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John Lopez, body piercer | page 1, 2
Extremely. My septum piercing was done by Gotham's master piercer, John Stryker. It was an amazing experience. I've had it done twice. The first time, I was apprenticing somebody before I should have been apprenticing them. I thought she was ready to do the piercing, and she wasn't. It was one of the most painful experiences I've ever had in my life. Took it out immediately, of course. About a year later I went to John Stryker to have it done. I literally had no idea he had done it. This guy is smooth. When Stryker does a piercing -- especially when he does tongues -- it happens so fast and so smoothly, it's almost like a magician with cards that disappear out of the hand and you swear it's impossible. He just puts that clamp on, has the needle in his hand and a second later, it's all done and there's a piece of jewelry there. What's your most common piercing request? Right now, it's nipple or tongue. It changes. When Madonna got her navel done, navels were it for the entire summer. And then, Dennis Rodman came on the scene, and pierced nostrils were kind of big. It depends on who's in the paper, who's in the magazines. It's definitely trendy. What's the most painful piercing? There are several. Piercing heavy cartilage -- in the inner ear, close to the head -- tends to hurt a lot. Sometimes nostrils and septums, if the cartilage is heavy, or if you hit the cartilage at all in the septum. The genital piercings -- the ones that go through the glands of the penis or the clitoris itself -- are extremely painful. Surprisingly enough, most genital piercings are not as bad as nipple piercings. For men, on a scale of one to 10, nipples are around seven or an eight. Whereas on women, they're probably more like a five or a six. What's the strangest request you've ever had? The absolutely strangest thing would only happen in San Francisco. I did a piercing on a cross-gender male-to-female post-op, and she wanted a horizontal hood piercing. I didn't know that she used to be a man. She looked just like a punk rock chick. She sat down on the table, and I started cleaning and getting ready to mark, and I realized that there was no real clitoris. I couldn't find a hood. It was all there, but a little off, and I wasn't sure which was which. I've never had that happen before. I asked her, "Are you post-op?" hoping that I wouldn't offend her if she was. And she said she was upset that I could tell. But I had to ask. We did the piercing where she wanted it, and she was thrilled with it. But it threw me at first. Are people pretty communicative when they come in? Sometimes. Some people come in and basically they treat us like we're their whore. They get off on this and that's why they're here. Our job is just to be professional and not let them take advantage of us. Other people come in and they're scared to death. They turn green. Our job is to make them feel comfortable. Have you ever talked somebody out of a piercing? We have no problem stopping if somebody gets too nervous and they say stop. We'll give you your money back. You can leave, come back when you're ready. I've had people who -- especially younger people -- who I could tell were doing it for the boyfriend, the girlfriend or out of peer pressure. It wasn't for them. I have had to make people leave the room so I could sit one on one with the person and find out why they are here, and if they really want to go through the next six to 12 months of healing. I've also had people who simply haven't showered, and I've told them to go home and shower. Do people talk about why they're getting pierced? The most fun piercings are the more ritualistic piercings. I don't want to sound like one of those people who are going to stick a bone in your ear and talk about primal urges. That's not what I'm about. I'm talking about the people who have a child die, get divorced, get married -- something significant in their life happens -- and they come to get pierced at that time to signify it, or give thanks, or to create some kind of a symbolism for themselves. Those are the ones who really want it. Those are the most fun because it means something to them. Sometimes people come in here because, I think, that they need pain they can define. They're hurting inside. They'll come back again and again. You realize they're not getting pierced because they want the piercings, they just want somebody to hurt them. Some people were piercing themselves at home when they were 13 years old. Then they come in here and say, "Oh my god, I finally found somebody else who's like me." They don't realize that this is my job. I'm good at it. I love my job. That doesn't mean I wanted to go stick needles in myself when I was a kid. When I was a child, I was leaning against a radiator grate that wasn't hot. I was daydreaming or something, and it left a pattern in my skin. I touched it, felt it, and that's what interested me in body art. I've always been fascinated by scars. I think scars and tattoos are sexy. I always wished I had a good scar on my face. I just think scars are the sexiest thing in the world. And there are people who feel the same way about piercings: They're sexy and fun. I think they look great on the right person in the right place. I'm not personally a fanatic about it or anything. I mean, I only have 18.
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