A couple of years ago, before I realised that my body truly detested having pieces of metal in it, I had my tragus and my earlobe pierced, together, because it's fun to have needles sliding through your body. Right? I rung the studio and booked myself an appointment, and did all the great preparation stuff such as eating well etc, and then headed on in. I've always loved the way that tragus piercings look, and I was really excited to be getting one myself. I have quite thick tragus' though, but I figured that wouldn't really matter too much, I have every confidence in Quille's ability to stick a needle through anything I offer him. Hah. So I bowled on in all grins and adrenaline, excited as always to have more needles and little pieces of metal placed through my flesh.
At A Glance Author Temptation Waits Contact Temptation Waits@bme.anon IAM Temptation Waits When Two years ago Artist Quille Studio Absolution Location Christchurch The procedure was pretty straightforward as most piercings are, Quille did all those wonderful clean things that piercers are supposed to do, he showed me the needles in their little packagings, wiped everything down, changed his gloves about 50 times. There's something innately exciting about the sound of latex gloves smacking against peoples wrists, don't you think? Then he marked me up and told me with great pleasure that he'd do my lobe first, because the tragus was going to seriously cause me much pain and hurt and he laughed with that great maniacal glee, that is so Quille you're not sure whether to panic or laugh with him. The lobe piercing was very straightforward and easy. It really made me wish I'd had all my ear piercings done with needles instead of those dreaded guns. And I have to say for the first time in my life, it was the one ear piercing that never troubled me at all. The needle slid through, followed by the ring and it was done and over before I really even knew it had happened. I sat there thinking "wow!" The feeling was really amazing, and not just because I love needles, it was like sliding through butter, effortless and with a slight pinch which just made me crave for more, and more I got!
Then he marked up my tragus, which was in my opposite ear. The left one, to be precise. And when I breathed in and breathed out, the crunch was amazing. I've never felt anything like it before in my life. It wasn't really painful as much as incredibly weird. It felt like someone had pressed something tiny and incredibly hot against the side of my ear. However, the worst was yet to come. The little barbell was incredibly tricky to get in, and then closed. This hurt, a whole lot, and took probably about 5 minutes before it was properly achieved. There was some blood and some serious sick feelings in my belly, but ultimately, I just loved the way it looked. It was just so cute! I got down off the table a little shakily and very pale. My friends thought it was incredibly humorous that I was such an ashen colour.
I followed all the aftercare procedures and for the most part had no trouble with it, although it was always crusty, then one day, the ball fell off while I was sleeping and I lost the bar completely! I managed to find a small ring which I put through myself, and the piercing healed really well, it was great, beside the fact that the ring was too big as far as I was concerned, so I went in to purchase a smaller one and have that put in instead seeing that it seemed to like the ring more than a bar. But unfortunately, it didn't like that one either, and my tragus developed a keloid which was really unattractive. I was offered the opportunity of having it removed via scalpel, but that really didn't appeal much because I'm really a bit of a wuss. Needles are fine, but scalpels scare me. So a year afterwards, I had to remove the piercing. I'm always amazed at how emotional this can be. I was really upset that it had to be done, but done it was, and eventually the little keloid thing disappeared and apart from a slight indent on my tragus, it would seem that I never had it pierced at all.
My advice to those of you who are looking at having it done is to ensure that you take good care of it, make sure that you choose the right jewellery and understand that cartilage piercings are generally pretty difficult to heal. Of course, most people have no trouble at all, my body just rejects almost every type of metal there is unfortunately. I can't wear gold rings on my fingers without my skin almost blistering after a few weeks. I can however wear glass, and generally surgical steel is fine too. All in all, it was a great experience, and I really miss having that little piece of metal there, which felt really delightful when I turned it.