I got my lip pierced a few months ago. It was, essentially, a spur of the moment thing. I surprised myself by actually getting it done, and I absolutely love it!! I was forced to tell the parents a month later when they announced their intentions for a visit to Scouse-ville. My Mother told me I was a ‘stupid child’, and I think my Dad just swore quietly. I didn’t really expect them to be pleased about it: my parents are pretty much as conservative as you can get. I was the archetypal ‘rich kid’: I had a pony, my parents have a boat… Anyway, I met my Mother at the train station when she came up from visiting my grandparents, and she more or less refused to look at it. Even though I’d had the ring replaced with a stud in preparation for an impending school placement, and I thought that it would be better for her to see a small stud than a fairly sizeable ring with a ball in the middle. Considerate, I thought! She didn’t really say much about it, so I was quite thankful for that. The interesting part came when my little cousin (16) decided to tell my Nan in an effort to become ‘favourite grand-daughter’. My Nan immediately rang my Mother to ask whether I had ‘fallen in with a bad crowd’. This made me giggle. It also started me off thinking: when, and why, did piercings get such a bad rep? Aversion to tattoos, I can probably understand more: it’s irreversible; any stupid decision to get tattooed when pissed (see recent Metro article about girl with 50 odd stars on her face) can haunt you for life. I thought about getting a tattoo for 3 years before actually getting it. But piercings? They can be taken out if/when the piercee gets bored. This is the logic I posed to my Grandma who had previously threatened me with disownment if I got my nose pierced. I had to tell her ‘Anna now comes with the lip ring’. It was a softer version of ‘like it or lump it’ which, of course, I would never say to any of my grandparents.
Then there’s the question of ‘why get pierced’? For me, it was basically an identity thing. I see it as kind of an outward manifestation of an inner self; expression of a voyage of discovery, if you will. I know that may be a fairly cliché thing to say: ‘I’m only expressing myself!!’ but hey. I had my ear lobes pierced when I was 13, then got a second set done a year later. This was followed by a naval and two upper ear piercings, on separate occasions across a span of, around, six years. I then had my tragus pierced in January this year, which looks fab but hurt (and still isn’t completely healed) like shit!!! I think a facial piercing is a bigger step, and the lip piercing followed a year where I really feel like I’ve got to know myself, and figure out where I want to go, much more than I ever have. In Shakespeare’s words I had ‘ever but slenderly known [my]self’. This was instigated by my decision to take an MA which would lead onto a PhD. I’d finally found a path in life that I was utterly passionate about, and couldn’t imagine my life if I didn’t get there. I’ve always quite admired the bloke in Chester who shouts out about religion all day, and believing in Jesus, ‘your soul will be saved’ etc. I always thought it must be just amazing to have something that you’re that passionate about that you will talk to complete strangers and shout out in a crowded city centre. And I think I’ve found my one. I’ll talk to absolutely anyone about how excited I am about the PhD, the future, ideas for books and all that. I’ve never talked about myself more, which makes me feel guilty and hope that I don’t come across as self-obsessed or whatever, but I am just genuinely buzzing about the prospect of the next four years at least.
I’ve always experimented with my appearance. I had brown hair, brown hair with red streaks, red hair, brown hair with blonde chunks, black/blue hair, brown hair with light brown and blonde highlights … I have this thing where I always want whatever I haven’t got with regards my hair: when it’s long I want it short and vice versa, when it’s my natural colour I want it dyed and vice versa. For the first time in my life I’m actually content with my appearance: the black/blue hair colour has made a comeback (albeit a bit faded at the moment), I’ve got my lip piercing (stud at the moment as the ball for the ring fell off), I’ve rekindled my love for the heavy eyeliner, and I’ve found a dress style that I think suits me (shirt/jumper combos and boyfriend jeans, or smart pants and a t-shirt). I feel like I’ve finally found what other people would term a ‘signature style’. I even feel now that when I had average brown hair, wore average clothes, used average make-up, that back then I was kind of a faded version of what I am now. Everything is accentuated. And I like it.
