Last summer I came across BME and started looking at different piercings. My mom is very conservative and doesn't like them but I finally convinced her to let me get my industrial done. I heard about Vanity Tattoo from my friend and we went to go check it out. The first thing we noticed when we walked in there was that you had to be 16 to get a piercing even with parental consent. We decided that we would look around and talk to the owner anyway. We found a kid in the office and he said Rod (the owner) was busy tattooing somebody but he would be down in a minute. We looked at the tattoos until he came down. We told him that we were only 15 and he said that it wasn't a big deal because it was only an ear. So that day my friend got her tragus pierced so I got to see how it was going to be for me. He changed his gloves after he touched everything and was very comforting to her.
At A Glance Author Brittany Contact Brittany@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Rod Studio Vanity Tattoo Location Illinois The next weekend me, my mom, my sister and my other friend all went back. I was really scared. As my mom was filling out the paperwork another girl came in and said she wanted her belly button pierced. My friend and I looked at the tattoos while my mom was filling out the forms. She plans on getting one because she can't have any piercings since she's allergic to all kinds of jewelry. The whole time I was there I kept freaking out. I have a really low pain tolerance and I tend to make things out to be worse than they really are. I thought for sure I would end up crying and passing out. By then my mom finished filling out the forms and he asked me what color barbell I wanted. I thought it was weird but I went along with it anyway.
Then we went upstairs. He started getting everything ready and I think he could tell I was nervous. He took everything out of unopened packages and set them on a tray. I made the mistake of watching and I saw the needle. It was bigger than I thought it was going to be. He put some kind of lube or something on the tray and changed his gloves. He told me to put my hair up and he marked my ear. He didn't ask me if I liked the placement or not. I thought he was measuring my ear for the barbell but then I felt a sharp pain. He didn't tell me he was going to pierce, he just did it. I think it was better that way because I didn't have time to worry. He pierced the bottom hole first. I could hear crunching but it didn't hurt that bad. It seemed like forever before he was done with the first hole. Then he moved to the top. That hurt a lot. I gasped and my friend laughed. Finally he said it was done and he was twisting on the last ball. I was surprised that he didn't use clamps because I read in a lot of other stories that people had theirs clamped. I guess its just his preference.
When he was done he said I looked like he was going to pass out so he kept asking me if I needed anything. I looked in the mirror and it was perfect. I finally got what I had been waiting for. My friend kept saying how cool it was and how she wanted one. He told me to sit in the waiting room for a while so I did. While I was sitting there he gave my sister $2 to buy some fake tattoos.
He gave me an instruction sheet and also told me to use soap and warm water to clean it. He also told me that if I wanted I could use sea salt to help. I planned on using it anyway because I've heard good things about it.
For the first few days it throbbed and felt achy. It takes a little getting used to. I had to be careful when I answered the phone, washed my hair, brushed my hair and slept. So its been about 3 months now and my industrial has had its ups and downs. Sometimes I hardly notice it and other times it still hurts. It has a few bumps on it and I'm not quite sure if they're keloids or not. I plan to go back to see if anything is wrong. For my 16th birthday I can't decide if I should get my tragus or anti tragus pierced. Anyway I really recommend Vanity Tattoo for anyone who lives in the Roselle area. Rod's a really great piercer.