I have a thing for piercings but I have never managed to have both the courage and the money (at the same time) to get one. I decided a definitely wanted an industrial the first time I saw one. It's on your ear so it doesn't really cause a problem at work, but it looks risky and painful and just plain awesome. I read up on the piercing and my fears of the pain, the cost, the blood, ear collapse, and "the Crunch" caused me to talk myself out of it for a long time. I turned 20 on Halloween and I decided I had waited way too long for something I wanted so much. I only told two of my best friends about my plans so that if I wimped out, I wouldn't get made fun of too much, but being great like they are, they told everybody I worked with that I was going to do it and showed them the picture, so I had no choice but to go ahead do it.
At A Glance Author Heather Contact Heather@bme.anon When A month ago Studio West Coast Tattoos Location Alabama On the Thursday before my birthday, my friends and I met up and ate and then went to my favorite tattoo place in our area. My luck, their piercer wasn't in that shop that afternoon. I knew that if I didn't get it done I wouldn't be able to work up the nerve again and I wanted this so bad. My friend suggested we go to West Coast, where she had gotten her navel fixed after a home piercing incident. I had heard awful things about tattoos done at West Coast and was really uncomfortable going there but I knew I had to have my industrial. So we went, I filled out the papers and paid my $50 (first fear - the cost - overcome). The guy at the counter told me my piercer's name and that he was the "short, bald guy" and I found that comforting.
So I waited a really short time, not sure of the exact amount...it was the nerves...and went back into the room with my two friends, the piercer, and his lady-friend (wife, girlfriend, didn't ask). She hadn't seen an industrial done before and wanted to watch and I didn't mind. He marked the spots on my ear and made sure I liked the placement. Everything was sterile and I, maybe foolishly, gave him my trust. He put on the clamps on and told me they wouldn't feel good. It wasn't pain it was more like light pressure. He pierced the top hole first and then the bottom. I was so afraid of the pain and the blood but it wasn't bad at all. I didn't really feel a lot of anything. I felt the blood rush to my ear and it felt really warm. Even when he was threading the barbell through, it didn't actually hurt. And I didn't hear any kind of crunch. I have to thank my friends because they were my cheerleaders. They kept me laughing, and told me how brave I was, and proudly told me there was no blood. While he was cleaning up my ear, he told me how to clean my ear and not to worry cause it would swell and crust up. After it was done, I looked in the mirror and felt like Narcissus because, at that moment, I fell in love with my ear. My adrenaline was so high that I forgot to tip my piercer, which I feel really bad about now.
After we left, my friends told me that his hands were shaking really bad as he did my piercing and I did kinda get the vibe that he had never done an industrial before, but I'm willing to excuse that because this is Alabama and almost everybody who sees my ear says they have never seen one before. I've had the piercing for almost a month now and I think it's doing really well. I've cleaned it religiously and it hasn't ever really crusted up or excessively oozed. The only real pain I have felt is the first time I cleaned it the morning after I got it. My ear was swelled up to the size of the bar and I had to move my ear around to clean the bar around the holes. It hurt really, really bad and I had to stop a couple of times to collect myself before I passed out or threw up. It still wasn't bad enough for me to regret it. The swelling lasted maybe two or three days, in which I kinda had an elf ear look going on. It hurt for about the first week when I would roll over on it in my sleep or knock it while tucking my hair behind my ear. Now it doesn't really ever hurt except in unusual circumstances, like when my friend's nephew jumped straight into it when we were playing around.
I love this piercing. It looks so awesome. I have gotten a lot of compliments and most people really like it, but say it would hurt way too much to actually get it done, which is fine with me because I like for it to be unusual. If you really want one, go ahead and get it, you know you want to. Mine was way cheaper than I expected, there was no blood, very little pain, and there have been no signs of ear collapse yet. It's definitely worth it. Now, I'm looking for something to balance my other ear. I'm thinking a snug and a helix...