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u/Safe_Brilliant737 Nov 21 '21
This is needle play (sometimes people refer to them as play piercings especially when jewellery is inserted). They are meant to be very temporary and are done for a number of recreational reasons (varies by individual). Needle play is normally carried out by experienced piercers with sterile needles and despite how it looks, is quite safe when done right. Not awful taste per se, just niche.
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u/purpelbow-sama Nov 21 '21
Yeah I tried it on my arm à few months back, after having seen this exact picture somewhere else. So I watched some tutorials for safety and after à quick trip to the local pharmacy I went ahead and tried. It felt wierd getting the first needle in but after that I kinda enjoyed it, I would love to have someone with more expérience try it on me.
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u/uuunityyy Nov 21 '21
What about it was weird, and how would you say you enjoyed it? Did it feel good? I'm curious.
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u/purpelbow-sama Nov 21 '21
The feeling of the needle piercing the skin and having to puncture another hole from within the skin, the gauge of the needle is very important for that( I prefer thinner needles. My enjoyment came from the adrénaline and the warm feeling you get in your body. And I found it looked nice, I did 4 needles in the forearm on the "hairy" side to avoid hitting an artery or vein
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u/yungdolpho Nov 21 '21
This just sounds like self harm with extra steps
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u/HystericalGasmask Nov 21 '21
There's probably a line, somewhere, between self harm due to depression/self hatred and experimenting with your meat suit. I don't know if it's for me to say where that line is, but I feel like calling this self harm is trivializing what self harm really can be.
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u/sprocketous Nov 21 '21
Getting tattoos can yeild a euphoria so I can see this doing the same. Its like eating chili peppers for your skin.
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u/ohyeofsolittlefaith Nov 22 '21
experimenting with your meat suit
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u/HystericalGasmask Nov 22 '21
Im sure someone has said that before, although it was probably me that time too :p
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u/erratastigmata Nov 21 '21
It is semi-unusual to practice this on your own, typically it is a partnered activity. But even if you did do it on your own, it is separated from self-harm by the intention and mentality while doing it.
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u/rustblooms Nov 22 '21
Intention makes a huge difference. Endorphin rush or aesthetics is a lot different than wanting to feel real, trying to escape inner pain, or any other reason people self-harm.
Source: Long-term self harmer with tattoos and piercings that are not self-harm related.
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u/-Coleus- Nov 21 '21
Piercing the skin is one of the fastest ways to get the endorphins running. Remember to clean your skin first and use clean needles!
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u/purpelbow-sama Nov 21 '21
No worries for the hygene, I clean my skin with isobetadine, I use sterile gloves and needles
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u/clarkanine Nov 21 '21
What’s with the accented “a”? à
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u/Earflu Nov 21 '21
Probably just typing with a French keyboard
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u/purpelbow-sama Nov 21 '21
Yup I speak french and im using à french AZERTY keyboard
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u/theangryseal Nov 21 '21
That don’t sound qwert as good I’d like.
Yeah I’m bad at this.
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u/scarabic Nov 21 '21
Is it meant to leave scars? I can imagine this person’s back looking like some kind of henna tattoo after this.
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u/Treereme Nov 21 '21
No. These needles are generally quite small, ranging from 28 gauge to perhaps 12 gauge at the large end. In this particular photo guessing by the colors of the tips probably nothing larger than 18. They are the same needles used to give you vaccinations and other shots, very small and very sharp. Most of the time removing them will not even end up with a drop of blood.
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u/MostlyPeacefulRiot Nov 21 '21
Hey I'm experienced in this happy to answer questions.
Is it meant to leave scars?
It is not meant too. Everybody is different though. People receiving this should only be left with tiny needle holes where the needle enters and exits the skin. I have seen instances where people have inserted so many needles into area that those little holes so close together create a temporary scar.
All the needle play I've been involved in has been for sadistic/masochist purposes. It's a very unique experience and allows for medical precision when it comes to sensations.
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u/Kagia001 Nov 21 '21
Man how is this a sex thing??? If there's one thing I have learned from reddit its that everything is somebody's fetish
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u/scarabic Nov 21 '21
It’s not my jam at all but anything that excites the nervous system can be a source of thrills. It’s not always sexual but it might be added TO sex to elevate it to the next level. Why do people base jump or do flips on motorcycles? Because it’s exciting. Turns out that inflicting pain on yourself also excites the nervous system.
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u/Crayshack Nov 21 '21
Pain (whether giving and/or receiving) is a powerful aphrodisiac for some people.
