“I found out about suspension and body modification when I was 15,” Angela Ranieri, a stylist with Paul Mitchell, told me over tea. Ranieri has brightly colored hair, tattoos covering most of her arms and legs, and a pierced septum. “I just really enjoy that kind of lifestyle,” she said.
Body suspension, for those unfamiliar with it, is the act of hanging from ropes attached to hooks or barbells pierced under the skin. Photos and videos of it may make it seem grotesque, but for Ranieri, it’s one of the most spiritual things she’s ever done.
“The energy pull was the only one where it was actually hooks,” she clarified. “The suspensions were just like a thick barbell that got screwed to the sides, so they’re a little more heavy-duty.”
Ranieri got pierced first — “everyone thought I was going to chicken out if I saw my friend go first” — and after the ropes were attached, she and her friend pulled on each others’ ropes.
Ranieri and her friend pulled each other for about 15 minutes. After that, Ranieri decided she wanted to do a full suspension.
“I felt like I wasted everyone’s time,” Ranieri said. “But I told people, ‘I need to do it at least one more time before I say I’ll never do it again.’ I feel like I could have had a good experience if I had eaten, and I hadn’t felt sick that morning, so I want to do it one more time.”
He pierced her inside the house before taking her outside. When they pierce you, she said, “they ask a lot of questions to make sure you don’t push yourself more than you want to; it’s very soothing.”
As for the hooks, “they’re roughly like, an eight-gauge, so they’re decently thick.” (An eight-gauge is about an eighth of an inch.)
Then they went outside.
At first Ranieri had trouble getting the lighter to light while she was swinging. The piercer asked her how her back was feeling.
“I was like, ‘I don’t care about my back, I can’t get the fucking lighter to work!’”
She also mentioned another form called the lotus, in which the placement of hooks enables you to suspend lotus-style, “usually above water; I think it looks really pretty.”
“They all have different names,” Ranieri said. “I don’t even know them all.”
“They kind of just look like acne scars.”
“It’s more a sense of calm — even when I’m swinging, it doesn’t have a swinging feel to it, like a roller coaster-esque feel or anything like that,” she said. “You kind of can’t stop once you’re going.”
title: “A Body Suspension Artist Told Me Why Hanging From Hooks Is So Addictive” ShowToc: true date: “2024-09-25” author: “Shirley Grey”
“I found out about suspension and body modification when I was 15,” Angela Ranieri, a stylist with Paul Mitchell, told me over tea. Ranieri has brightly colored hair, tattoos covering most of her arms and legs, and a pierced septum. “I just really enjoy that kind of lifestyle,” she said.
Body suspension, for those unfamiliar with it, is the act of hanging from ropes attached to hooks or barbells pierced under the skin. Photos and videos of it may make it seem grotesque, but for Ranieri, it’s one of the most spiritual things she’s ever done.
“The energy pull was the only one where it was actually hooks,” she clarified. “The suspensions were just like a thick barbell that got screwed to the sides, so they’re a little more heavy-duty.”
Ranieri got pierced first — “everyone thought I was going to chicken out if I saw my friend go first” — and after the ropes were attached, she and her friend pulled on each others’ ropes.
Ranieri and her friend pulled each other for about 15 minutes. After that, Ranieri decided she wanted to do a full suspension.
“I felt like I wasted everyone’s time,” Ranieri said. “But I told people, ‘I need to do it at least one more time before I say I’ll never do it again.’ I feel like I could have had a good experience if I had eaten, and I hadn’t felt sick that morning, so I want to do it one more time.”
He pierced her inside the house before taking her outside. When they pierce you, she said, “they ask a lot of questions to make sure you don’t push yourself more than you want to; it’s very soothing.”
As for the hooks, “they’re roughly like, an eight-gauge, so they’re decently thick.” (An eight-gauge is about an eighth of an inch.)
Then they went outside.
At first Ranieri had trouble getting the lighter to light while she was swinging. The piercer asked her how her back was feeling.
“I was like, ‘I don’t care about my back, I can’t get the fucking lighter to work!’”
She also mentioned another form called the lotus, in which the placement of hooks enables you to suspend lotus-style, “usually above water; I think it looks really pretty.”
“They all have different names,” Ranieri said. “I don’t even know them all.”
“They kind of just look like acne scars.”
“It’s more a sense of calm — even when I’m swinging, it doesn’t have a swinging feel to it, like a roller coaster-esque feel or anything like that,” she said. “You kind of can’t stop once you’re going.”
title: “A Body Suspension Artist Told Me Why Hanging From Hooks Is So Addictive” ShowToc: true date: “2024-09-18” author: “Delia Birdwell”
“I found out about suspension and body modification when I was 15,” Angela Ranieri, a stylist with Paul Mitchell, told me over tea. Ranieri has brightly colored hair, tattoos covering most of her arms and legs, and a pierced septum. “I just really enjoy that kind of lifestyle,” she said.
Body suspension, for those unfamiliar with it, is the act of hanging from ropes attached to hooks or barbells pierced under the skin. Photos and videos of it may make it seem grotesque, but for Ranieri, it’s one of the most spiritual things she’s ever done.
“The energy pull was the only one where it was actually hooks,” she clarified. “The suspensions were just like a thick barbell that got screwed to the sides, so they’re a little more heavy-duty.”
Ranieri got pierced first — “everyone thought I was going to chicken out if I saw my friend go first” — and after the ropes were attached, she and her friend pulled on each others’ ropes.
Ranieri and her friend pulled each other for about 15 minutes. After that, Ranieri decided she wanted to do a full suspension.
“I felt like I wasted everyone’s time,” Ranieri said. “But I told people, ‘I need to do it at least one more time before I say I’ll never do it again.’ I feel like I could have had a good experience if I had eaten, and I hadn’t felt sick that morning, so I want to do it one more time.”
He pierced her inside the house before taking her outside. When they pierce you, she said, “they ask a lot of questions to make sure you don’t push yourself more than you want to; it’s very soothing.”
As for the hooks, “they’re roughly like, an eight-gauge, so they’re decently thick.” (An eight-gauge is about an eighth of an inch.)
Then they went outside.
At first Ranieri had trouble getting the lighter to light while she was swinging. The piercer asked her how her back was feeling.
“I was like, ‘I don’t care about my back, I can’t get the fucking lighter to work!’”
She also mentioned another form called the lotus, in which the placement of hooks enables you to suspend lotus-style, “usually above water; I think it looks really pretty.”
“They all have different names,” Ranieri said. “I don’t even know them all.”
“They kind of just look like acne scars.”
“It’s more a sense of calm — even when I’m swinging, it doesn’t have a swinging feel to it, like a roller coaster-esque feel or anything like that,” she said. “You kind of can’t stop once you’re going.”
