Hi. This experience regards my low helix piercing, but first a little about me and my other mods.
At A Glance Author Kali Contact Kali@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Lyons Studio ACME Tattoo Co. Location Charlottesville, VA I can't really say how long I've been interested in piercing and the like, the drive has always been there to a degree, ever since I got my ear lobes gunned at a mere seven. I was thrilled to say the least. Eight years and twelve holes later, I still find the whole business thrilling. I only wear jewelry in nine pierces now due to unsatisfactory placement, but what can I expect getting them done by a gun weilding mall rat...
I am currently the proud medium for seven lobe piercings (two of them at 10ga. the rest 16 ga.), a self-done tongue web (16 ga.), a failed and faded india-ink tattoo which I don't regret, and the star of this here story; my low helix.
The question I am most frequently asked aside from the infamous "did it hurt?" is "why the hell did you do that to yourself?" Good question. Because I want to. Because it feels right. Because it's a beautiful form of art for those who can see the beauty in it. It connects me to myself, and makes me feel better about who I am. Plus I get a rush :-).
My parents, while not adamantly against it, do not support it... my wonderful boyfriend, while very understanding, thinks I'm a bit whacked out in this arena... and the vast majority of my friends have given me up as the victim of pure lunacy. At least we can laugh about it. I am home-schooled, so at least I don't have school policies to deal with. What the hell. I gotta do what I gotta do.
Ok, now you know more than you ever wanted to know about me, so here's the story:
Living in very rural Virgina with nothing even resembling a tattoo studio less then 45 minutes away, life gets a little tough. Lucky for me, this tiny little conservative town I live in is less than an hour away from a tiny yet suprisingly interesting city with piercers! And tattoo artists! Paradise...
About two years ago, I stumbled across a picture of a low (a.k.a forward) helix piercing on BME. Love at first sight (yadda yadda yadda...). I thought it was beautiful. But after a previous visit to a crummy tattoo shop to get some jewelry changed by an ass who didn't know what he was doing, my mother vowed not to set a foot in "one of those places" again. Bummer. So after two years of self-piercing and contemplation, I decided I'd have another go, as there is no way I'd be able to get the placement right on this one myself.
I researched the hell out of studios in the area, and found ACME, which seemed very promising. This being my first professional piercing, I called Lyons and asked her if she could pierce me as I'm a minor, along with half-a-million other things. She answered all my questions, and yes, she would pierce me if I brought both my parents along, and I seemed responsible enough to take care of it. So I talked to my parents and made an appointment for the next Friday at 7:30.
The set day arrived, and I was pumped. After bouncing off the walls all afternoon at a friends' house, I jumped in the car and we drove to C-ville to go get stabbed.
I got there on time and Lyons could stick me then and there. The studio was spotless. Each wall was painted a different shade of purple, blue, or green, and it smelled like a hospital. My parents and I filled out our forms while Lyons talked to us about jewelry and the like. She took me to a little purple room with a picture of Buddah on the wall, and got her stuff ready while we went over aftercare (sea salt soaks for 5-10 minutes twice a day, otherwise paws off). Everything had been autoclaved and put in little sterile packets, even the hair clips, to my delight. I told her I wanted it on my left ear, and we talked about placement while she clipped my hair back. She put a CBR without a bead on my ear so I could see what it would look like and marked both sides with toothpicks dipped in gentian violet. We talked a bit more while she prepped, and while inquiring on how she got her training, discovered that she completed Fakir Musafar's advanced piercing course. Impressive!
Finally we were ready. I lay down on my right side on a black table, and she told me how to breathe while she got the 12 ga. needle in place. She told me that when I breathed out she would prick me, and on the next exhale she would push the needle through. Woohoo! I was just lying there grinning like an idiot. She asked if I was ready. Bring it on! So she pricked the first layer of skin, and then began to push the needle through. It was over in a few seconds, but it felt longer. Fine by me. I guess you could say it hurt, but it felt good. There was no sound really, and I could feel the needle sliding through. There is something very... well... sexual... about being pierced. Anyhow. I felt a little pop and the needle was through. Lyons then slid the jewelry through very smoothly, and put the bead on. I had been smiling the whole time, and was still lying there grinning like an idiot. So much for passing out. I sat up and grabbed the mirror. It was beautiful to say the least. Placem ent was perfect, and the jewelry (14 ga. 7/16 in. SSS CBR) looked very well suited to the piercing. I paid her $40 with a $5 tip, and left. I was high as a kite. Still grinning like an idiot. My new piercing didn't like the cold air much, but it felt pretty good. I was one happy pincushion.
My piercings love salt soaks, so I've been doing that twice a day as Lyons suggested, and then wiping lymph away with a Q-tip. It bled for the first few days, which wasn't really a problem until the third night when it bled quite a bit and I think I may have messed with it in my sleep, because when I woke up and cleaned it off, it was red and it swelled up a little and throbbed for a few days. Thankfully that cleared up when I cleaned it once with Betadine at Lyons suggestion. Since then it's been healing beautifully. I don't rotate it when I clean it, don't sleep on it, and don't touch it at all except when I'm cleaning it. That coupled with using only sea salt soaks on a regular basis is why I think it's doing so well. I think the best aftercare regime is whatever you find works best for you, and this seems to be mine.
I hope you liked reading this, and the best of luck with whatever you do. By the way, Lyons is an excellent piercer! If you are ever in Charlottesville I would definitely recommend her.
Love, Kali