It was three weeks before my birthday and I decided that I couldn't wait for my birthday to get pierced. I wanted to get my eyebrow pierced, but my mother did not want me to, so I decided to get an industrial, which I wanted anyways. I researched everything I could about healing time and other things. Finally I called the shop in which I would be pierced at. I asked all kind of questions—from what gauge he pierced at to if he used an autoclave. Once he satisfied all my questions, I decided that I ready to go get pierced.
At A Glance Author Cori When Six months ago Artist can't remember Studio Tattoo Alley Location Akron, Ohio The day I was going to get pierced, I made sure to bring two forms of identification, which was required when you are underage. I was so excited that my mother was actually going to let me get pierced. I made sure to wear my hair up so that it would not get in the way while I'm being pierced. My mother, my sister, and I had to take a bus downtown since we did not have a car. We had to take two different connections. My mother said, "Look at all I have to do just to go get you pierced."
We finally get to the shop and we wait for someone to come to the counter. I began to look around at all the tattoo designs all over the wall. Finally a man came to the counter and asked what piercing I was going to get. I told him an industrial and he tells the piercer who leaves to prepare the room in the back. The man gives my mother and me paperwork to fill out and takes both of our i.d's to photocopy. He also asks to see my birth certificate. Finally we finish filling out the paperwork and we went to the back room.
In the back room I met my piercer and he explains everything that he is going to do. At this point I began to get really nervous because it finally hit me that this was actually happening. He has me sit on one of those bed things like the ones they have at a doctor's office. He then cleans my ear thoroughly with iodine and marks two places on my ear with a non-toxic marker. He then tells me to look in the mirror to see if I like the placement. I tell him that I am satisfied with the placement.
He then takes the clamps off of the tray and lines it up with the marks that he made previously. I began to worry about the pain. He took a needle out of a package and told me to count to three and pushed the needle through. I was surprised that it really did not hurt; it was just a tiny pinch. My piercer is surprised that I did not scream out and he tells me that I am hardcore. He tells me that the girls that usually come to his shop want to have their belly button's pierced. He then clamps where the bottom hole was going to be and gets a new needle out of a package. This time, when he pushed the needle through, it hurt a tiny bit more. The worst part was when he put the jewelry in. When he pushed the barbell through the holes, it made this weird crunch-pop sound. My ear did not even bleed.
My piercer looks at my mother and asks, "Would you like to get something done?" My mother looked horrified and said no. He then gives us all the information on the aftercare. We all go up to the front counter to pay. It only cost fifty dollars including the jewelry. We then left the shop and stopped at a pharmacy on the way home. I bought some antibacterial soap that I needed for cleaning my piercing. The first time I cleaned it, it hurt so badly. I did not even want to touch it. After a couple of days, the swelling went down and my ear was not as sore anymore. After about two weeks, I stopped cleaning it with antibacterial soap and began following the LITFA (leave it the f*ck alone) method. I only cleaned it by letting hot water run over it when I take showers. This works well for me. At this point I was able to sleep on my left side again without any pain. The only time I have any problems with it, is when it gets bumped.
I would recommend this piercing for everyone. It did not hurt very much to have done and it looks awesome. If you plan on getting this particular piercing, you should find out as much as you can about it before getting it done. When your piercing is healing, I would recommend that you be careful when putting a shirt on so that you won't bump it.