I was in Seaside, OR for my grandpa's 70th's birthday and I knew that I had to leave with a souvenir. I had just had my first child a month previous and I couldn't decide whether or not I wanted a tattoo or if I wanted a piercing.
At A Glance Author WingedShad0w Contact WingedShad0w@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Jennifer Location Seaside, OR While walking around town with my sister, I passed a tattoo shop, so I stopped in. They wanted way too much for the tattoo that I wanted, so I kept on walking.
When I got back into downtown Seaside, I passed another tattoo shop. I walked inside and instantly I felt like I was back home. The people there were great and ready to help me.
I was describing my tattoo that I wanted and where I wanted it and they suggested that I wait a little bit to get it because of where I wanted it. So I got on the subject of piercings, but I didn't know what I wanted.
I only had $50 and so that would get me a navel/lobe/basic piercing. I wanted something exotic. Something that not everybody has. So I got talking with Jen (the piercing artist there) and she really wanted to do a helix to rook industrial (which was great because had been thinking about getting an industrial for a while, I just didn't know what kind to get). It was her favorite piercing and she hadn't done one in a while. She wanted $80 for it. I told her that I only had $50 and she said that would work.
Jen had another customer before me, so I had to sit out in the waiting room and wait impatiently. I was getting really nervous. Not because of the pain (I have a really high pain tolerance), but because I was getting really excited.
Finally it was my turn so I went down the hall into the back room, past where everyone is getting their tattoos done and she sits me down on the doctor's office table. She's looking at my ear and she says "I don't think that I can connect it to the rook, but I can connect it to the daith, will that work?" I agreed and she explained all the stuff that she had to explain about the healing and stuff like that.
So I lay back and she preps the needles. I'm getting really antcy at this point. I haven't had a piercing in a long time. Jen brings the needle over and tells me to take a deep breath and blow it out. As I'm blowing it out, she shoves the needle through the helix. That was the biggest adrenaline rush that I had had in a long time. She asked if I was ready for the next one (through the daith) and I said yes, so I took another breath and it was through just like that. There was no crunching, no straining, it just slid in like butter. I was really surprised.
Jen had me sit up slowly and she held the mirror so that I could see what she had just done to me. I fell in love with it immediately. This was the first exotic piercing that I had ever had. Before this, I would have to say that it was my septum.
Jen praised me because I didn't even flinch while I was on her table. She said that I was the stillest person that she had ever pierced and that I was free to come back to her whenever I wanted to. She said that she really enjoyed working on me.
Jen went over the aftercare instructions with me again and made sure that I had all the necessary things to clean my piercing with. I already had the sea salt (every time that I go to my piercer back home, he gives me another bag of sea salt just so that I won't run out) and the satin, so she said that I was set. She showed me how to rotate the piercing and how to clean it. She had a similar piercing, so she just showed me on herself. I thought that was really a cool idea because I got to see first hand what I was supposed to do so I wasn't wondering if I was doing it right.
When I was walking out of the parlor Jen was going to take a picture of it, but she was out of film, so I had to come back a little bit later so that she could put some film in her camera.
The swelling only lasted for about three days and it still hasn't gotten infected. I guess that the sea salt soaks are really paying off.
I would suggest this piercing to anyone who wants an industrial, but doesn't want the typical one. My experience was very pleasant and I would go back to her again. In fact, I already have plans to go back down to Seaside in a couple of months.