Hello to those of you who decide to read my second lobe piercing experience. I, your author, am Jen, and I am 18 years old and have been into body modification for the past three years. I have my left lobe at 9/16 an inch, my left inner conch at 14 gauge, my left cartilage at 14 gauge, and now my second lobes at 16 gauge. I also have two badly done tattoos that you can read about as well. For now, I'm writing about my second lobes.
At A Glance Author jen Contact audiovintage@hotmail.com IAM Wandering Spirit When A week ago Artist Ashley (Misako) Studio Atomic Tattoos Location Brandon, FL It was a Saturday night and my friend Ashley offered to pierce me for free as a birthday present. I was totally looking forward to more ear work and excited that she was going to do my piercings for free. Ashley is an awesome artist and takes extra special care of each and every piercing she does, so for her to do a piercing on me, for free, was an opportunity I was willing to take up in a heartbeat! What to get pierced was the major question. I am hypoglycemic (opposite of diabetic) and getting a piercing can make me ill, so before everything I went to Subway and got a sub with Ashley and my friend Holly. I also picked up some cookies for just before the piercing.
After Subway, we waited a few hours for the food to settle and for Ashley to pierce a girls navel. We smoked a few cigarettes outside and just hung out for a while talking about what to get pierced. I did not want to pierce anything in the cartilage because Holly and I were going out after that, and a "crunching" piercing would make me feel sick. So my options that I wanted were a rook, industrial, and maybe some second lobes. Since I was going out we decided on the second lobes.
Inside we go and Ashley looked at my ears with a flashlight to check for any veins and also to look at any veins for some future planning. I was sort of nervous at this time, but not so much that I could feel it in my stomach. I ate a few bites of those cookies to make sure I had some sugar in me while Ashley cleaned the station. She also washed her hands about three times, because she HAS to be absolutely clean before any piercing.
I went into the room and Holly came in with me. I sat on this long red bed-like chair. Ashley put on some fresh gloves while Holly got a chair and sat behind me. Ashley pulled out the jewelry, needles, cork, clamps, and gauzes (all of which were in autoclaved packages) and laid them on a sterile cloth. She opened each package and kept the contents on the inside of their packaging, on that cloth. After that, she placed a few q-tips on the cloth along with some soap she pumped out of a tube or bottle (I can't exactly remember). She changed her gloves and pulled out her ink and a few toothpicks. My ears were marked with some purple ink and the toothpicks (its more sterile then the marker) and I checked out my ears in a mirror. We decided the placement should be high since I am stretching my ears and wanting to go larger then I have them. The piercings are high enough to be out of the way of my stretching, but just low enough to be considered lobe piercings.
I showed my ears to Holly and she said "Very nice." so it was time to poke me! At this point in time, I was somewhat nervous but not feeling it in my stomach. I kept concentrating on the "Bodily Fluids Clean Up Kit" that was on the table. Strange things come to mind when you think of bodily fluids, let me tell ya! Ashley clamped my left ear and I began to calm down a bit. She told me to take a deep breath in while she lubricated the needle, and right as I started to exhale I felt the needle enter my ear. The clamp was removed, a cork was put on the needle and I felt myself go a bit pale. "Jen, you're lookin' a bit pale on me. I want you to drink some coke." So I had Holly grab me a drink and I took a few sips before my jewelry was placed in. I did not pass out or anything, I just lost a bit of color (which is normal if you are hypoglycemic). My new 16 gauge jewelry was slid into my left ear and I checked it out in the mirror. ROCK! Perfectly pierced.
On to the next ear, and I was totally ready! This time I could not look at the "Bodily Fluids Clean Up Kit" since I had to turn my head the other way. I checked out the autoclaving machine and started asking question about it. I'm naturally a very curious person and I never really knew anything about the autoclave except it cleaned things! While I was asking questions, Ashley was placing the clamps while getting ready and answering each question I could ask. "Take a deep breath", and again, as I exhaled I was pierced. My right one hurt a lot more and I told her that. "That's because it was the second piercing, and it's normal for the second one to hurt more." Okay! The clamps were removed, the jewelry was lubricated and slipped into my hole.
Ashley changed her gloves to some fresh ones and wiped off my ears. There was not a much blood at all, but there was still some purple showing around my piercings that needed to be wiped up a little. After that she changed gloves and threw all the left over gauzes, autoclaving packages, and the cloth my stuff was laid on, away. Then she stripped off her gloves and asked me how I liked my new piercings. "Perfect!" They are small enough that I can wear the earrings my Grandmother gave me as a 16th birthday present, but they are not the STUPID gun piercings that all the STUPID kids get.
Before I left the shop, Ashley handed me and Holly (she got her ears tapered a bit) a small bag of sea salts with the directions on a card inside. Goodie bags! I clean my ears every morning with Dial soap and a few q-tips, and once again before bed. I only soak my ears at night since I don't always get the time to before work or school. My ears are healing well, but I haven't had a fresh piercing in so long I'm not used to the crusties. I highly recommend Ashley as a piercing artist because she is extremely clean and knows exactly what she is doing. Plus she is very cool to talk to and always tries to make you feel as relaxed as possible. I am definitely going back for my other piercings and we may be planning a few more. Just taking them one step at a time!