Not long ago, another piercing fad started at my school. Last time, the fad was nostril piercings (which really annoyed me.... the fad started a couple of months after I had mine done, grr), which after forking out the money for, all the girls who'd followed the fad took the piercing out after a month.
At A Glance Author Tea Contact Tea@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Damien Studio Punktured/ Off Ya Tree Location Adelaide, South Australia This time, however, the fad was tragus piercings. While I thought that it was a beautiful piercing, I decided that I wasn't going to get it done..... I didn't want to seem like I was getting the piercing just to follow a trend that everyone else was.
So in the meantime, I stretched my ears up to 10mm (another thing which has become a fad in my area... right after I started doing it too, most annoying, especially as another girl continually accuses me of 'copying her idea' of stretching)
Recently, while shopping in the city with a friend, I popped into my favourite store, Off Ya Tree/Punktured, to look at getting myself a nice pair of plugs to replace the rather ugly tapers in my ears. I found a lovely pair of dark wooden flares, and asked one of the guys to get them out the cabinet for me.
While he did so, and as my friend deliberated over whether she was going to get another tongue stud, I looked at the pricing list for piercings.... it had been awhile since I'd been poked, and I really wanted some more holiness. I thought about getting my daith done, but I'd made an agreement with my boyfriend that we'd get our daiths done together to celebrate our anniversary. The next thing I saw on the list was Tragus piercings..... I had a little bit of a think about it, but then my friend decided that she wasn't going to get her tongue pierced again after all, so we left.
Outside the shop, I asked her what she thought about them, and told her my reservations about getting the piercing, i.e., I did not want to look like a trendwhore. She gave me some good advice; 'You know it will look good on you, and the important thing is, you have a different reason for getting the piercing, you aren't getting it just to look cool, so if anyone accuses you of trying to be a trendwhore, tell them to fuck off'. Sound advice that, and I took it on board, but instead decided to wait until my work experience the next week, as my workplace was just around the corner from Punktured.
So today, at my workplace for the next couple of days, I had much fun helping with some odd bits of dressmaking and stuff, and was then given an hour for lunch. Now most people know that unless one is a very slow eater, one can do other stuff during a lunchbreak.... so that's what I decided to do. I popped into Punktured and told the nice guy at the counter what I wanted done (whose name always escapes me...).
He told me that the piercer in today, Damien, was just piercing someone else, so if I'd like to go and get something to eat, etc, then I could get my piercing done straight after. So, I crossed the road, grabbed myself some Subway, went over to the nearby Anime store and bought my boyfriend a little present, and came back to Punktured, all ready to have needles stabbed through my ear.
I filled out all the paperwork, and got a little aftercare sheet (I'm in the shop every time I go to the city, and always chatting to the people there about aftercare and healing times, etc, so they knew that they didn't need to tell me a great deal more), and waited on the couch while Damien cleared some stuff up, and found the jewellery, etc.
Finally, Damien was ready to pierce me, and I got onto the table/bed, as he cleaned my ear, and made a mark for placement (and at this point, I'll just let you all know that Damien changed his gloves after doing anything, as all good piecers do), and clamped my ear.
He told me that he would pierce on three, which was fine by me, so he counted, and then on three, pushed the needle through.
Although I had been told that there would be a slight 'pop' when the needle went through (as many BME experiences have also told me), to tell the truth, I didn't hear one. Damien went through the ritual of cutting the tube to get the clamp out of the way, and inserting the jewellery, when I felt my ear fill up. I asked Damien if it was blood my ear was filling up with, and he said it was. After getting the BCR inserted, and the ball in, Damien cleaned my ear up, and tried to get the bleeding to stop somewhat... which he managed to do before my break ended and I went back to work.
I got back to work, however, and was getting given a new task to do, when Terrie (my boss) stared at my ear and said 'Errr..... You do know your ear is bleeding, right?' I explained to her why my ear was bleeding, and went on with my work. In a quiet moment, I went into the bathroom and took a look, and sure enough, my ear was covered in dried, crusty blood. Tasty. I took my plug out and cleaned it up okay, and thankfully there's been no more bleeding.
I definitely recommend anyone who likes this piercing to get it done, the pain is minimal- there's a little sting as the needle goes through, but as soon as the jewellery goes in, the pain disappears, and is practically non-existent. It's also a beautiful piercing, and if anyone accuses you of being a trendwhore, take my dear friend's sound advice, and tell them to fuck off.
Love and Light
Tea