This is the story of my ninth ear piercing; I have got two lobe piercings in each ear, two cartilage in right, one in left and now a rook piercing. I also have my tongue web pierced; nipples are next on my list! I had been getting the piercing 'itch' for a while and was dying to get something done, but I wanted something that was unusual as I already have my tongue web done. To date, I am still the only person I know with this piercing. So I looked through BME, trying to find something that was not very common and something that I and my boyfriend both liked. While looking at the ear page (the only place my mum would let me get pierced...she does not know about my tongue web) I found an amazing piercing...the rook.
At A Glance Author Kalika Contact missingpresumedstoned@hotmail.com When A month ago Artist Bruno Studio Kim's Location Southend, Essex, UK Fast forward a week, it was a Sunday and we (me and Tristan, my boyfriend) were in Southend, and he had money. I had already decided to go to Kim's piercing and tattooing studio, I had not been pierced there but a lot of my friends had and had given good accounts of how clean and professional it all was. So in I went, quite nervous but looking forward to it already. I asked Bruno for a rook piercing; instead he spent about ten minutes trying to persuade me to get an industrial instead. However, if I got this then my conservative mother would have thrown me out of my house so I had to decline. It is on my to do list! After apologizing for being boring I filled out the usual form and followed him into one of the back rooms.
Everything was very clean, always a good sign, and on the walls there were pictures of Bruno with all his piercings; I would write all of them but this is an account not an essay! He told me to sit down, and proceeded to mark on where the piercing was going to be and handed me a mirror to check them. They were fine as far as I could see and so I gave him the go ahead. He unwrapped the needle and took the bar out in front of me so I would know it was all sterile, changing his gloves before he did this. He then bent the bar slightly so it would fit better in my ear and would heal faster. He then asked me if I wanted it numbed. I said no. My boyfriend accused me of being obstinate and trying to prove a point but in reality I just wanted to know if I could take it.
He cleaned my ear then positioned the needle. Tristan took my hand; he looked more scared than I was! Bruno counted to two and pushed the needle in. This did not hurt, I could feel the needle but there was very little pain, a pleasant pain. Here I thought that the needle was through, however he'd just pushed it halfway through. He then shoved it harder to get it the rest of the way through, this hurt slightly more but nothing notable, my boyfriend was squeezing my hand! The needle came through with a crunchy-pop noise; he then put the bar in and screwed the ball on. I paid £20 plus a £5 tip. I was given instructions to just use saline solution to clean it, 2-3 teaspoons of salt on a cup of warm water 2 times daily.
I walked out of the shop feeling very happy and in love with my new piercing! It has now been almost three weeks since I got it done and I have only had two major problems; the positioning of it makes it very difficult to soak it, I have had to resort to just using cotton wool buds. The other problem is people hugging me, even though my friends know about it they always forget, hug me and whack my poor little rook. However, it only hurts for an hour or so, sitting here writing this, it has had the worst knocking about today and it is fine. If I touch it there is no pain, I can just feel the slight ridge where the bar is. This cartilage piercing has been the easiest and least painful out of all the ones I have, so for anyone thinking about getting this done, go for it! A minor problem has been the bar turning around, this has caused some pain but simply twisting the bar around has solved this.
As a lot of other people have said, piercing is addictive! Next on my list are my nipples, however at some point I want my tragus, helix and an industrial done, as well as a surface weaving on my chest and at the base of my spine. To anyone that has any questions, or is considering this piercing, just email with any questions you have, I will be happy to answer them. Happy piercing!