International Body Piercing Day: Body piercer shares inside info

INTERNATIONAL Body Piercing Day, (June 28), is celebrated mostly in communities interested in piercing and body modification worldwide. The history of International Body Piercing Day is not clear, but there are some significant indicators that body modification of some type has been done by both men and women since prehistory.

History of International Body Piercing Day

As per reports, June 28 is Jim Ward’s birth date and is now celebrated by the world as International Body Piercing Day. Reports state that Jim Ward opened Gauntlet, which is considered to be the first professional piercing studio, in California, in 1978.

International Body Piercing Day is originally dedicated to Jim Ward, often indicated as ‘the granddaddy of the body-piercing movement’. Jim Ward has been an extremely influential part of the new body-modification movement, with a particular emphasis on body piercing. It is said that Body Piercing Day is an opportunity for you to find a new way to express yourself with this age-old practice.

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Body piercer shares her opinion 

Nonhle Mkhize, who has been a body piercer since 2019, currently works at Monsta Ink uShaka and says that body piercings, like tattoos, are specific to the individual. She says that people should be encouraged to get body piercings based on what they think would look good, not based on other people’s opinions. “Everyone has different features, and what looks good on someone else may not look the same on you. If you want to get a body or face piercing, make sure it’s something you want to do and that it will add to the look you are going for. Once you get your piercing, even if it is a common piercing, you can make it unique to you by how you work it,” she said.

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Mkhize says the most common body piercing that she has seen people come in for is the nose piercing. “The nose piercing is not too big, it can be subtle, but it can be painful because the nose has cartilage. Another painful piercing is the Helix piercing, which is a piercing on the outer cartilage of the ear, however, with the right care during the healing process, there shouldn’t be any complications with this piercing or any other piercing. And the least painful is the earlobe.”

Mkhize says she has been a body piercer for four years, and she enjoys helping people change up their looks. She says that she always sees a confidence boost in those who have just gotten a new piercing.

“I think body piercings can be seen as a form of self-decoration, and people also use it as a way to express themselves. For some people, it is liberating, and for others, it is a change in their look that can boost their confidence. A lot of people see it as a ‘rebellious’ thing to do because it goes against society’s standards for beauty, but it needs to be seen as something positive as for many, body piercings make a positive change in their lives.

“The experience is not just for young people – we have different kinds of people coming in for piercings at different stages in their life – there is no right time to do it. It is only best to do it when it feels right for you,” she added.

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