This year I decided I wanted to get a piercing to mark my 19th birthday as I had nothing else planned so after a few weeks of good old research on BME I decided I was to get a Vertical Tragus Piercing. Now let me say this now all the pictures I looked at, at the time were of the bar going straight up through the tragus so I just assumed that was the only way but since then I have seen others where it is actually a surface piercing just in front of the tragus. What I have done is right up the middle of the tragus through the cartilage.
At A Glance Author Tracy Contact terror_euphoria@hotmail.com IAM Tracee When Three months ago Artist Jo and Renee Studio Trendz Location Hamilton, New Zealand So on the day I asked one of my friends Kerryn to come with me to Trendz to watch me get it done and she was more than willing. So we got there around 11:30am and it wasn't to busy which was good because it was a Saturday and I asked the girls at the counter if they were up for it since it's not a piercing they advertise and no one there had done one before and there boss had just left so they said to wait a bit while they rung her to see if she could come back and do it. Well they rung her and she said that they had both been piercing long enough to be able to do it and to just think about what they were doing and all should be well. So we went outside to have a smoke because I needed it to calm my nerves a little and Renee and Jo Joined Kerryn and I, which I found even more relaxing. So we talked about the placing I wanted and how they were thinking about doing it and what size bar to use and when everything was decided we went back into the store for the paper work and piercing.
The paper work is something I know off by heart so that's no big deal and I've been pierced there so many times now that I don't asked for ID anymore either. These are two things that should be done when your getting pierced though as it is signs that the studio is a good one.
The room they do the piercing's in is not very big. It has a big old red leather dentists chair in the middle a bench with all the equipment along one side and a fan and two bright orange chairs along the other wall for people to sit if they are watching a piercing been done. So I jumped onto the dentists chair while Renee and Jo gloved up and Kerryn picked the chair closer to me for a better viewing I guess. I watched Renee and Jo take out the clamps and jewelry out of sterilized packages and the needle was at new one as well. They use dettol to clean the area they are piercing which is good because I love the smell of it.
So they cleaned up my right tragus and got me to take out the taper I had in my ear for my flesh hole because we thought it might get it the way and started marking the area. It took about five goes to get it right which is pretty good for two people who had never done this before. Let me add here that the only reason I was letting them do this was because I knew them both to be capable piercers and I trusted them. If you don't trust your piercer then don't let them perform a piercing they have never done before.
Anyway as I was saying we got the marking right and I had a good look at it in the mirror they handed me and while I was looking Jo explained to me the ways she could go about putting the needle through top to bottom or bottom to top and there was some curving that was needed to be done as well if it was going to look balanced. She asked for my opinion as well which made me feel as though I was really involved in the piercing. We decided that to curve the bar the right way it would be better to go bottom to top and that way it would be slightly easier to get the top ball on at the end too.
So I lied back in the chair and turned my head until it was relatively comfortable and in a good position to be pierced and Jo tried to put the clamps on but they just kept slipping off so it was done free hand which made the piercing a lot more comfortable for me. Jo just kind of pinched my Tragus as much as she could with her thumb and finger and started at the bottom. I knew this would be a rather slow piercing and both Renee and Jo warned me as well so I was prepared for it and slow it was. I felt it go it in and that was a sharp sting and then I felt the needle start to slowly slide into the cartilage and then I felt it stop and Jo changed her position so she was more side on and she changed her grip on the needle as well and by then it was like a intense burning in the centre on my Tragus and then I felt the needle start to curve upwards and outwards a bit and then straight up and then it kind of slide right out the top really smoothly. All of that probably took about 15 to 20 seconds. I must say here I'm extremely proud of my self because through the whole thing I didn't move at all. Kerryn was amazed.
Then Jo cut off the needle so I just had the tube in my Tragus and checked again that the bar was going to allow for swelling before she put it in and it looked like it would so she pushed that through the tube and pushed up while she slid the tube up and out. That hurt a bit. Then there was some fumbling to get the top ball on and then I got cleaned up. There was hardly any blood at all. So I sat up slowing uncase my head started swimming which it didn't and went to the mirror and it was perfect. The placing on this is amazing I couldn't have wished for better. Kerryn's comment was that is so hot. That just made me laugh so hard.
We went out to pay for everything it only cost me $40 so that was great and I got my aftercare sheet and a couple of bottles of tea tree oil for free coz Jo was so happy with the piercing and she also took a couple of pictures as well so show off her handy work. And then she asked us to have another smoke with her as well which I gladly did so we went out and had a chat and a smoke and she took a pxt of it as well.
My aftercare ritual was pretty simple just tea tree oil twice a day and hot water on it in the shower and if it started to be real sore a salt water wash. It swelled up more than I thought it would and I couldn't sleep on it for about a month but you get used to that. I've had it done since the start of October and some times it's still a little tender to touch but over all it's healed fantastically and I'm extremely happy with it. A lot of the time I find when I show people a new piercing I get a bad reaction from them but with this one everyone has said it looks great and that they really like it so that's just made that whole thing a lot better as well.
So if you live in New Zealand and your looking for a great piercing studio Trendz in Hamilton and awesome and clean and very welcoming and if you have any questions just drop me a line.