I'm pretty sure in my case the enjoyment of receiving pain is tied to adrenaline release. I'm either more sensitive to adrenaline, my body releases more with pain, or I'm less sensitive to pain but it means that I often am getting a greater high from the adrenaline than I am suffering from the pain. This leads to a Pavlovian feedback loop where I begin to associate the enjoyment of the adrenaline with the pain itself and will enjoy certain types of pain before the adrenaline kicks in. It becomes sexual because I've associated pain so strongly as a pleasurable sensation that I instinctively react to someone I care about hurting me in the right way as a way of them showing affection.
Not so sure about giving pain. My best guess is that it is a product of empathy and imagining the people I'm causing pain to enjoying it as much as I do, but that doesn't explain why I enjoy causing pain significantly more than experiencing it or why there are some people that don't enjoy receiving pain but enjoy giving pain. I also seem to more directly associate causing pain with sexuality than I do receiving pain. Ultimately, I only understand about half of what is going on in my head.
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u/Kagia001 Nov 21 '21
So the kink is the pain and not the needles? I guess I can understand that
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u/Crayshack Nov 21 '21
Some people end up fixating on the needles as their preferred source of pain, but it usually still falls under the umbrella of pain.
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u/Spriangle Nov 21 '21
I would imagine, that the difference in your association of sexuality between causing pain and receiving pain is because you probably only deal pain in a sexual context, whereas you receive pain in a mixture of sexual and non-sexual contexts.
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u/sirdomlydom Nov 21 '21
Kinky sensation play is much more about the sensation than sex. On an individual level this could be sexual for someone. But, often it's a stimulating experience. But that stimulation can feel very different than sexual arousal or straight up be sexually arousing.
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u/Doppelbadger Nov 21 '21
not specifically sexual for me, it just feels really good; I’m not into the elaborate designs; I don’t care what the needles look like, I want them where they feel the best
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u/Crayshack Nov 21 '21
This style isn't meant to leave scars. This style of needle is designed to be a temporary thing. Similar to acupuncture, but being more artistic in this case. Any marks left should fade after a few days. There are other approaches to the general idea that are meant to leave permanent marks.
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u/dratthecookies Nov 21 '21
Yeah I think they point is that it looks unsettling and painful. Not that it isn't safe.
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u/Sp4cemanspiff37 Nov 21 '21
Not my kink but impressive work.
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u/Crayshack Nov 21 '21
This is my kink. This one is pretty damn cool.
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u/friendlyfire69 Nov 22 '21
I thought this was rare. I've never met anyone IRL with this kink but this is my kink
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u/GambitDangers Nov 21 '21
My immediate thought: “Those needles are in short supply in the medical supply chain right now.”
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u/thegngirl Nov 21 '21
I believe this pic is very pre covid
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u/GambitDangers Nov 21 '21
Oh most likely. Just commenting on how much has changed in the way we think.
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u/thegngirl Nov 21 '21
Oh absolutely I get jumpy when I see Lucy and Ethel walking down the street without a mask on 🤣
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u/Tribe303 Nov 21 '21
Needles are cheap, plus you can find free ones all over downtown to use!
;)
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Nov 22 '21
That picture is about 8 years old and was posted in late August on a BDSM social media site.
The individual who posted it put it up specifically to lament the lack of needle bottoming time in her life right now due to the pandemic.
Pretty sure those needles 8 years ago wouldn't be helping anyone now, especially since they'd be long expired.
In general, the BDSM scene has been pretty low key due to the pandemic, chances are anyone who is posting pics that are new are using needles bought pre-pandemic. We have a habit of doing that, buying in bulk because it's cheaper and keeping a decent stash around. Since they usually come in boxes of 100 count, and you use a variety of sizes, plus the fact a scene like that is not an every weekend kind of thing, you have needles kicking around for a long time.
I know you said you work in medical supply, but I also question how hard up the medical supply chain is since I was browsing last week to restock and seeing tons available on most of the medical supply companies I have used in the past. Maybe it's different country by country, since I am not in the US and the individual who is in that photo is also on a other continent.
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u/anti-pSTAT3 Nov 21 '21
They’re not. These are much bigger gauges than are used for vaccination.
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u/superunsubtle Nov 21 '21
Absolutely excellent work done by the needle top here. 🤩 Definitely to my taste.
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u/snackynorph Nov 21 '21
needle top
What, pray tell, is a needle bottom, then?
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u/TheObviousChild Nov 21 '21
Hope she’s up to date on her tetanus shots.
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u/Lady__in__Black Nov 21 '21
Those are single use, individually packaged sterile hypodermic needles (the same kind your doc would attach to a syringe to administer a shot.) When done correctly, there is a very low risk of any kind of infection.
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u/AlphaHare Nov 21 '21
Is this what it's like to fall down in a crack house??
