I am generally a bad healer. I probably only healed 50% of my piercings correctly, and keep on having problems with the ones that didn't heal nicely. I suppose it is a problem with my body, since I give my piercings a lot of attention when it comes to cleaning and so.
At A Glance Author azripal Contact azripal@bme.anon IAM azripal When A week ago Location Tel Aviv It probably is just my "allergy". Everywhere I go, the doctors blame everything on this "allergy" I'm supposed to have, but surprisingly no one can put their finger on what kind of allergy it is. My mom thinks that one of my "allergy" reactions, which is this weird rash that looks like I have Goosebumps all the time on my hand (seriously, it's just chronic Goosebumps), will go away if I use lavender soap. That is why she will not take me to get allergy tests. Besides, what does that have to do with my piercings anyway? Well, I'm just saying, that I'm blaming the fact that I can't heal my piercings correctly on my allergy. And this did have an effect of my decision of getting this particular piercing.
I decided to get a piercing, that will probably cause me more trouble then any other has, and will probably take ages to heal. My industrial for example, took me more then a year and a half to properly heal. By that I mean that it stopped hurting and stopped giving out crusties after about a year and a half of having it. My helix took about the same time to heal as well. My navels as well. Well, all of my piercings do. Some give me problems along the way, and some don't.
The reason I chose to get my conch is probably superficial, but is presumably the most frequent reason there is to get a piercing: I liked the way it looked. I liked it a lot, and my empty left ear, which only had a lobe orbital, seemed to be perfect for it. Unlike my other ear which is pretty heavy right now ;).
I was on my yearly visit to my homeland, Israel, and decided I would do it. Largely because I was planning it for a while, furthermore, I only get pierced whenever I visit Israel because of my own reasons which I do not intend to share.
And so does my yearly visit to my piercing studio occur. I walk in to find the other piercers/artists telling me to go downstairs to my piercer as usual. I walk downstairs to the decreasing sound of a tattoo machine to find my piercer tattooing someone, as usual.
I didn't want to bother him too much, and told him I'll come later, but he told me to tell him what seems to be on my mind. We discussed the conch for a few minutes while he was hardly working on that tattoo. He then told me to come back in half an hour, when he takes a break from this particular tattoo and will dedicate 5 minutes to me.
So I and my friend who was with me went to waste our time in a record store. As time passed by I could feel my heart beating faster and faster. This normally doesn't happen to me. I'm not scared when I get pierced, the pain doesn't bother me at all, but I knew this one experience will probably be special.
We returned to the studio, went downstairs again, hearing that tattoo machine buzz. My piercer knows it's me without even looking through the little window in his tattooing room and tells me to sit down and to wait a few more minutes. Well, we waited 10 minutes in which I made sure I drank plenty of water. Suddenly the buzzing sound of the machine stopped. My piercer cleaned up and his other client who was being tattooed went off to relax.
We went into the piercing room while my friend waited outside the room and I hopped onto the dental chair. We agreed on two earlobe piercings on my right ear and a conch on the left. After we finished the lobes (which may I add didn't hurt or anything) we moved onto the conch. We both agreed that using a barbell would be much more promising then a ring. Before he got out the right jewelry he marked the spot of the piercing. I told him I wanted to be able to put in earphones. So he moved the spot a little bit up, and again I wasn't quite satisfied with the spot, so he moved it a bit towards the outside. At last I was pleased and he took out his jewelry case. He picked out a labret stud (which kind of surprised me because I thought he would use a normal barbell), but I didn't say anything. He then got out a needle. Just before he opened it I asked him what size it was and he said 1.2mm, and asked me if I wanted it to be a 1.6mm. I said yes, and he got out a different needle, and consequently had to look for a new stud.
After cleaning everything needed to be cleaned he got the needle in his hand. I shut my eyes. No clamps involved, it was freehand. I don't know if conches are normally done freehand, but this one was. Moving on, my eyes were shut tight, and I could feel how the needle was pressuring the spot he marked before. This pressure wasn't a pressure of a needle going through, it was just resting there. I do not know why he took so long till he actually started to push the needle through, but that pressure, and pain was there. Nevertheless, it didn't seem like forever, and suddenly I definitely felt the needle going through. It's incredible how the pain just spreads through the ear and eventually through a part of my body. It is an incredible moment, amazing feeling which words can not describe. That instant spread of pain is just so fast and astonishing.
I am proudly pronouncing the conch as the most painful piercing I have done. The needle took pretty long to go through. And seriously, how long does it take to pierce an ear? An instant. Nevertheless, if I compare that instant to other instants I've had before it was longer. After that instant I suppose he was putting in the jewelry, doing something, I do not know. I wasn't concentrating on that. I was thinking about that spread of pain which always amazes me.
My piercer finished, explaining to me, again, how to take care of my new piercings. I shook his hand and thanked him a lot and was on my way to seek out for more adventures such as buying more records, or whatever it was that I did after I got pierced.
After I go the piercing it hurt for a while. A lot actually, but it wasn't that bad. Any movement of my ear was terribly painful. Yet, two weeks later I feel an improvement.
The cartilage where my conch lays is very thick. That is why I was going on about how it will take me long to heal. It is VERY thick actually. So this piercing will be a hell of a lot of work to heal. I hope that my body will not cause any problems, bumps, or other weird things happening to my little conch.
Also, I'm not a hundred percent happy with it. I do not like the look of the labret stud, and will change it to a ring when it (if it ever does) heal. But that's ok, with time I will learn to appreciate this stud.
I never considered my piercings to be anything spiritual, but, I suppose they do keep me happy in a certain spiritual way. My parents move me back and forth from countries, causing me to lose friends, homes, places and memories. I supposed piercings are actually the only materialistic object that will always stay with me wherever I go (besides other body modification which I currently do not have). And I guess this is why I like them so much. So this conch is just another object which will always stay with me. That is, until I decide myself to let go of it. Making it my own decision. Yes, there are factors that can make me take it off, but in general piercings do stay with me. I suppose I am just another materialistic girl in a materialistic world.