AWFUL MODS

(SOURCE)

SUBMITTER’S COMMENT: His friend of a friend did it.

WHAT’S AWFUL: the shading is horrible, uneven lines. all in all looks like a mess.

Source: myself

Submitter’s Comment: First of all, sorry if my English isn’t good, I’m not a native speaker.

I got my industrial done in October, 2012. I went to a “reputable” piercing studio near my house to get it done. I was told that the barbell was “high quality stainless steel”, the first week was healing normally, like a normal piercing, after the first week it started to get very swollen and itchy, “It may be healing” I thought, but every day my ear became more swollen and the itchiness didn’t let me sleep,  until one morning I woke up and find my ear was like twice the size swollen, and EXTREMELY itchy (like in the photo). 

Until I decided to go to the doctor and find out that the stainless steel barbell I was pierced was what caused the allergy. The doctor prescribed me some antibiotics to avoid infection, some pills to prevent the allergy to spread through my whole ear and a cream, so the itchiness could disappear. Nowadays, I have a nice and healthy ear again, but I still can feel the scars where my industrial used to be.

What’s Awful: I was pierced with a low quality “jewelry” which caused me the allergy.

How it can be fixed: Get pierced with jewelry that the piercing studio knows what material is made of, not materials made of God knows what.

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MODERATOR COMMENT:
1. your english is better than quite a lot of native speakers.

2. Note to all: Stainless Steel is pretty much never “high quality” unless it’s Anatometal or Industrial strength. (Iirc, Neometal and BVLA don’t work with steel at all.) If you’re getting pierced with steel and don’t know if it’s Anatometal or IS, ask for titanium jewelry. I know outside the US Anato and IS are hard to come by in quite a lot of places, so asking for Ti is your next best bet.

-Kat

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I’m gonna add that not all titanium is created equally, it has different grades just like steel… Even “bad” jewelry companies work in titanium. There are also more companies than just Anatometal & Industrial Strength that deal in high-quality steel jewelry. There’s more to jewelry than just the metal, you want something that is made properly with a good surface finish that isn’t covered in tool marks. Your best bet is to just go to a GOOD shop that uses good jewelry, that knows the grade of the metal they’re using. You can always ask them to special-order from a better company or order it yourself from a site like BAF. You can find more information about metal quality and what to ask for on the APP’s website under their minimum standards for jewelry. Basically, for steel you want to hear “F138” and for titanium you want to hear “F136.” Neither metal is just flat-out better than the other, it all depends on the quality of the piece.

- Hayley

i desperately want to learn how to and start piercing people, although its not suggest i have pierced myself a couple of times and none have rejected nor gotten infected due to careful cleaning and proper “technique” or what little i have. where should i start looking? does one have to be a certain age before being allowed to pierce people? and last of all where could i find synthetic skin to practice on without the consequences of screwing up somebodies body?

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MODERATOR’S COMMENT:

If you really want to become a professional piercer, stop what you’re doing.

Don’t pierce yourself. Don’t pierce your friends. Don’t pierce “synthetic skin.”

Piercing is about so much more than just being able to stick a needle through something. Find yourself a good apprenticeship under a good (I cannot stress this enough, don’t just jump at the first opportunity you get) piercer, and they will get you started on the right path. It’s not necessarily an “easy” industry to get into, since everyone and their mother wants to be a piercer.

In the meantime, all I can suggest is doing some research. Find all the information you can, and read it three times. Use your internet resources! Comb through BME, blog posts by industry professionals, back issues of The Point. I know reading and learning is ~boring~, but if you’re looking for an exciting action-packed glamor job, you’re checking out the wrong industry.

DISCLAIMER: In case someone somehow reads my post wrong, I would like to point out that DOING THE RESEARCH I SUGGESTED DOES NOT MAKE YOU A PIERCER. IT DOESN’T EVEN NECESSARILY MAKE YOU QUALIFIED TO DISH OUT YOUR OWN PIERCING ADVICE. LEAVE IT TO THE PROFESSIONALS.

- Hayley

I have several tattoos, a few of them done by a close friend of mine (I know, I know, they were from a few years ago) and surprisingly, they’re pretty good. I like them, at least.

This story, oddly enough, isn’t about his work though but a shop in my area that actually has a great reputation. I got my first tattoo there, right when I turned 18. Its a goofy looking skull that looks more like Jack Skellington than anything else, and took about 20 minutes. I was a bit confused as to why that cost me 70$ but I figured hell, I’m happy with it, no reason to really complain.

About a year later my boyfriend offered to pay for my second tattoo, ‘Live Before You Die’ on my left forearm. I’d wanted it for about a year, contemplated it and when I still wanted it, he offered as a birthday gift.  I went back to the same shop, set a date, saw the lettering he drew up and felt pretty confident.

Everything was normal at first, I was incredibly shocked how painless it was though, an about 20 minutes in he went to wipe the ink off and all of the lettering went with it.

He just kinda stared at my arm and the needle, shrugged and went back to it. Next time he wiped the ink, the same thing happened. Apparently the needle was in BACkWARDS.

So he effectively tenderized the shit out of my arm before actually getting the ink in. Halfway through he switched to a bigger needle and at that point I was outright sobbing because it was so sore.

About four years later, I’m amazed how well it healed, but it wasn’t easy. Out of the seven I have, its the ONLY one that ever scabbed and got horribly sore. There are a few weird bubbly spots on it still, and while I’m happy with how it looks in spite of that, I can’t imagine ever going back there again.

(SOURCE)

SUBMITTER’S COMMENT: This was a random dude I had on facebook. Just the tip of the ice berg. He works in one of the worst shops in the city, and brags about doing the most “outrageous” work he can think of. He is very experienced and his work is sterile - but that’s about where the positives stop. He has a creative mind, but not even nearly enough knowledge on anatomy or body modification to utilise it. Other work of his includes corset piercings using CBR’s, multiple piercings crammed so close together they’ll never settle (we’re talking 6 in one case), nipple piercings intentionally done so deep they’re in the areola, piercing through the fatty part of a finger between the first two knuckles using a circular barbell… you get the idea. 

WHAT’S AWFUL: In this particular one, it’s GUM piercings. Through the gum between teeth. Common sense alone can point out how intensive the potential dental damage is. 

HOW IT CAN BE FIXED: Take it out. Never let him attempt his “creative” work on you again. Also go to a dentist to get whatever damage he’s already caused fixed.

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MODERATOR’S COMMENT:

Just gonna point out that a lot of corsets are done with CBRs by reputable piercers; they’re usually only meant to be temporary anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.

I know this subject is up for a lot of interpretation, whether you consider these things “awful mods” or just “different, possibly misunderstood mods.”

Here’s an article on trans-gum piercings by Shannon Larratt (who we all know is a proponent for different, possibly misunderstood mods)

- Hayley

(SOURCE)

SUBMITTER’S COMMENT: This picture was posted by some girl i’m friends with on facebook. She linked me to the artist, and surprisingly..none of his work is this bad. which I find pretty weird.

WHAT’S AWFUL: Wonky lines, bad coloring. Just an overall bad tattoo.