As a child, I was always trying to resist being grouped in with my sisters. The three of us were always dressed in matching outfits, we all had matching hairstyles, and we were all on the same school dance team. Everyone knew us as The Fuller Sisters, not as our own names. Even as we got older, my sisters and I swung towards similar interests, one of which included body piercings.
When we were only three years old, we all got our ears pierced. When I was 12-years-old, we all got two extra piercings in each ear. At school, I felt cool and special because I was the only girl in my class who had three earrings in each ear. However, as soon as I got home, I felt like just another clone. I hated it! When my sisters started high school, they both got their noses pierced – but I decided to skip out on it. A year later, they both got their tongues pierced. Again, I didn’t want to follow in their footsteps, so I skipped out on that one also. A couple of months later, they got matching belly button piercings and cartilage rings. You guessed it: I wasn’t there for those piercing parties either!
It wasn’t because I didn’t want those piercings – I did! I had always been interested in body modifications, but I refused to get anything pierced that my sisters had already had done. I wanted my piercings to be unique and a reflection of myself. I didn’t want to be a clone that was always comparing herself to her sisters. I felt like I needed to get something done that my sisters wouldn’t be ballsy enough to get, something that would make me stand out in our family. So I got on the Internet and did a little research.
(Related: 13 Things You Should Never Say To Someone With A Lot Of Piercings)
After many long nights of looking at my laptop screen until my eyeballs melted, I finally found a piercing that was “out of the norm” but totally cute. It was microdermal piercings. In case you’ve never heard of them, microdermals are small implants that are embedded and anchored underneath your skin through a tapered hole. The other part of the implant pokes out of your skin with a changeable piece of jewelry that screws into the anchor.
Aside from the fact that microdermals look totally cool and chic, they also have a downside. Of course, my mom nagged me about it for two days straight before we made the trip to get them done.
“What if they get infected and fall out?” she asked, and it quickly became the new catchphrase of the hour. It turns out that my mom did some of her own research after I did mine. “Your body can reject microdermals, and they fall out… then you’re left with a hideous scar!” she would argue. “Kaylani, you know you scar easily!”
She even did the “what if this is just a phase” speech and concluded it with, “If you don’t like it, you have to get it surgically removed at a piercing shop or the hospital.” All of this was true. Anytime you put a foreign object into your body, there’s a chance your body might not like it and try to push it out. However, I was willing to take this risk for the satisfaction of doing my own thing.
(Related: What You Should Know Before Getting A Piercing)
Once my mom realized that I had saved up enough money for the procedure, jewelry, and cleaning supplies, she realized that I was serious about these piercings… and so she took me to a great piercing and tattoo shop. The place was super clean, way stylish, and was run by super friendly and edgy girls. I gawked at their tattoos, piercings, and haircuts in awe, secretly wondering if they also had sisters who looked just like them.
I signed the waiver, the piercer ran me through the process and risk, and then I picked out my jewelry. But as she sanitized my skin and marked the point of entrance, I started to get nervous. I questioned if all of this was really worth an attempt to be different. My hands got clammy and cold as I imagined my two little pink dermals falling to the floor while my mom repeated, “I told you so!” I would be so mortified if she was right and even more mortified that my attempt to be unique would be a total fail.
But before I could speak up, my piercer popped in the first anchor – and I had microdermals! When my two dermals fully healed, I felt so much happier. I’d smirk every time my sisters enviously glanced at the little pink stones on my hips. At last, I had my time to feel special and totally myself. I relished this by wearing crop tops for two weeks straight (just to show off).
Only a month later, my sisters came home with, you guessed it, microdermals. Talk about trying to one-up someone! I thought I would get angry at the fact that once again, we were all the same, but I was actually totally fine. I realized that I had my own choice to get the piercings done. I did it by myself and went without my sisters – I felt like that was enough to make me my own person. And I’m pretty pleased at this life lesson got me two cute piercings!
Do you have piercings? Do you have microdermals? What have you ever done to make yourself different from your family? Tell us in the comments!
