Snug experience
At A Glance Author Ashley Contact Logicmeantnothin@aol.com When A week ago Artist Sean Phillips Studio Marlowe Ink Location Fairfax, Virginia My snug experience started a few months ago when I turned 18 in mid January. I was looking for something new that I could do to my body that I would like, and at the same time something that wouldn't be overly conspicuous. For the past several years I have been using BME as a resource to find information and experience stories to help me choose what modifications I wanted done.
I had my navel pierced when I was 16 as well as my tattoo done in June of 2004. This is the story of how I got my Snugs. After browsing the piercing area of the website for a few weeks, I finally decided to get a snug on each ear. A friend of mine had a rook done and complained about the ease of cleaning, or lack thereof, which pushed me even more so towards a snug. Once I thought about the implications of having both snugs done at one time, I talked to a friend of mine and off we went after school to have it done.
I drove out to Fairfax Virginia to a store called Marlowe Ink. I had been referred there by a friend of mine, and decided to try it out. Getting there was a chore, it's situated on a one way street and I couldn't turn right. So, we called and called and finally found our way. Walking into the place was satisfying in its own way, it was a lot cleaner than the previous places I had been. I spoke to the head piercer there; His name is Sean Phillips and told him that I wanted two snugs done that day. He had me sign the consent forms and I paid the full 80 dollars.
We went back into the private rooms that the piercings are done in, and he had me sit down on a dentist like table. I had asked him to explain the process that he was going to use, so I could try to calm my nerves, and he responded with the words "I'm going to clean you, mark you, stick you, and send you home." A little bit less descriptive than I wanted it to be, but it made me laugh and calmed me down a bit. He showed me the tools he was going to work with and then put on his gloves and proceeded to clean both of my ears. He had me check in the mirror for the placement of the marks he had made, and after lowering the mark on my right ear I gave the OK.
Sean pierced the left ear first and the needle went through with no pain and no infamous popping noise. I felt a few trickles of blood and after wiping it away he told me to turn my head over to pierce the right side. He placed the needle at the marking and pushed, and met quite a bit of resistance. Sean actually had to put a bit of force into it to make the needle go through, and with a slight pinch it was through. No pain, no popping noise, and a lot of blood was the result. I suppose I'm more of a bleeder on my ears than I was on my navel. I sat up to look in the mirror and had to hold my hands under my ears to prevent the blood from leaking into my shirt. My friend Shawna started giggling and out of sheer adrenaline I joined her, much to the amusement of my peircer Sean. He stated that we were quite the odd couple to be laughing hysterically at a copious amount of blood leaking from my snugs.
Once the blood was cleaned off, I stood up and he told me all about the aftercare procedures. Not to use any form of bacitracin or Neosporin on them as that will hinder the healing process and stick to the sea salt soaks morning and night until they are completely healed in about 6-10 months. Overall it was a great piercing experience and there is minimal pain. The right side was swollen to the entire length of the barbell for the first week or so, and now has no pain or swelling at all. The left snug had no swelling at all until I knocked it a few times, or other people accidentally had hit it, and is now a bit swollen and tender. Usually after every sea salt soak the swelling goes down periodically but returns if the piercing is accidentally hit. When I clean them with the sea salt soaks, I try to take a Q-tip and remove the crusties that build up around the jewelry so it can drain if it needs to. However, in a few weeks when the healing process is well underway, I'll be in the process of deciding whether I want another piercing in my ears.