I turned 17 on January 4th, 2004. I had been wanting some kind of new piercing for quite some time, but I really couldn't decide what to get pierced. My parents were, and still are, very skeptical about piercings, and me getting them, so my options we pretty limited. Nothing on my face (no septum, lip, nose, eyebrow, etc.), no tongue, nothing overly weird. I hate having these restrictions, but I would rather stay on my parents good side, and keep my car privileges.
At A Glance Author Jackie Contact another_innocentgirl@hotmail.com When Three months ago Artist RJ Studio New Tribe Location Toronto, Ontario Finally, after many late nights of research on BME, I decided to get my inner conch pierced. I went the day before my 17th birthday with a few of my friends. We went to New Tribe, in downtown Toronto. I had visited a few places before and thought that New Tribe seemed like the nicest place. I had also called ahead the day before to ask if I needed an appointment, and how much everything would cost. The guy on the phone was really nice and made me feel comfortable already. The price of the piercing wasn't too bad, though I didn't have to pay for it since it was my birthday present. I was really nervous about getting the inner conch. I hadn't actually had anything newly pierced since grade 6 (my earlobes), and since stretching that to a 2 gauge, which was no sweat. I had butterflies in my stomach as we sat on the train on the way downtown. The anticipation was killing me, I wanted to know if getting such thick cartilage pierced would hurt as much as I thought it would.
We got off the train and walked straight to New Tribe. My teeth chattered because I was nervous. Me and my friend sat on the plush leather couches in the waiting room, looking out the window at the much music building. It didn't take long for RJ to call my name. He was ready for me. I was starting to calm down. RJ asked me where I wanted the hole to be. I didn't really know because I thought that there was a certain spot where you had to put inner conch piercings. I felt kind of stupid not knowing exactly where I wanted the piercing to go, but I was pretty new to piercings, don't make fun. We worked it out, he cleaned my ear and put a little purple dot where he was going to pierce it. I lay down and RJ was poking my ear with the blunt side of the needle to check if it would go through straight. Just feeling that hurt a bit. Then he told me to take a deep breath in, and then out as he shoved the needle through. It hardly hurt, I was so surprised! He put the 16g CBR in, and cl eaned it up. I was feeling light headed so I just lay there while RJ cleaned everything up. He was really great about it, he even went and got me a cup of water. Once I collected myself I sat up and looked at my ear in the mirror. It was awesome. I immediately fell in love with it.
We left the building, and it was windy outside. The Queen Street sidewalks were crowded that day, and my ear was beginning to throb. I was cupping my hand around my ear so that the wind or any people walking by wouldn't hurt my ear. I was really paranoid for the rest of the day. It hurt more AFTER I got it pierced, than the actual procedure itself.
The aftercare was simple, sea salt water and clean with a plain, non-scented soap. I got sick of doing the sea-salt water soaking really fast. I continued to clean it with the soap (soft soap) for about 2 weeks, then I got lazy again. I don't think I cleaned it at all for about 3 months. That wasn't smart. A little bump formed on the back of my ear, right beside the hole. Every morning there were little "ear crustys", and it hurt a lot, but for some reason I didn't think anything of it.
I had always planned on getting two inner conch piercings in the same ear. However, I never had the money for it, or the guts. One day in April, me and a friend were going downtown to see a band called Thursday. We had the whole day to waste, so Katie was going to get a surface piercing, and she said I should get my second conch done. It didn't take much to convince me, I had some money. My little brother even lent me some money, he thought it would look cool.
It was the same price for the second conch piercing. RJ and I discussed where exactly I wanted the hole to go, since this time it would be a bit different. It's on the same ear, above the first hole, where the cartilage is a bit thicker. RJ suggested either putting the hole right above the first one, or above and a little more towards the inside of my ear. I said maybe I should choose the latter, since it would be easier to pierce, but RJ reassured me that the difficulty of the piercing wasn't an issue. So I decided to get the hole right above the first one, pain factor aside. He also told me that the new hole would get infected because the first one was infected. I took that into consideration with my aftercare this time.
RJ did the same thing that he did last time, poking my ear with the blunt side of the needle to check if it would go straight through my ear. Deep breath in, breathe out, needle goes through my ear. It hurt so much more than the first time! It felt like it took him so long to put the CBR in my ear too, but I think that's just because it hurt more. I didn't feel as queasy as I did last time, and I sat up right away. My ear was throbbing. I looked at it in the mirror and fell in love again. It looked even cooler! I had a little black acrylic ring in the first hole, and now a silver CBR in the second. RJ said that once I get another black ring in there, I should come back so he can take a picture of it. He was really happy with how the piercing looked, and kept telling me how cool it looked. That made me happy.
I went out to the lobby to pay, and I asked the receptionist if she thought it looked cool. She responded with a "YA!!!". It made me laugh, because she thought it looked awesome too. I didn't hurt much afterwards, like it had last time. We went to the Thursday concert, and I wasn't even paranoid about hurting my ear. It wasn't bothering me at all.
For the aftercare, I decided to buy the bar of tea tree oil soap and the little bag of Epsom salt that they sell at New Tribe. The next day I soaked my ear in warm water to loosen up the piercing, then soaked it in sea salt water, then washed it was the tea tree oil soap. I'm not sure if that's how I was supposed to do it, but it worked. Right after cleaning my earrings properly, the little lump on the back of my ear went away. The new hole didn't get infected at all, and the infection in the first hole was cleared up immediately.
I did get lazy again with the cleaning. I only did the sea salt water for about a week, but I continued to clean the piercings with the tea tree oil soap, which worked a lot better than soft soap. I have had the second hole for about 2 months now, and it's nice and healed. I still clean the earrings with the tea tree oil soap in the shower every morning. That way I don't have to soak my ear because it's already loose because of the water and steam in the shower. I have yet to buy a new black ring for the second hole, but it still looks awesome. I'm now thinking about buying two barbells, or curved barbells, once I actually have the money.
I don't think I'll be getting any more piercings. I want my tongue pierced, but I would get kicked out if I did that, so that's not possible. I don't want any on my face or any more on my ears because I like to keep it simple. The next mod I'll get is a tattoo on my back. It's going to be pretty big, should cost me a couple hundred dollars. And of course, I'm going to go back to New Tribe to get that done as well. They're all really nice people there, and they do a great job.
If you're looking into getting your inner conch pierced, I think you should, because it looks awesome. Don't be afraid of the pain. It does hurt more than most other piercings (so I've heard from friends), but it's only for a few seconds, and it's well worth it.