Purpose of Piercing

There has been a noticeable growth in the popularity of body piercing during the past decade. Having become increasingly main-stream, piercing is no longer reserved for the fringe cultures of our society. The shock value has diminished and a new industry has bloomed. Now pierced bodies are everywhere and body jewelry is marketed to the masses at mall outlets and fashion boutiques, not just the local tattoo establishments.

Body piercing has a long history but with the immediacy of today's popular culture, that history has been lost to fad. Young people are getting pierced without knowing, or even caring, about where the piercing came from, what they represent or what their purpose was originally. While many people have their personal reasons for getting pierced, there are four basic reasons why people have been getting pierced over the ages. They are religious traditions, cultural traditions, visual aesthetics and sexual pleasure.

The following healing times will vary according to individual physiology, amount of care given to the piercing and other factors such as nutrition, overall health, outside influences, etc.

This article originated as a blog post. I thought it was pertinent enough to move it into the piercing section.

The body does not like anything foreign in it. It will do whatever it can to get rid of it. How a piercing is retained with minimal trouble is due in large to the experience of he piercer and the willingness of the piercee to follow and care for the piercing properly.

A good piercer will not only explain how to care for the piercing following the procedure, but also long term requirements and what to expect during healing. Unfortunately there are more unscrupulous, half-assed piercers out there that are only interested in a quick buck. They pierce in a questionable environment, offer to do procedures on underage clients and offer little to no post-piercing support. And that's not even the worst of it. But then, I am on my soap box again. Irregardless of how good or bad your piercer is I have found that unless the piercing was done under really nasty and dirty environment the primary cause of infection is due to the client's aftercare (of lack of it).

The first “real” body piercing I received was my tongue. I got it pierced while at the first tattoo shop I worked at. I had gotten my earlobe done at the mall when it was fashionable to wear a single earring, but I couldn't count that as a “real” body piercing. My decision to get my tongue pierced was a spur-of-the-moment act encouraged by my wife at the time. She had been toying with the idea of having her tongue pierced and finally decided to act on it. Of course with peer pressure from all sides, I ended up sitting in the chair for the piercing as well.