I've been obsessed with body art, including piercing or course, since I was about 10-12 years old. I've had my lobes pierced once on each side for my entire life. When I was a baby my mom had them pierced. It's a tradition in El Salvador, where I am from. So while most girls in elementary wanted their first ear piercing done, I CRAVED more and more. I just loved the idea of having several earrings in my ears... and I have super high pain tolerance so that wouldn't be an issue at all.
At A Glance Author Cyn Contact Cyn@bme.anon When A week ago Artist ...? i forgot!!! Studio Southern Tattoo and body Piercing Location Old Mandeville, Louisiana Well, Fast Forward five years, and I finally convinced my SUPER conservative parents into letting me get 1 more lobe piercing in each ear, bringing me up to a 4 total. By that time a second piercing was sooo common. Every girl, her mother and her grandmother had all been to Claire's to get pierced with a gun. I am sooo morally against piercing guns; I knew that wasn't an option. Besides, a gun punch means you have to wear a stud for a month and a half. I HATE STUDS.Plus, i wanted 3 holes on each side now.
This took more convincing, but it'd look better than the 30000000 clones of the " cartilage on left, stud and ring underneath, and then stud and ring underneath on the other ear too" look that suddenly spread like wildfire.
So I decided to go pro and go to a studio, sure it was more expensive, and it was just an ear lobe, but I wanted the best for my little lobes.
After tons of research (mostly because I also wanted a labret, but that was out of the question) I found this place in the French quarter "Rings of Desire" that sounded awesome. Well, at this point and time, I was still 15 and didn't have a license, so I had to bring my mom, my school id and a birth certificate to prove she was my mom, and not an aunt or something.
So we drive one hour to this place, and I get there, and the really bitchy receptionist tells me I can't get it done "why not?" "This isn't a real birth certificate!" WHAT THE F***!? Then I look and, oh it's a "certificate of birth abroad" same thing! It was documented at the American embassy in El Salvador! It was a perfectly valid document with a little raised seal and everything. I used that later to get my passport AND license, but NOOO not good enough to get pierced, huh? When she saw my annoyed face, she ranted about how she could be in jail for 300 years and die a cruel death and on top of that be smited by the piercing gods if she pierced me with "inadequate documentation" if that's true then I don't exist, because that is the only documentation I have!
So, we left. It was Decadence weekend (gay and lesbian festival thing) at the Quarter (in New Orleans) so, being bi, I celebrated in my sexuality and bought awesome rainbow striped dick/ and vagina shaped chocolate sticks at "southern Candy makers" for all my friends. (Super Conservative mom was, of course, not present at the purchase and unawares of my sexuality) "Southern candy makers" makes the BEST "bourbon Bark" this thing like slices of chocolate drizzled with every kind of confection in the world!
A few weeks pass and I see my good friend with a tongue ring. "Where did you get that?" I ask
"Southern tattoo and piercing", he says. Fast forward one week and I am sitting in the chair waiting to be pierced. Well, first, my mom signs some consent papers and they copy her license, and sit me down. I ended up paying $17 per piercing + 20 for the extra 2 CBR's for my already pierced holes. then a few more bucks for "aftercare" and i pretty much rounded off at a 100.
I notice the jewelry isn't in autoclaved bags, but she assures me they do autoclave them before putting them in their little display cases, which I guess is ok. The needle is completely new, and everything else is clean looking. Then, I see the autoclave machine in the back, and see some guy pulling out jewelry and, with gloved hands, putting it in the display case, so I relax. I am not a very jittery person. I have high pain tolerance and an avid believer of mind over matter. Emotionally and physical resilient. So, I haven't even THOUGHT about pain, or "what if it hurts so much I faint, or throw up" in fact, I thought about the piercing so little, I didn't even feel the first 2 holes!
Turns out me and the piercer aren't too different. She is in her 20's and went to my high school. She has a lip ring just like I want one, and we chat about how she got started as a piercer. Then I see her wiping blood off on some paper towel, and I realize it is my own! 2 holes went by, and I didn't even feel a thing! The next two I did, probably because I expected it. Then she told me what soap to buy and about the aftercare, all of which I already knew from researching, and I went on my merry way.
I LOVED my piercings instantly. I had bough 6 CBR's 16ga and they each had different colored balls. On top, a small blue one, then a small green one, then a bigger orange one on both sides. I had some ooze the first 3 days, and it bled when I bumped them for 2 days. The left ones ooze a little more, and hurt a little more, but I am being pretty good about cleaning and such. A week later, and they only hurt when I hit them, or my hair gets caught. I plan on getting red, orange, yellow on one ear, then green, blue and purple beads on the next. I wear a lot of rainbows and colors. The little pain, and adrenaline-high have me ADDICTED TO PIERCING!!!
The only drawback is they sting for the first day A LOT and my boyfriend can't kiss my ear lobes, which used to feel sooo good, but there are other things he can kiss. But, that can wait. Next: LIP PIERCING!!! (Oh no! no kissing at all for a month with that one!) I SEVERELY suggest not touching it, over clean, over rotate or generally aggravate piercings. Also, I suggest you don't get 4 holes done at once like I did. It makes for super long cleaning times, extra pain, and especially in the ears, it makes it hard to sleep! I dint sleep well for the first 2 days, until I found this C shaped pillow I made in home EC 3 years ago which worked well. I put my ear in the hole, and went to sleep with no unnecessary pressure on my delicate lobes.
If anyone says it is COMPLETELY pain –free and worry free, they are lying. It is an OPEN PUNCTURE WOUND after all, and you should treat it with love and care.