The idea of a tragus piercing had been on my mind for about three years, but until about a month ago, the option of it getting done was just a dream. The day my mother decided to let me get my tragus pierced was the day she got her very first tattoo. I had talked her into letting me get a tree frog tattooed on my right shoulder blade, but since adults can only sign for minors to get a body piercing now, I was out of luck. When my mom asked if I would rather get a body piercing instead, I was shocked, and jumped at the chance. She gave me the choice of getting my nose, bellybutton, or tragus done. Since my job doesn't allow any type of facial piercing I couldn't go with the nose, and since I've got quite a bit of chub, I immediately turned down the bellybutton piercing.
At A Glance Author Rad Kayco Contact Rad Kayco@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Eric Studio Tattoos Unlimited Location Vacaville, California The day after we decided what I was going to do, I called Tattooed Unlimited and talked to my older cousin Eric. He just did this awesome memorial tattoo on my dad's forearm, so I decided that I wanted him to pierce me. We made an appointment and talked about prices and such. I had about four hours to get my nerves to relax and to get down to the parlor. I spent those four hours on bmezine reading up on stories about people's tragus piercings. It got to the point that I almost changed my mind about getting it done due to the all dreadful popping/crunching noise.
I got down to the parlor and picked out the earring that I wanted. I chose a small $20.00 silver captive ring with a black ball. My cousin then left my mother, step father, and me in the main room while he went into the back to get everything all sterilized and such. This is where my nerves hit me full force. I was shaking and talking about really lame stuff just to hear myself talk.
Soon enough, my cousin called me into the back room. I told him that I decided to get the right side done, so he had me sit in the chair with him on my right. I made the mistake of looking over at his tray. The minute I saw the clamp and the needle, I freaked out. This was my first hollow-needle piercing, and I was way scared. I asked my mom to hold my hand while he cleaned my ear off and clamped it. Then in the middle of talking to my mom, he muttered something and soon enough I could feel the needle going through my ear. I squeezed my mom's hand, and she mentioned how "he wasn't even doing anything yet", but took it back when he went to get the earring ready and saw the needle sticking through my tragus. There was no popping or crunching noise for me, just a little bit of pressure. He got the earring on and cleaned off what little blood had showed up around the back of the piercing then sent me back to the main room.
Within an hour of getting my tragus pierced, I could talk on the phone and lay on it. It was actually one of the least painful piercings that I've gotten (I have four in each lobe and one in the section between cartilage and lobe on each ear) and this really surprised me. I had expected the hollow needle to hurt way more than a piercing gun. The bad thing about this piercing is that it'll seem to heal, then it will get infected. If I forget to q-tip my ear when I get out of the shower, I really pay for it in the morning. Sometimes someone will bump it and pain will shoot through the right side of my face. It goes back and forth, and its really hard to keep up with. I've gotten nothing but compliments on how it looks, and now my little sister wants to get hers done as well. As soon as this one looks like its going to be fine and stops getting infected as much, I'm going back down to my cousin to get the second one done.
My family's reaction really surprised me. My mother had said no for so many years, but actually likes how it turned out. My father hates how many piercings I have, and is just happy that it can be covered by my hair when I wear it down.
I really look forward to when I'm 18 and can get tattooed and all of that great stuff. All I have to do is call the cousin who used to baby sit me when I was a kid and set up an appointment. Having a cousin who does tattoos and body piercing has turned out to be really awesome...It makes holiday conversations extremely interesting.