At A Glance
Author	Napalm
Contact	Napalm@bme.anon
IAM	Napalm
When	It just happened
Artist	Splif
Studio	Skinquake
Location	Bloomington, Indiana

You know the best way to cure a pounding headache? Drop an anvil on your toe. You won't even notice the headache anymore.

This same principle applied when I got my helix pierced yesterday. Since March, I have been stretching my lobes, and after being out of town (and away from my piercer) for a month, I was anxious to stretch up to 2 ga.

Granted, I want several piercings, but I have reservations because I am a graduate student and future university professor. It isn't that I am worried about the permanency of it all. Rather, I know that some of my professors are conservative, and my funding depends on their approval. Even the ear plugs are a stretch -- no pun intended, And I am afraid to think what would happen if they saw my nipple rings and the large tattoo on my back.

The people at Skinquake know me by now, and the clerk knew I wanted to take things a notch. I really like this shop because it is very clean. I have had other piercings in other shops, and although all of them are competent and have their own styles, this one is the best.

I picked some jewelry. At first, I wanted some cherry bomb rings, but they were fifty dollars apiece. If 2 ga was my final point of stretching, I would have splurged, but couldn't bring myself to spend that much on transition jewelry. I plan to stop at 00 for a while -- when I get there, I will get the rings. I settled on plugs with lips to prevent the "o"-rings from coming off. Then the piercer, Splif, tells me to come back in an hour so he can autoclave the tapering needles.

As I ready myself to leave, I look at other jewelry. The sight of some tiny circular barbells inspired me to ask about a helix piercing. He seemed excited to do it because it was uncommon. I think he gets tired of doing standard piercings for college students.

I went and got some lunch. I was so excited I could barely chew my food. When I got back, Splif gave me priority over some sorority chicks waiting to get their noses pierced. Before being stretched and pierced, I got to sit on an aftercare meeting with the girls. It was catered for them, and I could tell his apprentice (tactfully) assumed the worst about them -- quite different than any other after care info I'd been given, and much more explicit.

I go on in, and he does the lobes -- quite tender because of the icy weather outside -- it also didn't help that the lips on the jewelry required a little extra stretching. It hurt more than it had in the past, but I sucked it up.

The pain remained though. I drink some water, I take a pause, and he preps the needle and cleans the helix area. He marks the spot, and puts on a fake ring to show how it would lay. He thought that I wanted the piercing to come from behind the ear and wrap around helix. What I wanted was a piercing that went through the helix (in the front), so I adjusted the ring.

He had no problems. He cleaned the area again, had me lie down on a table, and then he told me to take a deep breath. Then he told me to exhale while he inserted the needle. Given that the lobes hurt a ton, I expected a cartilage piercing to make me scream in agony. But I barely felt a thing. I think the greater pain of the lobes distracted me. The anvil effect.

He had some difficulty screwing on the balls, but when finished, it looked great. I love the perfect vertical line that goes from the lobe plug to the ring in the helix. I am considering getting another helix ring (a double helix, ha ha) just below this one, to enhance the vertical line.

Perhaps on the other ear, I will get an assortment of randomly placed rings to contrast the line on the right ear.

Thus far, I have had few problems. You have to be careful when you throw on a sweater or you will catch the ring. Sleeping on it hurts; also I work at a popular retail clothing store chain, and they make me wear a headset, so getting that on today was akward, but those are trifles.

Oddly enough, no one has noticed it at work. Or at least no one has said anything. I was expecting some sort of compliment; but of course, my lobes demand more attention.

No one else here has this piercing -- I feel proud af having made that split-second decision, and I was pleased to cash in on the anvil effect.

--Napalm