Body Piercings Early Days

I would be willing to bet that unless you have some involvement in the body modification industry most people don't have a clue how body piercing even became popular in the United States. Have you ever heard of Jim Ward? To those of us who are in the body modification industry Jim Ward would be considered the Grandfather of body piercing. He's not the first body piercer known in the United States by any means, Jack Yount was body piercing in the 1950's. Jim Ward is however responsible for taking body piercing out of the back bedrooms of homes and into the malls, shops, etc....

Jim Ward started a company called The Gauntlet in 1975 which he ran from his Hollywood home. The Gauntlets clientele base originated from the gay S&M communities of California. On November 17, 1978 The Gauntlet opened its first commercial location on Santa Monica Blvd an would later go on to opening locations in San Francisco, NYC, Seattle, and Paris, France. Jim Ward also set the standards for safe piercing that we know an still follow today, he also invented the body piercing needles we know an use today and some of the body jewelry we use in initial piercings like the "barbell", "circular barbell", and the "captive bead". The Gauntlet is no longer in business today, it went under in 1998. I learned about Jim Ward and The Gauntlet during my apprenticeship for body piercing. I wanted to share my knowledge to the body modification community. Jim Ward was a pioneer in the body modification/body piercing industry and I look up to him and what he has achieved. If your interested in body modification please feel free to contact me! Also check out my website at www.yourpiercednation.com and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/yourpiercednation

Tongue Bifurcation (splitting)

I split my first tongue recently, and let me tell you it was an experience. Everything went really well, my client already had a well healed tongue piercing stretched to a 0g. I split back to the tongue ring with a sterile surgical scalpel, although I have done many scarifications using a scalpel this was the first time I preformed this procedure. Its been 3 days now since I did it, the picture below was from the day after. The tongue heals very quickly, my client has told me that the pain was very minimal. I also took video of the procedure and I will share that with you on my youtube channel. If anyone has any questions concerning this procedure please feel free to ask.

Superior Body Jewlz

Superior Body Jewlz

Hey everyone just wanted to give you the scoop!!! I started a Facebook page for Superior Body Jewlz!!! Join Up!!! You guys are really gonna love this website an should be ready to launch it inside of a week!!!! Over 500 Products to chose from!!! I will be moving Your Pierced Nation to the same server soon!!! I have so much more control an capabilities over my website!!! Plus I have a private SSL!!! Security means a lot when your giving out sensitive info, I completely agree!!!

 

 

Superior Body Jewlz

 I am in the process of developing a brand new body Jewelry site called Superior Body Jewlz this site is going to be awesome with so much more capability and a ton of products. The best part is that the website is on a secure server with the same encryption that banks use. If you go to the website  now you will see a under construction sign but there is a email sign up form....the first 100 people to sign up will get 50% off there first order.....That's right if you spend $20 its only going to   cost you $10!!! If you spend $100 its going to cost you $50. Go to https://www.superiorbodyjewlz.com now to reserve your discount!!!!!!!


 

 

 

 

Stretching Your Ear Lobes

This is a guide to help you successfully stretch your ear lobes to your desired size based on my personal experience. I have been in the body modification industry directly for a little more than five years as a professional body piercer/modification artist. I have successfully stretched my ears to 1" without ever having any problems/blowouts/infections etc..... Below is a picture of me an my ears that are stretched to 1"

 

