I've had a few piercings done in the last year, labret, nipples, but nothing scared me as much as getting my tragus pierced.
At A Glance Author Lou Contact Lou@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Mike? Studio Stefs Location Bolton UK The only place in the town where I live does tragus piercing uses a gun (bad I know) and it's run by piercers who have no people skills whatsoever (I won't put the name on here for obvious reasons but if you live in North-West England please feel free to e-mail me) so I took a trip up the road to Stefs in Bolton as I had read some tragus experiences on here all of whom were praising them.
So I booked the day off work in preparation and decided to coincide the piercing with a shopping trip. All was going well until I went to get the train to Bolton and got on the wrong one and ended up in Manchester, by the time I eventually got to Bolton it had been a good few hours since I had eaten so had to go for lunch because I was getting a little nervous and, even though I've haven't done it for a while, I have a tendency to faint.
Having eaten and feeling even more nervous I went to Stefs, having never been before I wasn't sure what to expect. From the outside it can look a little seedy but once I got in I realised it was one of the cleanest tattooist/piercers I had ever been in. After browsing the jewellery for a while I decided to head upstairs before I chickened out. The first floor is where they do the tattoos and they have a lot of flash on the walls, I had a look at these for a while as it was quite busy and there were two people having tattoos. Mike (I think that's his name) popped his head out the door and shouted "are you here for a piercing?" I nodded a little nervously and he said he'd only be 5 minutes.
About ten minutes later once he'd finished his tattoo and cleaned up he came back out and took me downstairs to the piercing room. Whilst I filled in the consent form a couple of young girls were asking him about tattoos, I began to realise that it was a lot better than the studio in my hometown immediately because after describing what they wanted he advised them to reconsider as they'd regret their decision (one of them wanted a cartoon frog on her stomach), most tattooist's I've been to would do pretty much anything.
We got to the piercing room and by that point I was a little nervous, the only piercings I have on my ear are standard lobes so I was talking incessantly at him whilst he prepared his equipment telling him about an experience at the piercers I'd originally gone to for my labret and how I'd walked out because of their attitude towards me (he had heard about their reputation ) and I was asking about various other piercings I wanted (vertical nipples) and placements. He was really friendly and put me at ease and from the conversation I decided I'd definitely be going back so long as my tragus was ok because he knew his stuff (quite a rare thing in my experience of piercers, we don't have many where I live)
He then put some paper towels around and slightly inside my ear then cleaned it and applied a freezing spray. I was still talking away and not really paying much attention as usually seeing the needles makes me even more nervous when I realised the needle was already through my tragus! I honestly didn't feel a thing! He put the BCR through and it took a good minute or so for him to fasten the ball as I had chosen a tiny ring then it was done. Still no pain or blood, I was amazed! My nipples were the last piercings I'd had and while I think back now and remember how little that hurt I did feel the needle going through and experienced the throbbing pain but with this one I didn't feel a thing!
I paid (£15) got my free little bottle of cleaning fluid and aftercare advice, he even advised me over a problem I'd had with my nipple, then went on with my shopping where I tried on various t-shirts and jumpers so I was constantly getting undressed and still no pain. I slept on that side that night and it was fine, it's nearly a week on and there's been not one bit of blood.
I can't believe I put off going for so long because I was scared it would hurt or I'd hear the 'pop' and faint!
If you're in the north west of England and considering this I'd definitely recommend Stefs, I think I'll be going back soon for a tattoo!