I think I've always wanted to get my ear lobes pierced, or at least I did secretly. I've always thought that the larger gauges looked interesting since the first time I saw a kid with chunks of drinking straws through his ears. I must have been nine the first time I saw that. My dad thought it looked stupid, but I liked it. I never really thought about actually doing it until this year. This is my first year of college and I guess I just sort of realized that I actually could do it if I wanted. I was also interested in piercing being such an old tradition, and a rite of passage into adulthood.
At A Glance Author 500channels Contact 500channels@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Mat Studio Tribal Rites Location Boulder, CO So after reading a bunch of experiences on BME and seeing pictures, I decided to do it. I wanted to start off at a 2 gauge. I found a shop in a town not too far away from me that was rather reputable so I emailed them about getting it done. The owner said they would have 4 gauge needles in stock the next week. Yesterday I emailed again asking if they had the needles yet. They told me they did, and even some glass plugs I had been thinking about. So today my roommate drove me up to Boulder to get it done.
I ate a huge breakfast an hour or two before I got it done. Then we left. It was a pretty short drive, like twenty or thirty minutes. I was munching on some neon gummy worms on the way up and at the shop. So I talked to them at the shop and they told me that they didn't have the needles. "Oh crap," I thought. But then I told them that Mike (the owner) said they had them in stock. They checked, and sure enough they had them. The glass plugs were oversized and wouldn't work, so I went with some straight stainless steel plugs that have O-rings. So after they were all ready, Mat (the piercer) took me back.
The procedure
They had a very nice, clean setup. Mat started marking me up, asked if I was planning on stretching them any more, to which I replied yes. He cleaned and re-marked my ears a little farther up, explaining that it would give me a little more room to work with. Mat also noticed that my right lobe was a little bigger than the left. So he marked them to make them nice and lined up. He explained to me that he would hold my ear with forceps to avoid stabbing either of us with the needle, and then he would cork the needle afterwards. Then the 2 gauge taper would go through, followed by the jewelry.
"Deep breath in. All right now let it out." With that, I could feel the needle slicing through my lobe. It didn't even really hurt. I could just feel it. A small opening at first, which kept opening up as that big beveled sucker went through. I looked at the needle hanging out of my ear with a cork on it after it went through. I imagined it would hurt much, much more. "All right, you're going to a pinch now." Mat pushed the taper through. It was an interesting sensation. I felt some pressure, and could feel it sliding through. The taper got almost all the way to the end and then Mat grabbed the plug and followed it through. When he paused to grab the plug, I looked at the taper hanging out of my ear. That was pretty cool looking. The whole time, my friend and roommate Hank had some awesome expressions on his face. I don't think he knew what to expect. He said that after the needle went through he was like, oh, that's not so bad, but he didn't know I was going to be tapered right after. He looked kind of surprised when he shoved that through my ear. Actually, he didn't even realize I was going to get both ears done. Anyways, with the first ear, the part that actually hurt the most was Mat trying to get the o-rings on. Those stubborn little guys took a minute to get on, and him pushing on my ear was a little tender. Nothing too bad though. Honestly, I thought that the whole thing was going to hurt much, much more. I hadn't been pierced before, so I didn't know what to expect.
So with my first ear pierced, I thought that my second would hurt more now that I knew what to expect. But the second one went smoother. Same procedure. But first, Mat looked at the other one and decided to place it just slightly off from the original spot he marked. Mat held my ear with the forceps, deep breath in and out, and the needle was through my ear already. Honestly, those things slice like a hot knife through butter. He corked it, and then got out the taper. The taper went through quicker this time too. Before I knew it, he was putting the o-rings on the plugs. Mat looked at me straight on, and said, oh yeah, those are perfect. And they are. I love them. When I was paying, one of the guys working at the shop (sorry, didn't get your name) asked how much it hurt. I truthfully answered "not bad." He told me that he was going to get that same thing done soon. I told him that was awesome. So I paid and left a nice tip, and Hank drove us both back. The reactions back at the dorms were great. People either said that they looked good, or that it's going to hurt a lot, or just "Holy shit." Sometimes it was a combination of all three. I'm very happy with them. I'm planning to eventually stretch to 00 or maybe even up to ½". There will be time for that. Have to wait for this to heal first after all.