Last year, my mom agreed to me getting my helix pierced. We found a shop in Troy, NY (I can’t remember the name) and we went to go get it done. When we got there, there was a woman at the front desk yapping on her cell phone and eating, and we were told to wait until she got off of the phone. When she finally hung up, we asked her what the pricing was and what jewelry she would recommend. She replied “Oh, I don’t know. Ask _____.” Turns out _____ was the artist and piercer, who was piercing a client on a table in the dead center of the room. Once he was done and we had done all of the necessary paperwork, he asked how old I was. When my mom said that I was 13, he said “Oh, we can’t pierce younger than 15 (come to find out later the legal piercing age in NYS on anything besides lobes is 16).” Then my mom said “So, if she’s 15 she can get pierced? Well then she’s 15.” He immediately agreed, and he set everything up and pierced me. Well an hour later I passed out from the pain. And the next day I woke up with a HUGE bubble on either side of the jewelry. I disregarded it, thinking it was normal. A month later, it was still there and was even bigger. I went to my doctor and she told me it was badly infected (even though I had been taking all necessary cleaning steps) and I was forced to take it out. Did I mention that he pierced it with a 12g hoop? Bottom line, don’t go to a place that is willing to overlook your age in order to get money.
Submitter comment:
Source: Me.
It was over the summer, I went over to this guys house who I knew from freshman year and knew that he did and still does drugs. One of his room mates was giving himself a tattoo and I asked if he could tattoo a heart on my wrist. Another room mate took my wrist and drew a way-too-big heart on my wrist with pen and let the first room mate go at it. When it was done it still had ink on the skin that was making it look good, it was only until after I took a shower I saw how horrible it looked. The next day I went back and a different room mate offered to “fix” it for me. He ended up giving the heart another pointed end to it, making it look wonky and diagonal. I have tried scrubbing it, it will not come off.
Whats awful: Oh so many things. Unsanitary, the guys who worked on it were high on meth, they used open ink, it was in a container but it was by no means bacteria free, I was 16, still 16, it was worked on two seperate occasions, it was done on a cloth footrest with ink stains all over it, it was incredibly painful, it barely resembles a heart and has two end points….
How to fix it: When I am 18 I will get a cover up to block a horrible reminder of horrible people. Or be smart and DONT GET AN UNPROFESSIONAL! UNSANITARY TATTOO. It does hurt and it looks stupid.
Update on the guys who gave me this tatto, they now have a tattoo gun and are giving themselves tattoos such as juggalo for life and just horrible, temporary things like that. Two of them are 18 and they all smoke meth. Good job me! You really pick out awesome friends…
SUBMITTER’S COMMENT:I found this beauty on Amazon while looking for some “goal” plugs for myself (a reward for being patient with my stretching)
WHAT’S AWFUL: I don’t claim to be an expert, but I’m pretty sure that uneven/holey surface is not good for a stretched ear, especially one that’s not healed yet.
HOW IT CAN BE FIXED: do your research and don’t buy things that your ears are going to hate you for?
_______________________________________
MODERATOR’S COMMENT:
Lesson? Don’t buy plugs on Amazon. ;)
Source: Me.
1. SUBMITTER COMMENT: So that little black thing on my wrist is a tattoo I gave myself when I was 12.. Ive always loved tattoos.. So i used a needle and PEN ink. I know.
2. WHAT IS WRONG: It was supposed to be a heart.. You can see how that worked. It was also super unsanitary and super awful all around..
3. HOW TO FIX IT: Obviously get it covered up.. Because I’ve tried, and it does not come out.
SUBMITTER’S COMMENT: As I scroll through my news feed on facebook, I saw that a friend of mine had liked a picture on Instagram. At first, it looked like he was drawing on himself or tattooing himself. It’s not until I read the comments that I realized that he is using a wood burner to cauterize his arm.
WHAT’S AWFUL: It’s a wood burner. He’s “scarifying” himself with it.
HOW IT CAN BE FIXED: …I don’t really think there’s a possible way to “fix” that without just not being an idiot. There is nothing that even seems okay with this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixsr5_zN0D8&feature=related <— Tried to submit this as a video post but it wouldn’t work! Sorry :)
SUBMITTER’S COMMENT: I don’t know if you guys have seen this already, but I found this gem on YouTube. If you want a really good mashup of some really bad tattoos with real people’s feelings towards them, then watch this! They do some really good cover ups.
WHAT’S AWFUL: The majority of these people were drunk when they got these and didn’t think about the long term consequences of getting a permanent modification like this. They’re wonky, uneven, badly drawn, faded and just plain awful!
