I first had my ears pierced when I was about 6-years-old. My mum wanted me to have it done, and she took me to this place (I think it was a hairdresser's) where I had my ears pierced by a horrible lady using a horrible gun. I cried as I thought it would hurt, and after it was over and done with I kept on crying even though I didn't actually think it had hurt, because otherwise I thought I would have been laughed at. My mum bought me pear flavoured ice-cream and I wasn't sure I liked having my ears pierced.
At A Glance Author wrongway152 Contact wrongway152@bme.anon IAM wrongway152 When N/A Artist Tommy Studio Tommy's Tattoo Location Helsinki, Finland When I was about 10 I took my studs out, as I never really liked them in the first place. I went piercing free from then until I was 16 and my parents finally gave in and let me get my eyebrow pierced. Some months later I managed to get permission to pierce my tongue, much to my parents disgust.
As we all know, piercings can be very addictive. I was itching for another one, but didn't know exactly what I wanted. Then at a gig I spotted a girl who had this really cool looking ear piercing, one long bar going through the top of the cartilage. I really liked the look of it, and after a few weeks I knew that was what I wanted. Amazingly my mum agreed to let me have it done almost straight away, she seemed delighted I was getting pierced in a "normal" place for once!
I had been to Tommy's Tattoo with my friend when she had her tragus done, so I knew he would do a good job and that his studio was clean and he followed all the health and safety regulations. As the studio was close to where I worked, I headed over there on payday after finishing my shift.
Walking in through the door I felt like such an idiot, as I only then came to think of that I actually didn't even know what the piercing I wanted was called! So blushing I explained to him that I wanted a piercing that had this long bar going across the top of the ear. He seemed pretty unimpressed by my lack of knowledge, but then again he was one of those big, grumpy, grunting piercers I'm sure most people have come across at some point.
He asked me to sit down, and showed me what jewelry he thought was suitable. Unlike what I had in mind, he wanted to pierce me with two BCR's at first, and then change into a bar once they had healed. Being stubborn, I told him I'd prefer it pierced with a bar straight away. He told me about the possible complications healing, but I was undeterred so he told me he'd pierce me with an extra long bar to compensate for the swelling. I was happy with that, so he marked me up and we got down to business.
He pierced the top bit first, as the cartilage is thicker there. I could hear the needle crunching through, the pain was like someone pressing a hot iron against my ear. Tears welled up in my eyes, and as he was preparing the second needle I remember thinking I was crazy putting myself through this pain! Normally once the needle's through you know the worst is over, but this time I had the pain very fresh in my mind and was waiting for him to shove another one in!
The second needle went through and my ear was throbbing like crazy. He inserted the bar, cleaned away a little bit of blood with a cotton bud and handed me a mirror to have a look.
The piercing was gorgeous, just how I wanted it to look. The bar that had seemed so long when I looked at it earlier was now a perfect length, as my ear was swelling up and turning bright red. I listened carefully as the piercer told me about aftercare, recommending sea salt soaks and stressing the importance of removing the crusties. He told me as it was a cartilage piercing it'd probably take longer to heal than what I'd expect. I was also told if the bar seemed to cause problems I should go and see him straight away and he'd change it to two rings. After this I thanked him, paid and made my way home.
The initial swelling went down after a few days, but it all flared up after about a month and both holes got really infected. It was probably not the smartest thing to do, but I never went back to the studio to change the bar to rings. After plenty of soaking and gallons of Septidin it calmed down. It healed up really well in the end, it looks awesome and I'm really happy with it.
When my mum saw my ear she told me she hated it straight away, apparently it didn't look like a normal ear piercing like she had expected. Most people that see it either go "wow" or "eww", I like the fact that it looks quite funky even though it's so simple. Not that many people seem to have seen industrials close up, and even though it's such a straight forward piercing I still get people asking me how it works and what goes through and where!
In the end it would probably have been good idea to have it pierced with two BCR's as the piercer suggested, I have a feeling that would have made the healing process a lot smoother. But at the end of the day it must have healed up quite well because when I had my rook done years after the industrial my piercer asked me straight away if my industrial had been pierced with a bar from the start. I admitted to have been quite stubborn, and expected a lecture. Instead he told me he'd never seen an industrial that had healed up as well as mine being initially pierced with a bar, so I guess I must have done something right!