Living in a small town, there is no real outlet for anything "creative" to do with one's body, other than getting smashed each and every weekend (I'm not a part of that scene, by the way.) So one week back in October, my friends and I decided to skip our terribly dull career prep classes and drive two hours north to a town called Smithers get some piercings. This was a great for two reasons:
At A Glance Author Jilly Contact Jilly@bme.anon When Three months ago Studio Prophecy Location Smithers, BC a) I could now legally get a piercing without my parents permission(I thought I was going to get my belly button done.)
b) I would be able to share this experience with my two close girl friends, Sally and Lacey.
We made up the plans and I phoned Prophecy on Thursday, October 28th, to make an appointment. I was shaking as I told Andy, one of the tattoo artists, that I wanted to get my belly button pierced and that my friends also wanted similar procedures. We decided to be there at 1:30 and that was it, a completely painless phone call and we were ready to roll.
I went home later that day and told my mother my plans. She wasn't at all happy with me and told me that I wouldn't be able to do anything for the rest of the weekend except for sit at home and make sure my new piercing didn't turn septic. Of course, being a 17 year old girl, I wanted to defy my mother and was angry with her for the rest of the night. I went to sleep with a million thoughts of how to trick her and figured out various schemes.
I woke up the next morning with a new thought in my head, I could get an industrial. I had been wanting to get one for over a year, and after I got my upper cartilage pierced in Amsterdam, I figured it wouldn't be painful at all. I went to school and asked my boyfriend and friends for their thoughts on it. All my girl friends thought it would be cool, while my guy friends thought it would be disgusting. I went with the majority and decided to get the industrial, so I could save my mom all the worrying and be able to go out that weekend to my friend's cabin.
By nine, my friends and I were on the road. We all arrived at Tim Hortons and ate lunch at 11, then shopped around Smithers to fill up time. I was vibrating the whole time I was walking around the town and felt almost sick to my stomach with nerves.
Finally, 1 came around, and we headed to the studio. We waited around for the piercer to get there, and filled out some info sheets with various questions ranging from "What is your age?" and "If female, are you pregnant?" Andy, the guy I had talked to the day before, looked at our drivers licenses and okayed everything while Sally, Lacey and I looked at the various jewelry.
The piercer, a nice lady whose name I cannot remember, came in at 1:30 and asked which of my friends and I would want to go first. Sally decided to go and get her belly button done while my other friend Lacey and I tried to decide on a piercing for her. My boyfriend was anxious to get out of the studio, so I tried to make him more comfortable as well.
Sally came out looking a tad pale, but with a big grin on her face and a little bandage over her belly button. We all gazed at her little CBR when the piercer came back out and asked who was next. Lacey was still undecided, so I went up.
I sat back in the piercing chair and talked at about 100 mph at the piercer about various piercing healing times and Betty Boop, who was present all through out the room. She prepped my ear with Techni Care or something like that, and then placed two purple dots for where the piercing would be. I looked it over and everything seemed fine, so she took a few final steps with choosing the bar size and getting all her supplies laid out. My nerves were really getting to me, so I tried out some yoga breathing to calm my body. She told me to take a deep breath in, and on the exhale, she would make the first piercing. I did as she said and as I exhaled, I experienced a new kind of pain. The cartilage was tough to get thru, so I felt every millimeter that the needle pierced through. She placed the bar inside it and went on to pierce the lower hole. I once again took a deep breath in, thinking this one wouldn't hurt as much as the first, but it was in the same degree of pain. She slid the bar through the second hole and placed the steel balls on the end and gave me a mirror to look at them. I loved it, minus the blood dribbling out of the lower piercing. She let me lay down for several minutes to let my body relax and get used to the burning sensations taking place in my ear.
I finally got up and was ready to go, but I had to hold Lacey's hand while she got her inner conch pierced (I'm considering one for myself now, as well as a tragus.)
I got home later that day and showed off the "harpoon" to my family. I was quite dazed from not eating anything and dehydration, so I rested for awhile before going out to my friends cabin for the night. I showed off my new piercing with glee for the next two weeks and answered many questions about it.
Now, the first month was blissful, it was healing all well and fine, but then I noticed an odd lump on the underside of my top piercing. I cleaned it with anti bacterial soap and did salt water soaks, but the lump continued to grow and bleed out of the blue. While in another city and sick of not knowing what it was, I went to another piercing shop to ask what I could do. This piercer informed that I should've been using an anti septic solution and that the lump was a bacterial blister. I bought some anti septic spray called Dragon Mist and it helped the industrial heal a bit more. The lump came back however, so I gently pricked it with a needle my mom sterilized for me and it drained completely, puss, blood and all. That's not the smartest thing to do, but it worked for me.
I've been through a lot with my industrial, but I still love it. It's finally healed three months after initially getting it pierced, and I plan on getting a properly fitting barbell for it in a month or two's time. I love having a piercing that no other girl has in this teeny tiny town, it makes me feel empowered. I'm now contemplating getting the left side of my lip pierced this spring break in Edmonton, cause after my industrial, I think I can handle anything.