We are constantly updating you on body piercings and the latest trends of body jewelry so every now and then it’s nice to get a little body modification history and overview. Today we will be discussing other forms of body modification, aside from the traditional body piercings.
Body suspension dates back thousands of years, suspension is becoming more and more popular as you can now see suspension shows at nearly any tattoo convention today. Body suspension was traditionally used in religious rituals by Indian, Middle Eastern, and North American people. Nowadays body suspension is just another form of body art and expression.
Suspension is not a form of permanent body modification. It is the act of suspending the human body through body piercings that are made just prior to the body suspension. The actual act of being suspended takes a lot of time and preparation. The person being suspended is studied to see exactly where the hooks can be placed so that the suspension can be done right. Depending on the position the body is going to be suspended the hooks can be placed in the shoulders, arms, and or back. A good understanding of human anatomy and physiology is imperative when practicing suspension you have to know where to place the hooks and how to properly suspend someone without causing injury. The body weight in each hook must be evenly distributed to avoid the hooks actually ripping out of their skin.
Scarification- Scarification is a form of body modification that involves scratching, cutting, burning, or etching words pictures and or designs into the skin. This is a form of permanent body modification as the results of the healing process bring about permanent scars. There are many different reasons why people practice scarification aesthetic reasons, religion, and social reasons. Scarification is used by many tribes in West Africa. Scarification marks are used to identify people of certain social classes, political groups, and religious groups as well.
The healing process in scarification can be long and painful, not only is it uncomfortable but you have to really worry about infection, but you can usually find keloid scarring, keloid scars are raised scars or 3D scars. Keloids can happen as a result of genetics, skin color, or irritation.
Scarification has been practiced for centuries though it is very dangerous and can be harmful to your body there are people that use this practice in their lives all the time. Scarification is nowhere near as big as tattooing is in the United States as it is not a common practice of body modification here in the US.