So, I turned 18 on December 9th, and I really wanted to get my nose pierced, but my mom was incredibly against it. So I decided to compromise. I asked her if I could get an ear piercing and she asked which one. I showed her pictures of the industrial, the tragus, and the ant- tragus. She didn't like any of them and asked me not to get one. I asked my father what he thought, and he said he didn't care.
At A Glance Author shimmerme Contact hipsky29@hotmail.com When Three months ago Artist Aldoe Studio Body Language Tattoos and Piercings Location Storrs, Connecticut I'm on my way to UConn to pick up one of my friends for my family dinner and I decide to stop off at Body Language despite my mom's disapproval. I walked in and was greeted by the receptionist. After I paid and filled out the paperwork, he offered me a lollypop so I wouldn't pass out! I feel like I sat in the waiting room for hours because I was so nervous. I was clenching my friend's hand too tight already and we weren't even out of the waiting room yet. I was nervous for one reason. Not the pain, I'm a person who can handle pain, it's temporary. I was nervous because of my mom. I knew she was going to kill me for doing this behind her back after she told me not to get it done. I figured it was my 18th birthday, she'd let it slide, or still be nice to me. But, boy, was I scared to death of what she was going to do to me.
Ten minutes and two lollypops later, I was in the piercer's studio. He was very nice and intrigued that I wanted my anti-tragus done. He took a little while to mark it and then decided that a circular barbell would be best. I watched him open up all the utensils he was going to use on me, I watched him clean the table I had to sit on, and put on new pairs of gloves after touching different things. Everything was extremely sterile.
He plotted out where the ring would sit on my ear with blue marker, and I checked it out in the mirror. I didn't feel shy about asking him to move it a little higher than his initial placement. He replaced it without an attitude and I agreed to the second placement.
I sat on the table and he said "I'm going to count to three; on one, breathe in, on two, breath out, and on three I'm going to pierce you. I don't catch you off guard and pierce you on two, so don't worry about that. I want you to hold completely still when the needle goes into you, because it's going to take me a second to position it to finish it." So I laid down facing the wall and held my friends hand. And he put the clamp on.
After getting the clamp in the right place, my ear was decently numb. It already had a base pain to sort of dull down the real pain of the needle that was to come. This is what it felt like. Take that part of the ear, and dig your nail a little bit into it, not too hard, and then just pinch it for like 5-10 minutes. It's numb right? Well that's what the clamp felt like.
Then he put the needle in, on three, and it felt like getting a shot. I was like, wow, it doesn't hurt... but it's not done yet. He still has to finish it. After he repositioned the needle that was half already in my ear, he said, "Ready, take a deep breath in," and boom!
Take a sharp ass pencil and poke it through cardboard. You hear that noise that it makes? That's what I heard in my ear, that feeling of the sharp pencil tip pushing through to the other side of the thick cardboard, I felt that!! So the needle was in my ear for a while with the clamp on, and it just felt like pressure.
Then he had to remove the needle and put in the actual earring, and that hurt. It was sharp pain. It wasn't that bad, but I was bleeding way more than I wanted to. I didn't think I would bleed at all, but I filled up three tissues.
After he cleaned the blood up, and teased me about drinking the night before, he told me to rise slowly so I don't get light headed. I looked at my new piercing in the mirror and got a huge grin on my face! I absolutely loved it. I tipped him a couple bucks and thanked him for such a great job.
Then he took out his camera and asked my permission to take a picture of it. I was taken back and asked why. He said that it was the second one he's ever done and he wanted a picture for his website (www.inkbyjava.com). I was shocked. He didn't tell me before hand that it was his second one. He did, however, tell me half way through the piercing, that he was only 19 years old! Haha. But despite his age, his knowledge and professional attitude is very mature.
I went home with my friend and my mom didn't say anything to me, my hair was down. Then all of a sudden my older brother said "so, let me see this piercing that you got". I played dumb and he just said "Come on, just put your hair up already". So I showed him and my father and they both thought it was cute, but odd. My mom didn't say happy birthday to me that day, and in fact, she didn't talk to me for two days after my birthday.
We're still touchy about it all, especially since two months after I got my anti-tragus, I ended up getting my nose pierced. She didn't talk to me for over a week (I was at school though, so it wasn't too bad). It's definitely a decision that I made to go against what my mom strongly disagreed with. It hurts me to hurt her, but I always am honest about it to her. I wish we saw eye to eye about things like this, but I want to be able to express my individuality. I've definitely had to deal with other family members asking me if I'm going through a phase, or asking me why I'm "rebelling". But if I can handle my mom, I can handle my other family members.
Since this piercing I have gone back at least five times. The friend who came with me decided to get a conch piercing the day after my birthday, I went back to the same studio for my nose piercing, I went with my other friend to support her getting her tattoo, and I brought two of my friends from school home with me so they could get their piercings there. Every time I've gone back since December, he's remembered who I was every time, and he's checked out my ear every time just to make sure it's healing properly.
It took about a week to stop throbbing. It also took a week to sleep on that side of my head. I still love it, and it doesn't seem to be infected. It hurts sometime to push on it because it once was infected. Keep some Bactine on hand, and if it starts hurting like an infection, after washing your ear with Dial, spray some Bactine on it. It'll help with the infection, and it will numb some of the pain.
I would definitely recommend Aldoe and this studio to anyone in the area. Aldoe is the only piercer at this studio. But he does everything from nose piercings to genital piercings. He's very informational and will answer any question you may have.