So. Me. I had the typical gunned lobe piercings that your Mom took you to Claire's to get when you were eleven and didn't know better, but aside from that, my lobes have always been unadorned. Ever since I was a little girl looking at pictures of people from around the world with stretched lobes, I knew that that was what I wanted, so six weeks ago, at eighteen, I decided that I had waited long enough.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When A month ago Artist RJ Studio New Tribe Location Toronto I already have septum, tragus, eyebrow and a few other piercings, but nothing larger than 12ga, and I had never had more than one piercing at a time before, so I was excited. After some thought, I settled at having my lobes pierced at 8ga, expecting to stretch them bigger later on, and gradually.
So one day when I'd saved up the cash, I hopped on the subway and headed downtown.
I walked into New Tribe (a very clean and friendly studio on Toronto's Queen St W.), accompanied by my friend Jen, and explained
to the guy at the counter what I wanted. He though piercing at 8ga initially was a good idea, explaining that he'd stretched his lobes from an 18ga and it was a real pain in the ass. He rang the piercings up and tossed me a free bar of aftercare soap, because I'd "spent enough money here already today." I thought that was really nice.
Jen and I looked at tattoo flash and body jewelry while I waited. Within about five minutes, my name was called and we headed back into one of the piercing rooms with my piercer, RJ.
RJ explained the procedure, which was the usual - Bactine, clamp, needle in, ring in, and asked if I had any questions. I didn't, so we decided to go ahead with the marking. He took out a surgical marker and traced a small (approx. 8ga) circle on my right ear where he thought the first piercing would go, over the small scars left from my gunned lobes. then asked me how I liked it. I was fairly happy with the placement, but RJ explained that the placement of one is fairly relative to the placement of the other, so we went ahead and marked the left ear.
Upon seeing and comparing the placement, I thought they looked a little uneven (although ear anatomy has to be taken into account), so we messed around a little more with the marker until they were perfect. I was very impressed with the amount of time RJ spent on the marking, and on making sure that I had exactly what I wanted before proceeding to the next step...
..Which is, of course, the piercing itself.
Once my ears were smeared with purple ink, my piercer applied Bactine to my right lobe with a Q-Tip (or "cotton swab," if you wanna be anal about it :)). He removed the clamp from its autoclave bag and squeezed it tight onto my ear, then secured it. The clamp pinched quite a bit, but it was just a minor discomfort and not much to worry about.
Once the piercing was clamped, RJ removed the needle from its own autoclave bag, and asked me if I was ready. I assured him that I was, so he told me to take a few deep breaths (i through the nose, out through the mouth). I did. He pierced me. I felt something warm and wet running down my neck, and a horrified look on Jen's face. I can be quite the bleeder at the best of times, and today was no exception!
I would be lying if I said that it didn't hurt, but honestly, it wasn't bad. The only major discomfort was when the needle broke through the skin (pop!) the second time, and a little more when the jewelry (8ga SS CBR) was pulled through. No big deal. A little pinch and then, nothing except a warm throbbing feeling that lasted for a minute or two. Then, nothing. I think it was more painful to watch then to experience.
After the first ring was in, it was of course time for the second. RJ asked me if I was feeling alright or if I needed some time, and I told him I felt great, so we proceeded with the Bactine-ing of the second ear. It felt pretty much the same as the first, although it bled a little less for some reason.
Once most of the blood was wiped off, RJ handed me the mirror to check out my new holes. They looked perfectly even to me and I was extremely happy with them. He took a final look at them and told me that he too was very happy with the work - there was no extra skin at the back and they were well angled. Another impressive thing about RJ - one of his prime goals seems to be giving the piercee exactly what they want, which every good piercer should do.
After picking up my aftercare sheets (and some extra tissues in case I started bleeding again), I tipped and thanked RJ and left the shop. There was no pain in my ears, only a minor weight that I was not accustomed to (I stopped noticing after a day or two). One hole bled a little after I left the shop, but nothing major.
My aftercare routine consisted of soaking the piercings in warm water (hooray for egg cups!), cleaning them with the aftercare soap, rinsing, then doing salt soaks twice a day for ten minutes each. The routine worked well, and they began to heal very nicely, very quickly. Every once in a while during the first two or three weeks I would snag one briefly while undressing and it would spot-bleed a little, but there have been no major problems thus far, and at seven weeks, they are almost completely healed - there is no visible lymph or crusties of any kind, they just feel a little sensitive from time to time.
And that's my story. I hope to stretch my lobes much larger in the future, but I want to wait a few more months or so before stretching any larger to avoid ripping and blowouts and all that fun stuff.
Thanks for reading.
Happy piercing, y'all!