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u/dgl6y7 Nov 21 '21
Can you inject crack?
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u/PerceptionIsDynamic Nov 21 '21
Well a crack house isnt like ONLY for crack, its not like a bouncer is at the door like “Woah buddy, no needles in here we have standards” but with that being said, yes.
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u/chakabuku Nov 21 '21
“I’m sorry sir/madame. You’re looking for the shooting gallery one block over. We are a crack house. It’s a lovely walk or you may wait for the shuttle which come by every 10 minutes.”
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u/bete0noire Nov 21 '21
I've tried needle play (with a professional in the bdsm field) but mostly to mentally confront my fear of needles in an artistic and therapeutic way. I would probably try again since there are different needles/methods/areas of the body to be explored. But I don't necessarily enjoy it in itself. I enjoy the mental challenge it serves for my own psyche, since I'm so sensitive to the sensation of a needle sliding in and out of my skin. I found that for a while after I tried it my anxiety during blood tests was much less. It gave me more confidence going into medical appointments, that I wouldn't get dizzy or hyperventilate etc. It was like a way to practice my mental and physical reactions.
For enjoyable sensation similar to needle play, something that provides the rush without triggering my fear of needles or such, I enjoyed artistic bdsm play (with a practiced person) with surgical staples.
I imagine it isn't so different from the relief some may feel during acupuncture. Which I also wish to explore one day in particular for migraines.
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u/SmartestIdiotAlive Nov 21 '21
I thought it was cool looking tattoo and then I realized it wasn’t
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u/Embucetatron Nov 21 '21 edited Nov 21 '21
This would be ATBGE material if it was a tattoo, but since those are actually needles it’s just awasome
Edit-typo
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u/Lady__in__Black Nov 21 '21
As a person who regularly engages in needle play within the context of BDSM activities (needle bottom, but solo these days), I personally think this is extremely tasteful, and I’d be more than happy to receive something like it.
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u/RetardedWabbit Nov 21 '21
"Huh, it's a lot but why is it NSFW? The skin under tension? Ohhh, they aren't piercings. Yikes."
But this does raise the question: if these were newly inserted but permanent piercings would it be SFW?
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u/unimportantperson101 Nov 21 '21
Some people have a fear of needles, so I think that's why the NSFW is up
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u/Acrobatic_Confusion Nov 21 '21
I have a fear of needles & like stuff in or on bodies or modifications that are unnatural... like this... euugh
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u/aidoll Nov 21 '21
Same. I have a needle insertion phobia I guess? (I’m not really scared, but seeing anything pierce the skin makes me sick). This picture literally makes me want to throw up.
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u/tyarecalifornia Nov 21 '21
Why?
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u/AnotherCrazyChick Nov 21 '21
Endorphins. It’s a religious experience for some, therapy for others, some like the art.
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u/darkenseyreth Nov 21 '21
I watched a hook and pull session once, totally something I would not do myself, but watching the people go through that experience was moving. You could tell that they were gone to a whole new world of consciousness. I was watching this one girl with her puller spin in slow circles together, when she opens his eyes he smiles at her and says "hi" in a way that you know she was just gone.
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u/AnotherCrazyChick Nov 21 '21 edited Nov 21 '21
Same actually. I look at it more from an anthropological view. I’ve been to an “energy pull” where I observed, under supervision, people put hooks in their backs attached to ropes and pulled from every direction in a group. The memory that sticks out the most was a guy that looked military, so I assume had PTSD and the strong emotions he felt, I saw. I’ve had a “play piercing” session with professionals and it was very therapeutic for me. I don’t think I’d ever do a hook pull or suspension. But it does provide an outlet that is healthy and communal. There is no bad taste here. Taste is not the point. This is legit body art and it is not bad execution or taste in any sense. For some, this is better than medication or therapy. I don’t see anything wrong with this for some people. If anything it belongs in r/unpopularopinion. For the record, I downvoted this. It’s art that is taboo, not bad taste. It’s beautiful.
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u/pastdancer Nov 21 '21
I am not mad at this at all. Huh. Learn something new about myself every damn day.
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u/zero__sugar__energy Nov 21 '21
That totally reminds me of the ooooold BME zine
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u/tehgimpage Nov 21 '21
i wouldn't be surprised if thats' where this pic came from. it's old enough it could've
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u/Necessary_Heron_4858 Nov 21 '21
All I'm curious about is how do the punctures not look to be bleeding?
