Today I got my left tragus pierced.
At A Glance Author kenja When It just happened Artist Jenn Studio Universal Tattoo Location Ottawa, ON I had planned to get this piercing done for a while...years ago, before I had ever seen this piercing on anyone, I thought it would be a neat piercing to have-something original-but being underage (I must have been 15 or so) the only possibility for me to get it done would be through a crappy ear-gunning in some store...not exactly the best idea. Plus, what were the chances that the people at the store would go along with my idea? They probably would have thought I was nuts. And the idea of walking to a tattoo/piercing place scared the crap out of me at the time.
Fast-forward several years. I have now had several piercings since-tongue, conch (retired), nipples (retired), tragus and navel (also done today). Anyway, the decision to get my tragus pierced today was somewhat of a spontaneous decision: I had been trying to decide between the tragus (which I was going to get eventually) and a nostril piercing; for the past week or so I had decided that it would be the nostril. However, this morning in the shower I decided, 'no it will be the tragus'...I just sort of chickened out. I thought a nostril piercing would not look good on me, no matter what, something like that. However I still plan to get it done in the future....
I had a dr's appointment this morning and after that I went downtown to the Rideau Centre to get something to eat for lunch. Subway, mmm. After that, I walked down to Universal and the entire time I walked there (like, 2 blocks) I said 'it's now or never' in my head...I guess I still had some nerves to deal with.
Once I walked in I told the guy at the desk what I wanted done. I signed the form and paid the fee ($45 plus tax for my tragus, $95 plus tax for both procedures) and got the aftercare sheets to read while I waited for Jenn.
Jenn is cool. She did my conch piercing almost three years ago and although it did not heal properly, I still trust her. And she has a great bedside manner. (Dawn is the other piercer there, she's cool too-she did my nipples-but she doesn't work Thursdays.)
So I wait there for like maybe 15 minutes or so, not too long compared to some of the times I've been in the store. It wasn't even all that busy. Anyway she comes to get me and we go back to her studio; it has changed since I was there last, but I like the new set up-it is very bright and clear, with a little goldfish on the desk (so cute!)
She tells me that my tragus will be pierced first-which is what I wanted-and that it will in fact be more painful than the navel piercing. I have heard through the experiences I have read on here that the tragus is quite a painful piercing, so that got me ready; still I was not too sure what to expect with regard to pain.
She went through the opening of the packages, etc. routine...she disinfected the area and marked the spot (I thought for a moment that it should be lower but she explained that the placement is dependent upon the cbr resting on the ear; also it looks different with the cbr in the ear, so I was like, cool)...clamped me (she said that the clamping is often the worst part) and I just gripped the bed to prepare myself for the pain...and she pierced. WOW that hurt! And there was a strange feeling on the side of my face too. But I just opened my mouth in reaction to the pain (which went away as soon as the cbr was in). Jenn kept talking, saying that the worst part was over, etc. and soon I was able to look in the mirror.
I had a cute little 16g cbr on my left ear.
I bled somewhat, and after Jenn did my navel she looked at my tragus again and the blood had already clotted, so she cleaned it some more. She also answered some of my questions and asked me which one I'd rather live through again, tragus or navel? The navel was way less painful, so I chose that one!
Heh. My mom was like what?! when she heard what part of my ear I got pierced. I didn't tell her about my navel though. What would she think about that? :-/ (she doesn't exactly like my getting stuff pierced. But hey...it isn't permanent-like I can take the jewelry out.)...
Anyway, it is now about four and a half hours later and it is throbbing a bit. I have accidentally knocked it a few times :-( so I am hoping I didn't damage it too much. I hope my tragus heals well because my conch piercing didn't-I got a lot of scarring at the back of my ear and had to take it out after 2 months. If this one fails, well, at least I tried. I will follow the aftercare religiously (like I always do)-which includes the lovely Spectrojel that I live by-so wish me luck!
Enjoy people.