At A Glance
Author	Jessica
Contact	jesskuh242@hotmail.com
When	A week ago
Artist	Mindi
Studio	Ancient Art
Location	Blacksburg, VA

Two years ago, I had my rook pierced at a small shop that did good tattoos. Good tattoo artists work with good piercers, right? Or not, as I found out when my ear was left mutilated with the world's tiniest CBR being shoved into the hole jammed by Mr. Bananahands.

The shop was clean and professional, but I'm not making excuses for them. The piercer did not have the experience to do this piercing on me, and he should not have tried. Perhaps if he'd said "hey I'm a little out of my league here, can I do it anyway?" I would have thought twice. I could sense a little uncertainty, but how was I to know if that was just how he rolled or if he really didn't know what he was doing? Now I'm quite sure he had no business putting a hole in that part of my ear.

I picked out my jewelry, he autoclaved it, marked my ear in the spot I agreed to, and proceeded with this act that had me saying word combinations I never knew I knew.

First of all, he had this tiny straight needle that he was trying to wind in and out of my rook. THAT DOES NOT WORK. When the needle was finally in place, he spent a good minute getting a grip on the CBR. Pushing that through was excruciating, but we're not done. He had to get the bead on. This led to more tugging and pushing and pulling. Finally, he got one of the tattoo artists to come help. He washed up and put on fresh gloves and then tried. Finally, the bead popped on, but it felt as though my ear was radiating heat waves from the pain. That wah-wah-wah sound effect.

It actually looked really good, it looked like a rook. A very red one. and it hurt so bad. The week following it was red and throbbing, and for the first few days I attributed it to just a cartilage piercing. In next to no time, it was pushing itself out. So I went to a different piercer and had the ring removed.

Fast forward to now. The idea of getting my rook repierced stayed in the back of my mind, but the painful experience kept me away. Until my birthday, I decided to try again. This time on the right ear, and this time at Ancient Art (previous studio name withheld- just in case they got their shit together and now do top notch rooks). Mindi was my piercer and she had talked to me when I was getting my shoulder tattoos a couple months ago, so having met her before helped ease my nervousness. After all, I had no idea what a breeze lay before me. I was expecting WWIII with the side of my head to ensue. She got everything ready and put all that cold stuff on my ear, cleaning and explaining everything. The needle was curved, unlike last time, and I chose a barbell instead of a CBR.

"Ok, take a deeeeep breath", and with that she pushed the needle in. This was nothing more than a 2 second pinch, and she had minimal trouble getting the jewelry in. Absolutely nothing compared to my previous experience. It wasnt throbbing like it was the time before, I could barely feel it. I expected it to get really sore like the time before as well, but its 3 days later and the only time I'm aware of it is when cleaning or if I accidentally knock it on something. Even that isnt the heart stopping occasion it was last time. I could let Mindi pierce me all day. I suppose I could elaborate more on what she'd done, but to be honest it all happened so fast, I don't remember that much. Overwhelming relief comes to mind the most.

One thing I am learning as I accumulate piercings, is that cleaning isnt really the major event it appears to be. I think in the past I have over cleaned, and that the body should really be left to its own devices when you introduce something to it (within reason). I always think of when I had surgery and had lots of stitches- the wounds are kept clean and dry but mostly I left them alone. This method works well with me and my piercings, I just pay attention to what's going on and use better judgment rather than slaving away at it X times a day.

I also must say to anyone considering a rook piercing, make sure your piercer is very experienced and has done plenty of them before. I feel bad, because after experience number one, anyone that asked me about it, I told them to stay away from such an atrocity of a piercing. Now I would reccomend it to anyone who has even thought once of getting their rook pierced.