HOW IT CAN BE FIXED: Well as you can see what they did was cover them up to make them look better. But of course the real cure is not to make those bad decisions in the first place.
it’s supposed to be a mermaid…
SUBMITTER’S COMMENT: a girl i know has been wanting a mermaid tattoo for a long time, and she couldn’t wait to turn 18 so she had it done without parental consent. she got it done at this run-down tattoo shop that a friend of her boyfriends works at. this tattoo artist doesn’t ask for id, and the shop is completely unsanitary, but this poor girl wanted a mermaid on her so bad that she would let anyone do it.
WHAT’S AWFUL: LOOK AT IT. The mermaids arm only has two fingers on it. The tail is disproportional. The shading in the hair is terrible and doesn’t even look like the artist filled all of it in. The “mermaid” looks like it has a bloody mouth rather than lips. The water behind the mermaid doesn’t look like water. I could go on and on, but I’m pretty sure you all can see the flaws.
I don’t have a photo to submit and I’m a new follower to your blog as well. I just wanted to share a piercing story of my own.
Last summer I went to a respectable shop in my town to get surface hip piercings. I didn’t do as much research as I should have and I have to say my experience wasn’t a good one. The piercer himself was licensed and understood what he was doing, but he was incredibly rude to me and my friend and it seemed like the whole time he was trying to rush the both of us out the door.
After he pierced me, he didn’t give me any aftercare directions at all or give me the opportunity to ask him because every time I started to say something he would cut me off and talk over me. Once I got home I did a little more research and found that he didn’t even use the proper jewelry on me, using curved barbells instead of the barbells that are kind of shaped like a large staple.
They eventually rejected and now I have scars from them, not to mention they were crooked and completely out of line with each other. I will never be going back to that shop.
Source: Picture of me that I took.
What’s Awful: I did this with a needle and India Ink on my thigh when I was 16. It was unsanitary and it looks like I drew on myself with pen, but at least it looks better than a lot of things I’ve seen on here lol. It was very stupid, and when I did it for some reason I thought it would be temporary. DON’T DO THIS TO YOURSELVES, KIDS! YOU’LL REGRET IT.
How it can be fixed: A cover-up tattoo by a reputable artist or laser removal.
Bad ideas.
So I have wanted my septum for a long time now, and a few months ago I went on a trip to Europe with my friend and I thought I could get it done there and flip it up so that my mom wouldn’t see it when I got home. We went to the shop and the guy didn’t take any of my information or even ask how old I was (I was 17 at the time). The one good thing is that the place was very clean and well taken care of.
I let the guy know what I wanted and he said okay. Everything was sterile and clean, and he put the dots on with a marker, but I didn’t get to see them and hoped he knew what he was doing. He pierced it but it was way too low (just below the cartilage-the thickest part)… and after a lot of shoving and tears from me he got it through. But here is where it gets worse.
The guy was starting to shake and get sweaty, which made me really nervous. When he went to put the jewelry through he waited too long and the other side closed- so the jewelry was halfway through. So, he took it out and proceded to pierce it again and start over.
It hurt even more the second time. He was able to get the jewelry through, and everything was over. I think I paid him the equivelant of $30 US. Afterwards my friend and I went to go get ice cream and I knew something was wrong. It was bleeding and it took hours for it to stop, and to make matters worse, I couldn’t smile or talk. My entire top lip and nose area felt numb and hurt REALLY bad. We tried to take photos but I couldn’t smile in any of them because the pain was so bad.
After about 5 days I couldn’t take it any more. The pain was still terrible (and I was cleaning it) and the jewelry wouldn’t hang down, for some reason it would flip up and if I tried to put it down it would float back up. So I took it out and let it heal back up. After taking it out I looked at the scars and realized that it was completely crooked. One side was really high up and the other was really low. Thanks to that guys’ shaky hands.
I let it go back to normal, and a few months later I went to a local (and well reviewed) shop back in America. The lady who did my septum again did a fantastic job! It was up a lot higher and she got it right in the sweet spot, so when she pierced it I asked her if that was it, and she said yes. I didn’t even shed a single tear (compared to the water works of the first time) and it didn’t even hurt a little. I’m proud of myself for going to a good shop and making up for the terrible mistake I made. It is all healed now and looks great!
WORDS OF ADVICE: no matter how bad you want a piercing- JUST WAIT . It’s not worth it to go to a place that doesn’t even take your name (or somebody’s dirty basement for that matter) to get it. Have patience and go to a good place that will do an amazing job, and it will probably hurt less then if your “friend” does it. Be smart people!
(I will submit the photos of the good and bad piercing in another submission since I cannot get them on here for some reason!)
