I have a 6mm tunnel, 4 lobe piercings, my forward helix and cartilage done...My tunnel still gets a little bit crusty now and then, but other than that i've never had any serious problems with any of them.
At A Glance Author Rachel Contact ratzy_rox146@hotmail.com When It just happened Artist Some woman Studio Revolution Location Camden-London UK I have a mate who has loads of ear piercings, including her conch (ouch!) and tragus. I thought her tragus looked pretty awesome, and as she was someone who doesn't mind/feel pain, she said it didn't hurt.
The usual place where me and my mates go to get our piercings is 'Utopia' studio in Hemel Hempstead. Tim, the guy who works there is so nice and friendly, he's very experienced and the place is always clean and welcoming (except for the dozens of photographs of tribes with their heads and arms pierced!)
However, I was in Camden yesterday [Saturday] and on the spur of the moment I thought-'wow, I want my tragus pierced'.
I had never been to the Camden studio for a piercing before, and although alot of people I know have said to me 'Don't get anything pierced in Camden' I didn't really think about that at the time.
The piercing studio was called 'Revolution' and it also did tattoos. There was a glass counter, with lots of different flesh tunnels, and body bars inside, and the walls were red with tattoo designs painted all over.
The prices on the wall behind the counter were a considerable amount cheaper than Utopia. The usual price for a Tragus piercing at Utopia is £35, but here it was only £20. My friend Josh, who I was with, urged me to go get it done as it was cheap. (I really should of re-considered this and paid the £15 extra for Utopia though)
I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to pain, so I was terrified it was going to hurt. I went into the piercing room with Josh and I sat down on the leather seat. The woman was foreign, and I couldn't really understand what she was saying to me. The room didn't have the usual nice warm atmosphere of Tim's and it reminded me slightly of an operating theatre with the tools laid out and the white-washed walls. I was really nervous, but it comforted me slightly when she took the needle out of a sterilized package (which meant it was clean) and put new gloves on.
She asked me to lay down, and I gripped Josh's hand. My hand was sweating alot, but Josh was used to this now from being there with all of my tunnel stretchings!
She clamped hold of the tragus (which actually hurt quite a bit) with some strange metal clamp thing and marked the spot with a pen. (Normally, Tim would show me the marked spot, and ask if it was where I wanted it, but the lady didn't do any of this, and it made me feel uneasy.)
She told me to breathe in, and as I did so she stuck the needle in. It didn't really hurt, but it felt quite uncomfortable, and a bit warm. It was sort of like having a jab on your arm. The first time she tried to put it through, it didn't pierce properly...so she had to do it again.
I was getting a bit agitated by this point, because she wasn't explaining to me what she was doing, and Josh was going, 'Oh god, its bleeding everywhere..that looks well strange'.
I kept asking 'what are you doing now?...have you finished?' but she didn't really answer me, so Josh had to explain what she was doing!
She finally stuck the bar in, but then the ball fell into my ear hole and she had to fish it out. She was being really rough with my ear, and when she was cleaning it with some tissue it hurt more than the actual piercing! She put some strange blue cleaning liquid onto my ear using a cotton bud-which stung like hell! And I yelped, it felt almost like I was being stung by a wasp.
Finally it was done, and I looked in the mirror. I swear she had done it furthur into my head than is normal, because I couldn't see the back of it. I thanked her, but I was a bit pissed off. A good piercer is someone who makes you feel at ease, gets the job done quickly, and talks you through the process. This is the perfect description of good ol' Tim, who would of given me a nice strawberry lolly by this point.
As we walked up the steps and out, I was a bit shaky and annoyed with myself for not waiting until I could go to Utopia and get it done.
When I got home I discovered that she had also done it slightly crooked...and that whenever I smiled, laughed or moved my jaw suddenly it hurt a bit. I couldn't really sleep on the left side of my head that night because it pushed the bar inwards, which hurt a bit.
I also discovered that I can't wear my ipod headphones...or stick my finger into my ear :S
And now I realise that I can't press my tragus inwards when something is really noisy. Gah.
Overall, it does look pretty good, and it wasn't as painful as getting my tunnel stretched, or my forward helix....
However it does come with alot of draw backs, which I didn't think of before getting it done.
I have only had it done for a day, so I hope it doesn't get infected or go crusty like some do.
Cleaning it twice a day with boiled salt water helps the healing process, but I'm quite lazy so I know I will forget to do this...!
My advice is to really think about a piercing before you get it done, and to go to a good piercer, with plenty of experience and good feedback.
xxxx