the piercer down at Psycho City, Drew, agreed with him. Drew explained the whole procedure thoroughly to Derek before doing anything. The more Drew explained, the more Derek knew this was for him.
Derek selected some jewelery, black pieces of surgical stainless steel, which he had heard was acceptable for fresh stretches. They were shaped something like horseshoes, but with a spiked ball on each end. Derek sat down in the chair in the back of the shop and felt a wave of euphoria sweep his body. He was at that stage where his midsection felt like it was having tiny little seizures. Butterflies in the stomach and everything. Drew took out his taper, and Derek's earrings, and lubed the taper up. Derek felt a surge of adrenaline, a rush like nothing he had ever felt before. As Drew put the taper in his ear, he felt the cold steel on his skin, giving him goosebumps all over. Gary asked if Derek was ready and Derek said yes. BAM! The taper was through, and it had
hardly hurt!"Alright!" thought Derek, "I'm one step closer to my goal, an eight gauge." By the time Derek got his ears to an eight gauge, he wanted a two.
At the current moment, Derek is at a double zero gauge, his new goal being anywhere between one and two inches. He relates to me that stretching, piercing and tattooing is an amazing way to express your individuality, or to simply improve self-esteem by shaping your physical self quicker, easier and cheaper than
say, plastic surgery."It can solicit a very noticeable change in the way others perceive you. More people are likely to approach you with a premonition of you being more open-minded, than say, average 'Preppy Joe' over there."
He also tells me how addicting it can be. "When I started I never thought for a second that this is where I would end up, and I've only got four piercings. With my plans for mods in the future, I'll have at least eight to ten piercings, my ears will be anywhere between one and two inches, and I'll have at least three tattoos. And I'm sure that list will continue to grow.
"It's so addicting, in fact, that it's become a large part of my life, I mean, I'm looking at a career as a professional body piercer because of the fact that I'm just . . . enthralled by the whole thing. It's the life for me; it's perfect. A good environment, with open-minded people, allowing me to aesthetically be the way I want. And I would be doing something that would make me so incredibly happy, because I would be helping all the people like me realize what a wonder this can really be.
"On her birthday, my girlfriend, Liz, got a tattoo, which I payed for as a present. It was $120.00 but I had absolutely no problem paying that much. It's just such a great occurrence in a person's life. She wanted one for quite a while, and related her desire for a tattoo to me on several occasions. She finally talked her parents into it, picked out an image, took it to the shop, the same shop I go to, and had it drawn up. During the process she was rather quiet and I wasn't sure if something was wrong or what was up. But I do know, afterwards, the smile on her face made the whole thing worth it. She loved it! So did I; it was a work of art. I mean, the human body is the perfect canvas, my friend."
"I think that perhaps the draw to body modification would be that it's so symbolic. Certain people get tattoos or piercings or other 'mods' to signify events in their life. But, all in all, I think body modification is symbolic of life because you go through the pain to end up more beautiful. For some people that's a navel ring. For others it's a more extreme mod like trans-dermal implants or tongue splitting. I would never say a mod is gross or disgusting, no matter how extreme, because it's really quite amazing, and I'm not a judgmental person. Instead I would say a mod 'isn't for me,' or is 'not something I'd do.'
"A person gets liposuction or a nose job, and that's perfectly alright with society. But if someone has trans-dermal implants or stretched earlobes, it's disgusting, they're a freak, and so on and so forth. Where do you draw that line? If you're modifying your body to be more appealing to you, I think that's an amazing thing that should be embraced, not frowned upon.
"In other cultures, people with piercings and tattoos are not exiled or placed on the fringe of society, but rather, are honored and revered. Certain tribes in Africa associate very large, well-stretched earlobes with wisdom, courage, and determination. Because that's what it takes to do something like that properly. There are tribes that have 'lip-disks'. The process is like the stretching of the earlobes, except it's done to the lip. The woman with the biggest lip-disk is seen as the most attractive. You may say 'ewww weird' or have some other type of judgmental reaction, but before you do, think about what I've said.
" Also, don't be afraid to ask pierced people questions - as long as they're intelligent questions. DO NOT ask 'Did that hurt?' because that is possibly the stupidest question anyone could ask. Try shoving a needle through your nose and see if it hurts. Most people with piercings are very open-minded and would be eager to share knowledge with someone, so if you're wondering, just be polite. Approach a person with body modification the same way you would approach someone whose clothes you liked.
"I hope throughout this you have learned at least a little about the world of body modification. I hope I've shown you that not everybody with big earrings and tattoos and other piercings is an unintelligent goon. Most of us are people like you, who just choose to change . . . their body instead of their clothes. I will leave you with that, and hopefully a little insight into the mind of a modified person."
Although it's partly about the rush that he feels when he get work done, for Derek it's mostly about the finished product. To this day, he still gets the tingly feeling every time he makes a fresh stretch, or gets a new piercing, or even does research on things. Especially when he tells others about the wonders he has experienced. He tingles, even now, as he writes this piece. So hopefully, ten years from now, I can look in the mirror after getting out of the shower on a Tuesday morning, and still have that sense of longing fulfilled.
By Bryce (IAM: FleshTunnel)