For over a year now I've wanted to get my rook pierced. I saw rook piercings on BME and thought they looked great and were really unique. I have had my ears pierced at least once since I was four years old & have continued to get piercings ever since. My "real" piercings (done at a studio with a needle instead of with the evil, evil gun) started back in March when I got my tongue pierced on my eighteenth birthday. Since then I have gotten my navel done (and took it out since it hurt like a bitch and I don't understand why the hell anyone would want that done) and my tragus, which I absolutely adore. And while I still love my tongue and my tragus piercings, I was working my way up on the pain level to my rook.
At A Glance Author *Kayla* Contact topazsky@aol.com Artist Dacia Studio X-Treme Ink Location Knoxville, TN So anyway, my friend (my piercing buddy) wanted to get her labret pierced on Monday. We went to X-Treme Ink and was told that the piercer had left for the day, but she would be back tomorrow. She really wanted it pierced then, but the owner told her if she came back tomorrow he would knock $25 of the price of her labret. Needless to say, we decide to go back the next day.
The next day, Tuesday, was when all hell broke lose. Everyone was extremely freaked out and we made really bad jokes about the world coming to an end. My roommate joked that the virgins needed to go get laid and my friend said the unpierced needed to get a piercing. While I am already pierced and still a virgin, I decided a piercing was much better for me.
My friend and I get to the studio and the piercer is stuck in traffic. So we wait about ten minutes before she comes in. My friend is freaking out like she and I both usually do before we get piercings, but she goes ahead and gets her labret done. (It looks great, btw.)
So I, being the baby am I, sit there a few minutes contemplating whether or not to get my rook pierced. My friend says to me, "Kayla, do you really want it pierced?" I do, but I'm scared about the pain. She tells me to do it because I really want it & I've already gone through 16 other piercings (though only 13 had made it at that point) and I should do it. So I fill out the paperwork and proceed to freak out.
The piercer had already told my friend that she puts the clamp on really tight so that you're focused on the clamp and not the actual piercing. She does. She has trouble with the placement on my rook, though, because my ear is weird, apparently. So she has the owner come in to hold my ear (which he kept holding on the my cartilage piercing that was done with a gun and still hurts at times); my friend is holding my hair back with one hand and holding my hand with the other, and the piercer is trying to mark and clamp my ear.
Wow, did the clamp hurt. In fact, the clamp was too big and it slipped and cut me.
I have my head tilted to the side and I can't tell what's going on. All I can see is that the piercer is changing gloves and getting out a new clamp while the owner is getting out paper towels, cotton balls, and alcohol, and wiping my ear off.
The owner keeps saying my rook is going to be a "son of a bitch to pierce" so that's not making me feel any better. All I know is I see blood, am in pain, and feel like I am having a surgery performed on me.
I don't know what to do, so I keep saying "ow, ow, ow" in a singsong kind of voice. The piercer says it's ok, just keep singing the "Ow, ow" song. I feel like I'm five years old, singing an "ow, ow" song.
I don't remember the actual piercing, but my friend said I flinched a little and squeezed her hand when the needle went in. I could feel the jewelry go in because my ear was sore and it was uncomfortable.
We stayed a few minutes and talked to the piercer (who was very nice) and waited for my ear to stop bleeding a bit. When the bleeding seemed to stop, we left. Halfway back to the dorm, though, I looked in the mirror and saw blood running down the side of my head, so that wasn't fun.
It bled for a little while from the piercing and where the clamp cut me, but it finally stopped. It's still sore now (as it should be) but I can sleep on it and everything. I really like it, and I suggest anyone who wants their rook pierced to do it. I doubt that anyone would have as much excitement as I did when I went. But it was definitely worth it. : )