When I finished my degree last July I came out a totally different person than when I went in. I have always been extremely close to my family, never been in trouble, done drugs or smoked. Dancing has been part of my life since I was 2 and half taking up all my free time, performing was all I wanted to do.
At A Glance Author Laura Contact Laura@bme.anon When A year ago Artist Not sure the experience was too quick to ask! Studio Eclipse Location Camden, London I took my degree at Laban, which is one of the three main contemporary dance schools in England, and other three years I lost all my confidence and cried nearly everyday. It was not just me, at one time or another the 40 people in my year were either depressed or close to it. Not only was the course intense on both the body and mind, the teachers seemed to want to make hard. I had to put up with my ballet teacher saying how bumpy my bum was in front of the class...he saw no problems with this. In my second year I met the first person I fell in love with and in typical Laura style he was attached and had a kid. Needless to say all the shit he gave me, together with the pressures from school left me feeling drained and very unsure of whom I was when I left the following year.
I had always been into very poppy cheesy music but I began to find myself being drawn to more rock/gothic music as the sentiments of these songs related to my moods. This was especially apparent when Evanescence released their album Fallen last year...I clicked with it instantly.
This change in direction for me was also matched with a need to move away from the person I was at college....to find the real me. This is when I found BME and started to think about mods. I have always been aware that I am not the skinniest bean stick in the world, not large either, but in a dance community I stood out as 'chunky'. I wanted my mods to give people something else to look at. Being a bit of a scardy cat I decided to go for ears. I already had my lobes done once with an evil gun when I was nine, but I fancied cartilage this time. I looked at having my helix pierced at the top, but the 'townie' people who surrounded me seemed to have adopted this mod with huge nasty gold creole earrings and these were the people I wanted to distance myself from. After trawling through BME I came across the tragus piercing. Not as popular as the helix and slightly unusual.
I made my decision and mulled it over for a few weeks and using BME to read up on experiences and to find a good piercer. I also need to tell my mum, who lives over 100 miles away, but is a central part of my life. We have no secrets, I mean none at all so I wanted to tell her about my proposed mod. Whether she agreed with it or not was not of importance, it was the act of telling her that was important to me. With Mum informed and money saved I decided on Eclipse in Camden. I had read peoples experiences on the studio and they all seemed positive. The only negative was that the experience tended to be over very quickly, but for me I felt that would be a bonus with it being my first mod.
Being a wuss I spent about 15 minutes outside the store pacing back and forward and getting strange looks from all the stallholders. I finally got my nerve up and went in. I asked prices etc and the man behind the counter asked if I wanted a bar or ring. I went for the ring, although I did not get to choose the style of ring, and being inexperienced I did not question the mans choice. I had to wait about 3 minutes before I got called in. I was pierced by a pleasant but silent girl who asked me which side I wanted and got on with it. Everything was sterile and I felt comfortable with the standards in the studio. My biggest fear was the needle but instead of pain I felt pressure on the tragus and I would describe the whole needle/jewellery in process as uncomfortable. It was over before I could wince, curse or pass out and I left the store with a great, although slightly throbbing piercing.
Aftercare was a doddle with this one. I used saline solution 2/3 times a day to get rid of the crusties and when it swelled I used ibuprofen to combat this. I usually sleep on my left so I had to switch and using headphones was a bit uncomfortable for a while.
My tragus had become part of a process of making myself an individual and helping me to become me!! Since my tragus piercing I have had my second holes on my lobes gunned (big mistake, felt like ball point pen going through my ear) and my front helix pierced (which keloided but that is another long story!).
My advise for anyone considering this piercing is to go for it, but do your research and follow the aftercare with dedication.