The first time I went home after I dyed my hair (about a month and a half ago) my Dad asked ‘Anna, are you a goth?’. I said ‘no’. ‘Have you got gothic tendencies?’. Nope. It’s weird: I’ve had black hair in the past, I’ve used heavy eyeliner in the past, I’ve just had my lip pierced. It’s like, only when all these things are combined then I apparently need to be pigeonholed. My friend from Chester came to visit last week, and she asked if I was an emo? A goth? A rock chick? I couldn’t answer ‘yes’ to any of those! Yeah, I like being on my own sometimes, yeah I like rock music but not to the isolation of other genres … My cousin and Auntie came up shopping to Chester when I still lived there, and my cousin announced that she wanted to be an emo, and therefore had to buy Converse trainers, black skinnies, eyeliner, and a big cap. I don’t think individuality is something you can just turn on like that. It’s taken me a long time to finally figure out who I am (I had a slight identity crisis last year and still, to this day, am intrigued about peoples’ first impressions of me) and I’m happy now I’m there.
Then there’s the question of ‘why get pierced’? For me, it was basically an identity thing. I see it as kind of an outward manifestation of an inner self; expression of a voyage of discovery, if you will. I know that may be a fairly cliché thing to say: ‘I’m only expressing myself!!’ but hey. I had my ear lobes pierced when I was 13, then got a second set done a year later. This was followed by a naval and two upper ear piercings, on separate occasions across a span of, around, six years. I then had my tragus pierced in January this year, which looks fab but hurt (and still isn’t completely healed) like shit!!! I think a facial piercing is a bigger step, and the lip piercing followed a year where I really feel like I’ve got to know myself, and figure out where I want to go, much more than I ever have. In Shakespeare’s words I had ‘ever but slenderly known [my]self’. This was instigated by my decision to take an MA which would lead onto a PhD. I’d finally found a path in life that I was utterly passionate about, and couldn’t imagine my life if I didn’t get there. I’ve always quite admired the bloke in Chester who shouts out about religion all day, and believing in Jesus, ‘your soul will be saved’ etc. I always thought it must be just amazing to have something that you’re that passionate about that you will talk to complete strangers and shout out in a crowded city centre. And I think I’ve found my one. I’ll talk to absolutely anyone about how excited I am about the PhD, the future, ideas for books and all that. I’ve never talked about myself more, which makes me feel guilty and hope that I don’t come across as self-obsessed or whatever, but I am just genuinely buzzing about the prospect of the next four years at least.
I’ve always experimented with my appearance. I had brown hair, brown hair with red streaks, red hair, brown hair with blonde chunks, black/blue hair, brown hair with light brown and blonde highlights … I have this thing where I always want whatever I haven’t got with regards my hair: when it’s long I want it short and vice versa, when it’s my natural colour I want it dyed and vice versa. For the first time in my life I’m actually content with my appearance: the black/blue hair colour has made a comeback (albeit a bit faded at the moment), I’ve got my lip piercing (stud at the moment as the ball for the ring fell off), I’ve rekindled my love for the heavy eyeliner, and I’ve found a dress style that I think suits me (shirt/jumper combos and boyfriend jeans, or smart pants and a t-shirt). I feel like I’ve finally found what other people would term a ‘signature style’. I even feel now that when I had average brown hair, wore average clothes, used average make-up, that back then I was kind of a faded version of what I am now. Everything is accentuated. And I like it.
The first time I went home after I dyed my hair (about a month and a half ago) my Dad asked ‘Anna, are you a goth?’. I said ‘no’. ‘Have you got gothic tendencies?’. Nope. It’s weird: I’ve had black hair in the past, I’ve used heavy eyeliner in the past, I’ve just had my lip pierced. It’s like, only when all these things are combined then I apparently need to be pigeonholed. My friend from Chester came to visit last week, and she asked if I was an emo? A goth? A rock chick? I couldn’t answer ‘yes’ to any of those! Yeah, I like being on my own sometimes, yeah I like rock music but not to the isolation of other genres … My cousin and Auntie came up shopping to Chester when I still lived there, and my cousin announced that she wanted to be an emo, and therefore had to buy Converse trainers, black skinnies, eyeliner, and a big cap. I don’t think individuality is something you can just turn on like that. It’s taken me a long time to finally figure out who I am (I had a slight identity crisis last year and still, to this day, am intrigued about peoples’ first impressions of me) and I’m happy now I’m there.
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