It was about a year ago when I got my ear pierced with an Industrial Barbell. I wasn't of age at the time so I had to get permission from my parents and one of those notaries from the bank or something. All I told my mom was that I was getting my cartilage pierced in two places and she said fine. Since I had already had my belly button and tongue pierced she figured the ear wouldn't be a big deal, plus my sister has had numerous parts of her body pierced throughout the years ( she's 4 years older than me).
At A Glance Author Jbez Contact Jbez@bme.anon When A year ago Artist Piercing by Mary Studio Richies Tattoo Location Elmont, New york I was pretty nervous as I always am right before I do something that I know is going to hurt. I went to the place I had gone to get my tongue pierced. I returned to this place again because it really left a good impression on me. Although it is a tattoo parlor, the woman who does the piercing is very professional. You can tell she's a mom the way she takes care of you and looks out for your well being. She fully prepares you and makes sure you know what you're getting yourself into and calms you down if you're nervous. If anyone is reading this who lives on Long Island, I really recommend this place, Richie's Tattoo in Elmont it's on Hempstead Avenue.
So I sat down in the piercing chair and as she's cleaning my ear with rubbing alcohol I'm looking around the room where hanging on the walls are hundreds of pictures of people with crazy piercings and tattoo's everywhere. This made me even more nervous. So she started drawing the dots on my ear with the purple pen to show where the piercing would be and it took a minute or two to locate the dots exactly where I wanted them to be because I wanted to barbell on more of a slant.
After the dots were perfectly lined up she put on gloves and got all the instruments ready. Everything was very sanitary, all the needles and barbells were taken out of unopened plastic bags. It was finally ready for the piercing to happen. She did the top of my cartilage first. She clamped it down told me to take a deep breath and pushed the needle through. I was actually really surprised because it didn't hurt even half as much as I thought it was going to be. Sol half of it was over, then it was time for the bottom part. As soon as she clamped the bottom of my cartilage I knew it was going to hurt. In fact I even said out loud, "wow this one is going to hurt" and it did. I guess it was because it was the second piercing but it was extremely painful. At that point I had two huge needle hanging out of my ear, and the two people who had come along with me for support were completely grossed out. Then she put the barbell in which wasn't all that fun since my ear was already so sensitive, and then it was done. I looked in the mirror and I was very pleased.
The healing process was kind of annoying. It took a while to heal. Since it's such an awkward spot I had to wear my hair up for about a week because I have really long curly hair and anything that would even touch it lightly would kill. I still remember my mom's reaction. Mind you that all I told her was that I was getting my cartilage pierced in two places. So I came home with this huge barbell through my ear and she said, "Oh my god it's HUGE...but at least it's not a tattoo and you can take it out if you want, or if I want." I thought that that was hilarious.
To clean it I started just by using Sea Salt and warm water. I don't really trust the fake spray kind so I did it home made in a plastic cup. I used Q-Tips to get all the puss and blood out from the holes. The top part of the piercing was a little bit harder to clean because of the shape of my ear. I was really scared to move it at first because it was so sensitive. I also couldn't sleep on it for a really long time.
My advice for anyone treating this piercing as it's healing is really just keep up with it. Three times a day, two times at least. For girls, if you wear gel or hairspray in your hair try not to use it for a couple of weeks while it is healing because it irritates the piercing, and if you do, cover your ear with your hand so that it doesn't effect the piercing. In all, it took about a year to heal for me, only because sometimes when people hugged me and stuff, they would hit into it and it would bleed. It gets infected really easily. In the end, it's definitely one of my favorite piercings to this day and it was worth all the pain.