Unfortunately this is not a story about how I got my tattoo bodysuit or my ultra scene hipster snake bite lip piercings. This is a lame experience that I've had with my snug piercing and how piercing anything yourself can turn into a real horrorshow (in a bad way).
At A Glance Author pinkxwarrior When A year ago Artist myself About a year ago I decided I would pierce... something. My parents are very anti-piercings/tattoos/etc. I wouldn't dare go to a piercer, so I was stuck with one more choice. Do it myself and hide it. Now that I look back it seems so foolish and immature, but hey, what can you do? Look back and laugh. Anyways, I had a dilemma: What on earth would I pierce? My friend suggested a surface piercing. He told me he'd pierce my eyebrow or my lip but I wanted to do something to my ear, especially my snug.
And so I did. I already had a few small barbells and a 16g needle. I disinfected the needle like a good girl. I made sure no one was home, walked into my bathroom and locked the door. I got out my needle and clenched my teeth. I was so excited and I was ready for the rush. So I took a few breaths and tried shoving the needle in, slowly. Twisting. Pushing. When the needle went through I stood in front of the mirror, smiling. No pain at all. Zip. Zero. None. Nada. I don't know why but something so small made me so happy. I just gazed at myself, admiring my fresh and snazzy new snug piercing. However all that happiness would soon dissolve.
Thankfully I had a few small circular barbells. I put one in. It hurt a tad bit. The circular barbell looked stupid because I already had large circular barbells on my earlobes. I slowly poked my head out of my bathroom. Everyone was still out of the house. Thank God. I found a small curved barbell, walked back into the bathroom and put that through. After I put the small barbell in, the hole was red, raw and warm. I began to touch where I had pierced it, adding slight pressure. It hurt, but I thought if I left it alone, the throbbing would fade away. During dinner that night I put my hair down and covered it up. Parents and siblings never noticed and I made sure not to fiddle with it. Drawing any attention to my ear would cost me and my father would probably rip it out, if he saw it. Seriously.
When I went to sleep I just could not sleep with my head on my left side (which I usually do). My ear killed. I've never experienced so much damn pain from something so small. I had no idea how I would make it through the night but I did. The next day I went to school and showed off my brand new piercing to my friends. Some kept asking if it hurt, why I did it and some complimented it. Others thought I had the balls to do something like that and some thought I was insane and stupid for doing it myself. I was happy with it, however it continued to hurt and swell. The redness never faded or disappeared from my left ear. Everyday I told myself "one more day, just one more day." One more day turned into a few weeks.
One day I shaved my head. I needed something new, again, so I buzzed all my hair off. After weeks my ear was still red and it was very visible without my hair covering it up. Some of my friends kept telling me to take it off, or else my ear would turn black or purple and fall off. I was beginning to freak out. I knew it wasn't going to "fall off" but I knew that there was a great chance it was infected. Soon enough I started researching and learning about keloids. I began to get scared and realized that it was time to take the barbell out, wash and try to heal my ear.
So I did. After I took the barbell out, the swelling and redness went down. My parents never found out and I felt much better. If I touched it, it still hurt, but not as much as when I had the barbell in.
I can finally sleep on my left side again and I've promised myself never to pierce anything (myself). Ever.
And to all the anxious kid out there - wait. Don't pierce anything yourself. I still have my scar to prove the mistake I made of piercing my snug, by myself. Go to a good piercer. If you want a snug piercing it DOES NOT cost a lot. If you keep it clean and take proper care of it, you'll love it!