Having got my labret done on Schoolies' Week '03 (and becoming instantly hooked), then spending the whole of my first year of uni at a college where me and the other guy with a lip piercing were 'the weird ones' I was itching to get a piercing by the summer of '04-'05.
At A Glance Author artemisia_absinthius Contact artemisia_absinthius@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist so rude, didn't get her name Studio The Piercing Shop Location Brisbane, Qld, Australia Lesson one grasshopper: don't pierce on impulse. Whilst visiting a friend on the Sunny Coast he suggested I get a new piercing. I jumped at the chance and having seen a few pictures of industrials I decided to get that but, considering my conservative employment at the time, decided to do it in two stages. I was marked up as if I was getting the whole thing, but he just did the bottom hole 'aiming' for the upper dot. He put in a BCR and I took the train home with a brand new piercing. Aftercare consisted mostly of antibacterial soap in the shower and tea-tree solution before bed. This piercing has healed with a largeish lump that I attribute mostly to the harshness of this cleaning regime.
Lesson two grasshopper: don't EVER use a cheap piercer. About 4 months later I strolled past a shop that did cartilage for very cheap. Later that week I strolled by again to finish my baby. The first piercer I saw didn't even know what an industrial was, so she called in her boss. He agreed but thought my first hole was at a bad angle, so we decided to just do it as a single piercing, let it heal, then put the scaffold bar in. He drew a line connecting the dot with my other hole and pierced 'along' that line to get the angle. We used a straight bar because he thought using a BCR may have stuffed up the angle of the other hole (I've since decided this was bullshit). I used mostly salt soaks to heal this one, but it healed more slowly than the other, which I think had to do with its tendency to get knocked and that it was a poorly done job.
Lesson three grasshopper: don't hope against hope if an experienced piercer tells you it's a bad idea. Once my second hole was healed I rocked up to The Piercing Shop (by now heartily sick of amateurs) and asked for a scaffold bar please. They measured my ear and ordered my bar but expressed some concern that my second hole was at entirely the wrong angle. Looking back, I can see what they meant. Now I have a short bar in that ear and it points straight down to my lobe, not diagonally across to my helix. I'm sure it was pierced at the right angle, but the physiognomy of my ear and a good deal of sleeping on it, I think, has caused it to migrate. But I was determined to at least try. When my bar came in, I went back and lay down in the chair. First went the guiding pin which was uncomfortable but not painful in any way. Again she said that this was putting a fair bit of pressure on the ear, but she kept going. The bar went in without hassles and I went out with a shiny new industrial.
But it was not to be. By that evening my ear was sore and bleeding a little. I've never had a piercing bleed before, but I soaked it and tried my best not to sleep on it. I washed it the next morning in the shower and it seemed to be calming down but by lunch it was bleeding profusely and hurting a LOT. Time for it to come out. I soaked it, washed my hands and undid the bottom ball. Pulling it out of the bottom hole wasn't much of an issue; it was getting the rest of the bar through the top hole which was the real problem and the source of most of the blood/pain. It hurt REALLY badly dragging it through the injured flesh and just as I got it out the top...I passed out. Later (after some twitching and some rather concerned housemates) I soaked and babied it, but it was two days before I could push the threading of a bar through the top hole.
All of the hassle and all of the pain just made me more determined to get this fucking thing done. A few weeks later I went back to The Piercing Shop to try again but in my other ear, all at once this time. This wasn't my preference because I have vague plans to stretch that ear (I can't stretch the other) and didn't want two 'features' in one ear. But, what the hell. I chatted with the piercer who decided it would be better to use a longer bar at a shallower angle given the shape of my ear. No complaints here, for this piercing I figured bigger was better. I was marked up and then we discussed aftercare (really, REALLY don't sleep on it) until my stuff was autoclaved. When we were ready to go she slowed me the clean, new needle (I hate that bit) and told me to breathe deeply. I keep my eyes closed during all my procedures (yep, I'm a pussy) so according to her comments and my sensations, she did the bottom hole first, put on a cold compress for a little while, then did the top. She put on another compress for a while longer this time, then told me to breathe as she put the bar through. The balls were put on and I was done!
This was by far my most painful piercing. If you've ever banged a fresh cartilage piercing you'll know it's bad, but imagine piercing next to one. Fucking ouch. But while it did hurt lots, I figure if I can do it (and I hate pain) anyone could. I commented at the time that I was surprised I hadn't passed out (as you've seen, I have a tendency to do that, it's part of the reason I wanted it done in stages) so she made me lie down for a while and got me lots of water when I sat up (slowly). I was given my bottle of aftercare soap, and left with a wide grin on my face.
My aftercare consisted of using the shop's soap just once a day in the shower and it's worked really well, I had no hitches at all. I was told not to try to rub the soap in too much, just lather it in your hand, whack it on, leave it for a while then rinse really well. I thought this would be pointless but it was plenty effective, plus I wasn't trying to get fingers or cotton buds (Q-tips for you yanks) under all the sensitive ridgy bits of my ear. I didn't sleep on it for months but now I do and I still need to find the right angle or it twinges. I have a small lump under the top ball which I think has more to do with sleeping on it than anything else, but I'm considering buying a longer bar.
I think the best thing about this piercing is that my Mum likes it. She said it looked 'elegant' which I think makes her the only 50+ woman in the southern hemisphere to actively admire their daughter's industrial.
The whole experience taught me a lot about aftercare and shitty piercers. I would also recommend that anyone getting this done go the whole hog and not do it in stages with separate jewellery. I've heard rumours about skin growing down the bar but I've not had any evidence of that whatsoever. Plus there is the risk that one (or both) will migrate from the perfect angle and you'll end up like I did. (But of course listen to the advice of your experienced piercer and all that...) Having started this whole thing mostly on a whim, I truly, truly love my industrial now. Maybe that has something to do with how much it took to get it, maybe it's just because it looks bloody awesome. All in all an 'educational' and ultimately happy experience.