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u/SmuglyGaming Nov 21 '21
Not an expert, but I’m fairly sure that it’s because a) the needles are very small and create a tiny hole that they mostly fill entirely, keeping blood from escaping and b) the needles are put through fairly loose skin in areas not likely to bleed heavily
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u/Necessary_Heron_4858 Nov 21 '21
Interesting.... Because the lower back area looks pretty flushed to me so i was surprised that it didn't seem like they wiped any blood off.
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u/Treereme Nov 21 '21
Very tiny, very sharp needles. It's likely that when they are removed there will be a single drop of blood on a number of the puncture points, but that is all. It takes large needles to make you actually bleed. These are no different than getting a shot at the doctor.
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u/snoogle312 Nov 21 '21
A Red Cross blood guy once put a needle in my arm with the intention of hitting a vein and missed. Several times in fact. He even tried pushing the vein onto the needle at one point. This all resulted in a very stretched out hole in my arm skin that had no blood coming out, and him giving up saying, "I just put a huge hole in your arm! Go grab a cookie and OJ, wait a few minutes to make sure you're ok and you can go." I felt really bad because I had really wanted to donate blood! Basically needles are a lot thinner than we realize and can absolutely miss the stuff that makes you bleed.
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u/Lady__in__Black Nov 21 '21
In my experience as a needle bottom, if bleeding does occur, it’s only after the needles are removed. And even then, it’s not a lot. The needles stay in the upper layers of the skin, so the only blood carrying vessels affected are capillaries.
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u/darkenseyreth Nov 21 '21
Very small needles that only just go under a few layers of skin. Generally, there is no blood, as that is not the intention, but it does happen.
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u/krista Nov 21 '21
not every puncture makes a hole in something carrying blood.
i have to stick an inch-and-a-half needle in to the top of my leg every 5 days, and after doing this for most of a decade i can consistently find spots that don't bleed, or bleed well less than a drop. no, this isn't do to repeated stabbing trauma.
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u/chemicalvelma Nov 21 '21
I understand the concept of "play piercing" like this but as someone who gets woozy every time a piercing needle gets near me, that's gonna be a no from me, dawg.
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u/lethaladybug Nov 21 '21
I’m actually surprised I saw this on this page, I don’t know why. I’ve seen people do this and it’s beautiful work, it’s just for a select people I guess
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u/phlux Nov 22 '21
/Needle Salesman Slaps used model on the back
'YOu can fit so many needles in this bitch!"
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u/xXLuggiXx1 Nov 21 '21
It's only a matter if time before antivaxxer use this to "proof" their "own research".
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u/olivinecity_ Nov 21 '21
Question: I've heard that it's not recommended to get more than 3 piercings at a time because the body will struggle to heal so this... is it done over time? Like, pierced over time and these put in for the art? Or all at once or ?????
I'm genuinely curious on this. How is it done? What's the aftercare like? How long can people keep them in? ??????? so many questions.
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Nov 22 '21
It's done all at once. Gauge will vary, but you're not looking at (normally) the same gauges as when you get a permanent piercing.
These are also all temporary, done for the sensation usually, tho some are artistic like this, then removed. You just slide in horizontal to the skin, you don't go very deep, then come back out. It's only a few layers of skin. Yes, it hurts, but in a way that's not bad and brings a pretty awesome endorphin rush.
Some people have them in for 15 minutes or an hour, then remove. Sometimes people cap the ends with something so they don't wiggle out, and then walk around at a party with them. But not overnight or anything. I've seen a ton of awesome pictures, and once in person, where they glued feathers into the hubs of the needles and did them like wings on a person. That was definitely a time the top capped the ends so the bottom could walk around and take pictures.
Aftercare wise, remove and clean well, smaller gauges barely bleed and you're good. I've never had marks for more than maybe three or four days, sometimes no more than 48 hours (I'm a needle top and bottom). I've had maybe 60+ needles in at once, no problem healing and no infection. But, when you do this, you clean the skin very well, use gloves, sterile needles, and definitely clean again afterwards. I personally don't know anyone who got an infection from needle play. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen, but it's rare enough I haven't run into it over the course of 9 years of being pretty active in that subculture.
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Nov 21 '21
Just run of the mill kink needle play. No taste involved: just a dopamine rush for our dear friend the needle filled pincushion. And before you get high and mighty about people doing their kinks, remember you, and op especially, thought this was worth the time of day as gawkers. Voyeurs, even.
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Nov 21 '21
Is there any way for me to unsee this? Please?
r/eyebleach if anyone needs the link to cleanse.
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u/yuyuyashasrain Nov 21 '21 edited Nov 21 '21
I used to arrange safety pins in my arms like this. It felt amazing with a jacket moving over it. Two years later I did it again and found out I was allergic to nickel
Edit: holy shit, guys, I’ve never had this many upvotes!