For a long time I had been wondering if I could manage to pierce myself. I could sit through having any piercing with barely more than a flinch, but it's totally different when you're in control yourself. I had bought myself a 14ga piercing needle on a whim one night at 3am when I couldn't sleep.
At A Glance Author sezra Contact sezra@bme.anon IAM sez_rage When A week ago Artist ME!! Studio my bathroom Location my house on the Isle of Wight I almost completely forgot about it until I headed home for Christmas and found a package sat in my room waiting for me. I was thrilled but at the same time scared. When I go to get pierced I never look at the needle because it makes me feel nervous. I got the needle out just to look at it still in its case, to get used to it so I would feel more comfortable around piercing needles when I go to get them done professionally. At first I didn't really have any intention of actually using the needle, but as the hours crept by I felt the itch for at least having a go!
So I went upstairs, washed my hands with kitchen bleach (only thing I could find!) and sterilised a 14ga barbell. My parents were about and I wanted to keep this a private encounter with the needle, so I locked myself in the bathroom. I had decided that I wanted to do my right conch just to make my ears even.
Then I looked in the mirror and used my black eyeliner pen (ok hardly sanitary, but better than a biro!) to mark a tiny dot in my right ear to match it up with the left one. After it was all matched up and the jewellery cleaned, I got out the needle, had a good look at it and when I felt pretty comfortable, I lined it up, took a deep breath and pushed it gently, I was surprised at first at how easily the seriously sharp needle was sliding through my ear, as I thought the progress would be going much slower than it was. I kept going, taking my time, and then it made this horrible popping sound as it went further in, with a little burst of sharp exquisite pain. I went very slowly, gently pushing the needle in, millimetre-by-millimetre taking my time, making sure I kept it straight, as I wanted do get this right.
I felt round the back of my ear to see if it had come through the other side yet, but it hadn't and there was this awful little lump where the needle was still under the skin, ready to just pop right through. So I gathered myself up and prepared myself for the pain and with one last hard push it broke through the back with a real sting. I had some trouble pushing to get the needle through enough to leave the plastic tube in place, and I pulled out too early on the first attempt leaving just the hole, which started to bleed. I was worried I would lose the hole amongst the blood, so I got the barbells and tried pushing it back through the hole on its own, only to get it stuck! I had to tug at it really firmly to get it to come back out, which was rather painful!
Once the barbell was back out I slid the needle back in and pushed it through the hole again, this time further so the tube was left in place, then fed the jewellery back through and then screwed on the ball! That was it! Done! I couldn't believe that I had just managed to pierce my own conch!! It was so easy and the pain wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. I am thrilled with it and very very proud of myself, as I never thought I would be able to do it on my own. I am hoping it doesn't get infected due to my hardly sanitary conditions (no gloves etc) and will be keeping a close eye on it.
It's been 3 days since I pierced my own conch and I have been keeping up with the sea salt soaks and it seems to be healing nicely. I had another go and managed to pierce my left helix, which was a much more painful affair and didn't go as smoothly as my first attempt, but I have not been put off and am going to give myself some time off to heal and then try a few on my left ear.
I was never really a fan of the whole self-piercing idea, but now I know I can do it I plan to do more simple ones on myself and hopefully save myself a little cash for other mods I need professionals to do! I'm thinking I might invest in some little clamps, some gloves... and definitely some more needles!!