I like the way piercings look on people and the way I see it, everyone has a body and it's up to the individual what you do with yours. I felt like I wanted a new piercing- I had this urge inside... And one night, after seeing a girl at work with her tragus pierced and how great it looked, I decided to get my own done. After looking at photos on BME, and reading about tragus piercings on BME, I was set on it! Some people talked about a crunch, or the pain involved, but I wanted my own experience.
At A Glance Author Ruby When Six months ago Artist Nice lady piercer, forgotten her name sorry! Location Manchester, England The next day my best mate Rachel and I went to the tattoo and piercing shop in town. Rachel wanted her rook done, but that's a different story. The studio is a well-lit place with 2 floors and a very open plan- the walls covered in tattoo designs (I don't have any tattoos yet, just watch this space though!) I could hear people being tattooed upstairs and there was a piercing room downstairs and upstairs too. I was starting to get nervous already, even though I was really looking forward to it.
The prices of certain piercings were printed on a sheet inside the door. It would cost me £25 to get my tragus pierced with a barbell, and £20 to have it done with a CBR. In hindsight I wish I had had it done with a barbell (less bulky) but at the time I did not mind and so I went for the cheaper option. When I finally got up the courage, I went and asked the assistant at the desk if I could have my tragus done, wondering if I needed and appointment. I did not need an appointment, but the piercer had gone out to lunch and so we would have to come back in half an hour! And the butterflies in my stomach were having such a good time...
After wandering about town for half an hour, Rachel and I returned- and I paid, filled out the necessary forms, and showed some ID. I went upstairs leaving my mate to potter about downstairs, and sat on the sofa waiting for the piercer to change a tongue bar before it was my turn. When she was done with the tongue bar, the lady piercer showed me in. She was nice and friendly! She showed me as she put the tiny CBR she was going to put in into an ultrasound machine to sterilize it, and she showed me the needle she was going to use was fresh and in its packet. My head was swimming at this point, but I was really excited! I told her I wanted my right tragus pierced. She cleaned, and marked my right tragus and let me look in the mirror to be sure of its placement. Happily I sat down and waited.
She told me she would pierce my tragus with the needle first, then put the jewellery in through the hole, the latter being the least comfortable. Personally I like piercings- I like the adrenaline. The lady then held the needle to my ear and with warning, pierced my tragus. Some people say it makes a crunching sound. Mine felt like more of a 'squish', just like I thought pushing a needle through smooth cartilage should- perhaps I just imagined the sound, anticipating too much! It hurt less than it did to pierce my (unstretched) ear lobes, and my tragus barely stung afterwards either. My tragus bled slightly, but not much at all. I have not found cartilage piercings painful in the past. She then put the jewellery through the hole, when she did I felt a 'tight' feeling which quickly subsided. The overall process was quick and went smoothly.
The piercer then went through aftercare with me. She told me to use sea salt soaks once a day for a month, and not to move the CBR through the hole, because that would put dirt right into the piercing which could then become infected. She told me that my tragus would be healed in about 12 weeks, after which I could change the jewellery and so on.
Healing: For the first month I cleaned the tragus using Q-tips and a sea salt soak every day (the salt soak is made by putting a teaspoonful of sea salt into a cup and mixing it with boiling water). During the first few days the tragus bled a bit, but after that I had no problems. 12 weeks later, I changed the jewellery, but I found that this upset the piercing, and it bled! My advice therefore is to err on the side of caution and to leave it alone for over 12 weeks until you are sure that an exchange of jewellery will not aggravate the piercing. My problem was that I changed the jewellery when the piercing still felt 'sensitive'.
6 months on, my tragus feels fine. I don't tend to use proper barbells but to choose earrings I like and softly bend them by just under 90 degrees to that I can just slip them into the piercing- you have to find out via trial and error the exact shape you need the earrings to be.
Conclusion:
This is a piercing I would recommend- it looks good and will get you compliments! I found the piercing relatively easy to heal, if you are bothered to take care of it.
If a particular piece of jewellery makes your tragus piercing uncomfortable; change it.
Avoid using headphones in the ear you have this piercing, for the first few weeks as not to aggravate the healing.
It does not hurt much at all, for those worried about pain: don't be!
I am happy with it. :) Happy piercing.