I class pain as something that dominates your mind to such an extent that you can't think of anything else.
At A Glance Author faerycake Contact faerycake@bme.anon When It just happened Artist George Studio Tribe 1 Location Edinburgh, Scotland, UK Maybe that's why I never feel like I'm a good gauge of pain when it comes to piercings. They might hurt a bit, but I wouldn't exactly say they were painful. When I had my nose done the amount it hurt was negligible, but unfortunately the two friends I'd relayed this to found the pain markedly less negligible when they got theirs done. On the other hand, I haven't felt much difference pain-wise when I compare getting my rook and my tragus done, even though everyone told me the latter wouldn't hurt at all and the former would. (They both hurt a bit, but not a distracting amount.)
The orbital on the top of my right ear was a bit of a fiddly one, so I wouldn't say that was a pleasant experience, unusually for me at one point I actually though OUCH ...but only at one point. Other than that it was fine.
Anyway, for the first time in several years, all my piercings had healed up nicely – even the orbital which took forever. For once I could sleep quite happily on both sides of my head.
The problem was, my left ear was itching for an industrial. I don't have loads of piercings in that ear: just three in the lobe, my tragus and my rook. When I got the orbital I'd been wavering between that and an industrial, but I don't know anyone who has an orbital and as there's barely any metal in my right ear at all, I thought it'd make a good main feature. I love it, but I'd still always wondered what it'd have looked like with an industrial instead. I hadn't even thought about having one in my left ear, as I loved the way all the piercings interrelated and highlighted bits of my ear and adding to it hadn't really entered my mind.
Then one day, it did and I knew that it'd make that ear feel 'whole' – all the bits accentuated and visually linked together. I waited a while, relishing in my healed-ness, then headed to Tribe 1 in Edinburgh – which is where I always go because they're fantastic. I'd heard brutal things about how painful industrials are, everyone says they a pretty nasty one to get and take ages healing. After looking after the orbital though, I was prepared for a long healing process.
I'd been thinking about it for a while, but yesterday I was working on my dissertation in my university library and couldn't concentrate as I was thinking about it so much. So I packed up my books and headed to my favourite tattoo and piercing studio.
I was told to wait while the equipment was prepared and suddenly started feeling nervous. I'm not normally too bad, but my legs started feeling a little shaky. I think it must've been the usual piercing adrenaline combined with what I'd heard about the pain!
As I lay down on the bed thing (I'm not sure what the correct term is) waiting to be pierced, I was almost tempted to mention that I was feeling a bit nervous - but I pride myself on how calm I am when I'm about to be pierced or tattooed, so kept my mouth shut.
George, the piercer, said my ear was suitable, again warned me how long it'd take to heal (erk) and that it'd probably be pretty sore for a few days ...so I braced myself for the pain. He made the first hole in the outside edge of the ear first – not too bad at all. Then he did the higher one, nearer my face – again, not too bad. I braced myself again for the bar going in (I usually find the jewellery going in's the most painful part, as you're basically fiddling with a raw wound!) - but then realised he wasn't reaching for the jewellery to put in, but getting some antiseptic wipes to clean the whole thing up. The bar was already in and I hadn't noticed.
I was really surprised at how relatively painless it was, I didn't really notice it for the rest of the evening, until I cleaned it later that night and it started to throb a bit. I'm sure it'll take a long time to heal, but as long as I keep it clean (gently wiping each side of each piercing, using a different cotton bud steeped in saline solution for each bit...and repeat the process twice a day) it should be ok. It's a dull pain now, but the actual piercing wasn't too bad at all.
Although, don't take my word for it – everyone finds different things more painful!