So you want to stretch your ears, this is something that has been going on for a very long time, thousands of years that we know of for sure. First off my advise to you is to have some idea of what size your trying to get to, and I say this is for several reasons that I will touch on here shortly, but the main reason is the cost factor. Also this blog is intended for those who already have there ears pierced and the piercings are healed and for those who may have already started the stretching process, this is not a step by step tutorial but rather some helpful tips. I myself never used tapers, but that's not saying that you shouldn't. Tapers are helpful in the early stages but once you get to a certain size you will notice that they aren't really needed, usually right around 1/2". If your trying to stretch your ears to a large size like mine, I recommend using stone plugs for the jewelry as for the weight of the plugs themselves will help in the process. The main thing to keep in mind is being patient, your not going to have big gauges over night and it is a little painful in the beginning especially. Make sure all your jewelry and tools/tapers are clean before using them. Alcohol should be sufficient for cleaning them, if you bought them brand new. If your using a friends tapers or jewelry the only acceptable way of sterilization is an autoclave, don't think that just because you wiped them off with alcohol that there sterile because they are not. I advise against sharing of jewelry because there are so many blood borne diseases that you could contract, it is not worth the risk over spending a few dollars. When going from size to size you really need to listen to your body, if your ear lobes still hurt from the last stretch than its probably to soon to stretch again but if you can spin your jewelry around in your ear without any discomfort at all, you should be ok to go up another size. I strongly advise against going up more than one size at a time, if your at a 4g your next stretch should be to a 2g. When I stretch my ears this is the process I have followed, I get everything ready to go, jewelry cleaned, I always use a little dab of Vaseline so you will want to have that out an ready. Next I always stretch after showering. Why? Because if you take a nice hot shower it will actually loosen up your ear lobes and make them 10x easier to stretch plus your hands are clean, everything is clean an ready. Do not take your plugs out in the shower and wash your inside your ear lobes when your getting ready to stretch your ears, the soap will tighten up your lobes and this defeats the purpose. Now your out of the shower, you want to apply a little Vaseline or petroleum jelly to your new plugs that your about to put in, you don't need much a thin layer all the way around it should be plenty, remove one of the plugs from your ears and also put a little Vaseline inside your lobes. When you insert the new plug, put the bottom of the plug in first, pull slightly down and push the top in. This should be an easy process, but jewelry selection is key. I strongly recommend a stone double saddle plug, if your using flesh tunnels that are double flared, the flares can make it a little harder to get in. If your in need of a good quality stone plug at a good price, go to my website www.yourpiercednation.com they are very affordable. If you have any questions concerning this topic or any form of body modification, please feel free to contact me. I will answer any questions or concerns that you have personally.

Those are two examples of plugs I sell, but there are many more and you can get a pair for as cheap as $5.00!!!!

Think Before You Ink?????

So I saw on an abc website that Washington D.C. city Health Department has proposed a new law called Think Before You Ink. This new law would require all tattoo shops to wait 24 hours from the time a customer walks through there doors wanting a new tattoo, before they could actually start insertion of ink into the skin. I think this is total bull!!! There reasoning is that it would prevent late night stumbles into a tattoo parlor and then regretting it the next day. Okay first of all no reputable, ethical tattoo shop would even give someone a tattoo if they suspect that the customer is under the influence of drugs, or alcohol. My personal opinion is this is just another way to one waste tax payers dollars, and two slowly taking away of our rights!!! I really don't think this law will effect business that much, especially if your a well known artist, as for you usually have to make an appointment anyways. However it will effect the compulsive tattoo customer that would have been and there are a lot of those. Tattoos aren't always a thought out planned process, but if the shop has already complied with all the health department guidelines in order to get there license then the government has no right to further stipulate the industry. The sad fact is, they do and they do because we allow it to happen. If anyone is interested in reading the article, click on the link below.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/washington-dc-tattoo-parlors-threatened-proposed-body-art/story?id=20192619

Ancient Plugs

ancient plugs

                    

Ancient Mayan Plugs, oh yes this is nothing new like many people may think. The truth of the matter is body modification and body piercing goes back as far as we have physical proof of human life. The oldest mummy found to date “Ice Man” who was carbon dated around 3,300 B.C. more than 5,400 years ago had many tattoos and his ears were stretched to around 7-11mm. Adornments in ancient times symbolized different things than today but in a lot of ways its still all the same, unchanged over thousands of years. And now I’m hearing that Washington is trying to put a law together that will put limitations on tattoo an piercing shops by way of making a federal law that requires a 24 hour waiting period to get any body modification done. I couldn’t believe it when I first heard it. Why?