When I was 16 I decided I wanted 8ga high inner conches. I had 4ga low inner conches and I wanted to balance my ear around a bit. The top looked so bare and the bottom looked so cluttered. I asked my piercer, Dave, if he'd pierce my high inner conches for me at 8ga, and he said he would. I bought an 8ga barbell from him and we proceeded to go to the piercing room. I was a bundle of nerves. I had my G1 Exit (to get my G2, so I could drive on my own) drivers test the next day and I was really fucking nervous. Mackenzie was upstairs finishing a tattoo on someone and asked if he could watch when he saw the size of the needle. I said he could.
At A Glance Author San Contact San@bme.anon IAM BlueStar When N/A Artist Dave Studio Way Cool Tattoos Location Niagara Falls, Canada
Dave prepper my ear and marked it. I checked the mark and ok'd it. He was doing it completly freehand because the receiving tube he had was 6ga and not big enough to catch the needle, he felt. He told me he'd do it on the count of three and as he counted I'd take a breath in, and out. On three, I felt the needle rip through my skin and cartilage. It hurt. More than being dermal punched. Dave is smooth, and fast, so it was over quickly. The jewellery folllow through was no problem and there was very little blood. Mackenzie stared at me in awe and said I had bigger balls than him. My friend Laura got her navel pierced a couple of times and then we left.
The next day I had a pounding headache and I passed my drivers test. (Thats just for the ones that are curious.) I soaked my ear a lot and it felt better. I also took a lot of ibuprofin. It made it bleed a bit, but the swelling went down. After about a month I bought an 8ga tunnel and switched the jewellery. Then I decided to get the other side done. This is where the fun begins.
I went to Way Cool Tattoos Niagara (which no longer exists) where Dave worked and gave him the barbell to autoclave and we (Laura and I) hung out for a bit. Then the jewellery was done. We went upstairs and he got out another 8ga needle. Laura took a picture of it. Dave marked my ear a few times and we finally agreed on a placement that was even with the other side. He prepped my ear and I got ready for the piercing. I wasn't as nervous, I knew what it felt like and I was anticipating the pain.
Dave decided to use the 6ga receiving tube this time. He pressed it to the back of my ear and counted down, and I did my breathing, and he started to pierce. The needle was halfway through my ear and he decided against using the receiving tube and threw it on the table, while I asked, "What the fuck is going on?". He came back and shoved the needle the rest of the way through. Not the best experience. Laura took a picture. The jewellery follow through went without a problem. I had a headache for a few days.
I healed it the same way. Salt water soaks for a month and then antibacterial soap. It was sore for a while. I bought a matching tunnel and it was smaller and got caught on less than the barbell. (the barbell was 5/8") I continued soaking because the tunnel was harder to clean around with soap. After a while I gave up and took the jewellery out. I let it shrink for a few days and put 14ga barbells in it. I screwed around with it a lot after that.
I took 2 12ga rings and put them through my 4ga conches and the high conches, making a neat looking orbital. My right ear didn't like it at all, so I had to figure something else out. I tried to make a funky industrial, but they weren't on the right angles to do so. I gave up and put 10ga rings into the holes, and realized shortly after rings were not good. I put 14ga barbells back into them and they were fine after that, until I bought 2 14ga titanium CBR's and used those. They lasted a week. So, I'm back to using 14ga barbells. I want to stretch them to 8ga or 6ga.
I definitely reccommend getting dermal punched at bigger gauges than getting pierced. It heals much better (faster), it leaves a cleaner hole (aka: no blowout) and it hurts a lot less. Stretching cartilage also sucks quite a bit. Cartilage is easily irritated, as I learned. I can easily fit 10ga into the hole, but I have no 10ga jewellery that would work very well for it. I only have CBR's and I hate using CBR's in conches. I find its extremely hard to find a position to lay down in at night without putting pressure on the piercing.
Good luck and happy piercings.