I live in a small town on Vancouver Island without any access to a vehicle. So I'm very lucky if I come in close contact with a professional piercer twice a year. Tired of being stranded in the middle of suburbia without access to a piercer, I decided to take on the definitive task myself.
At A Glance Author Jacey Contact jaceyboutilier@hotmail.com When It just happened I'd wanted an industrial piercing for the past few months now but only in the last month realized that I could in actuality pierce it myself. The first thing I did was study absolutely everything and anything I could find about DIY piercings and any kind of piercings in general. Secondly, I'm frightfully paranoid about germs and didn't want to get an infection so I ordered five professional 16g sterilized piercing needles. I was set, all I had to do was wait. Two weeks ago my package of needles arrived and I was amply excited. Although I could not for the life of me summon up enough courage to actually do the deed. I'd pierced my lobes myself before, but that's just flimsy compared to the thickness of the cartilage at the top of your ears, so still I was apprehensive. Moreover I had read and heard many a tale about how painful people had found cartilage piercings to be.
After spending my usual half an hour of looking through all of the wonderful BME industrial piercing pictures today and feeling nothing but envy and frustration for not having one myself, I gave myself a big pep talk and went to my room. This was the moment I had been waiting for. I was finally going to pierce my own cartilage. I grabbed all necessary supplies and went to it.
First I sterilized my ear and hands with an alcohol swab. Next I opened up the little plastic container containing the already sterilized needle. For the next five minutes I just sat there staring at my ear, trying to figure out the perfect placement. Assuredly I settled on one nearer to the top of the ear. I started to get nervous, and my palms started to sweat. I had to tell myself to relax and breathe. I thought about maybe trying to trick myself into getting angry, but thought I might not do as good and precise job if I did that. After a couple minutes of in for eight and out for eight, I finally put the needle up to my ear and took two very, very deep breathes and pushed. To my utter and astounding amazement, the needle slid right through my ear with no resistance at all and with absolutely little pain. I was shocked! I had always read in all of the BME stories how tough cartilage is to pierce, well not for this girl! And where was that famous "POP" sound? I hadn't hear d a thing! I grabbed my barbell and followed it through my hair right behind the needle and a little bit of blood trickled down as I was screwing the ends on, but other than that, it was completely effortless. It was so effortless that I continued to pierce a second hole. It was just as uncomplicated as the first and this time it didn't bleed. Now I have two beautiful cartilage piercings that I can proudly say I did myself and I simply cannot wait until I get my industrial barbell and have the industrial piercing that I have longed for oh these many long months. My ear is of course a little sore now as usual after any piercing, but not as sore as I'd anticipated. I am greatly looking forward to adding more holes along the cartilage of both ears.
I do not recommend Do-It-Yourself piercings for everyone. It is definitely not something you should enter into lightly nor on a whim. Study everything about it first. Read other peoples experiences and learn from them. Use the right tools. You must make sure that you know what you are getting into and most important of all, be safe while doing it.
If you are responsible and take all precautions necessary it can be quite a sensational experience. And of course, as always, it's great not having to shell out $40-$60 bucks. But more prominently, you get an extraordinary and wondrous sense of pride after you have pierced your own ears. It is quite remarkable the feeling you get right after you push the needle through. I had naively gotten the very first two holes in my ears done with a gun and I can honestly say that piercing myself with a needle was less painful during the procedure and after.
In conclusion, I was lucky enough to have a very positive cartilage piercing experience; a very positive SELF cartilage piercing experience, and I plan to have many more in the future.