At A Glance Author alanna Contact alanna@bme.anon When A month ago Studio Access All Areas Location Nottingham, UK Beforehand Since my parents won't allow facial piercings and the only other option is a navel piercing which holds no interest for me, I planned on getting an ear cartilage piercing. I came across BME around 6 months ago when researching in the desperate hope that I could convince my mum I was responsible enough for a tongue piercing. It didn't work, but the site fascinated me and I have been an infrequent visitor ever since, looking at all the different piercings I never thought were possible. At the beginning of this summer, I decided that I wanted to get my first needle piercing. For various reasons, it was put off until only a week or so before my return to the 6th form of school, where the restrictions on piercings are less strict. Which brings us to now: 9:48 am, Friday 22nd August. I will, hopefully be getting my rook pierced this afternoon. Since best friend can't come and boyfriend can't come, I'll be on my own. Argh.
Procedure To be honest, I can't remember all that much about it. Mum came into the studio with me, I asked if he would be able to pierce a rook at any time that day. The appointment was made for about 40 minutes away. Mum signed the consent forms at this point, so that I would be able to come back on my own. I returned at quarter to three and after a short wait, followed the piercer (who according to my sheet was called JP) upstairs. He marked my ear with something purple, and after I agreed he wiped my ear thoroughly with something that looked like a WetWipe. I'm not sure what it was. He then gave me an aftercare sheet to read through while he prepared his equipment. When I'd finished, he went through aftercare himself (the studio's aftercare is salt soaks twice daily (1/2 tsp of sea salt in 1/2 pt boiled water) and hydrogen peroxide every other day.)
He then sprayed my ear with freeze spray. This wasn't exactly uncomfortable - just really cold. It had a strange kind of sensation - like when you spill nail polish remover on your fingers and it feels like it's spreading all the way down your hand. It was quite effective though, since he then told me to turn on my side (I had my left rook pierced) and he would do the piercing. I felt a slight pinch, and he announced that the needle was in. He then said he would put the jewellery in (a 1.6mm PTFE barbell) and I felt a lot of tugging; uncomfortable in the way someone poking you is, but again not really painful. He cut the bar down to size (telling me he would leave it a little long to accommodate swelling) and put the ball on, and I was done. From "lie down" to "you're done" only took about 2 minutes. I got up and looked in the mirror - I loved it.
That day After about half an hour, the freeze spray wore off and the piercing began to hurt. A lot. Not unbearable, but it was definitely sore. When I got home (about 4 hours after the piercing) I cleaned off the small amount of dried blood and soaked it with the reccommended salt solution, which seemed to soothe it a little. Sleeping that night was difficult. I don't think I rolled on to it, however I did wake up several times in the night (unusual for me) and it was hurting each time. It's now the morning after - my ear is aching and slightly swollen. My entire ear is red (at least compared to the other one).
3 and a half weeks This piercing has now pretty much completely settled down. I know it's a long way from healed, but I think the initial healing is over. My method of aftercare is now LITHA - if I see crusties around the piercing, I clean them off with salt water and a paper towel. If the piercing's swollen, I ice it (this is something I don't hear much about but it works like magic.) Otherwise, I keep my hands off and it seems happy. Occasionally I wake up with it looking angry - I think this must be a result of rolling over in the night (I'm not a very settled sleeper). I ♥ this piercing, it has had varied reactions. Mum and most of my friends like it. The kids down the road all said 'Ewww!'. A couple of the girls at work thought it looked good but couldn't figure out how it was done, when I said with a needle none of them seemed too keen. The grandparents don't like it, but they don't hate it either. All in all, I'm glad I got it. Access All Areas was, as far as I could tell, an excellent studio with a great atmosphere. The piercer was business-like but made me feel at ease, and I would definitely return there for any future piercings.