Just got my tragus pierced on 23 dec 2005. It was a xmas present to myself. And here's what i thought of tragus piercing and what I felt:
At A Glance Author proudowner When A week ago Artist HP Studio sorry... i 4got... Location Singapore - there wasn't any crunching or pop sound made during the piercing, unlike what many people said. Or at least, mine didn't "pop".
- the piercing is not exactly painless, and personally, I don't believe that any piercing can be PAINLESS... For God's sake, you're driving a needle through your body!
- it really hurt alot if you scratch your tragus when you brush your hair. Mine hurt like hell when it did, it felt like someone had cut off my tragus.
- It really is so freakin' cool...
And the story goes...
I cannot remember why or when I was obssessed with piercing my tragus. I just know I wanted something more than just piercing my lobes. I wanted something that looked rebellious but also at the same time, not that rebellious. Something that would make my parents flip, but not to the extent of throwing me out of the house. See, my parents are the typical, conservative Chinese parents who thought the only piercing anyone can have is on the earlobes, and only 1 per side and only girls can get pierced. So when I had my ears pierced the 2nd and 3rd time, they were scolding me like I had killed someone. But I didn't care.
Then I began to do some research on body piercing and got linked to bmezine. I love this site... it has so many pictures of the various body piercings and the experience of the other members certainly helped me through this process. From their experiences, I was able to gauge how painful any piercing would be.
Finally, I saw the tragus piercing pictures. They looked kinda nice and also looked like what I wanted. Plus, I haven't seen this kind of piercing before. Or maybe I just haven't. Anyway, the thought of a "rare" piercing seems nice. From then on, I fell in love with the tragus piercing. But it took a long, long time before I had the courage to do it.
Came 23 Dec, I was shopping with my friend in town and we passed by this piercing shop. The place was very popular and looked very clean. My friend had her tragus pierced too, after I told her I want one, but her's was done with a gun.
So we asked the piercer, HP, about the tragus piercing and how much it costs. HP was very friendly and I felt very comfortable leaving my ear in her hands. After much pondering, I decided to do it. My friend also encouraged me to do it, pormising me it is painless, coz her's didn't hurt.
So I paid HP and she gave me a list of the aftercare and told me to read it. Then she told us to wait for 15 mins so that she can go steralise the needles and the barbell that she will be using. The 15 mins was the worst 15 mins of my life. My hand were sweating, I was talking alot of nonsense and this only happens when I'm scared.
Luckily, Hp came and entertain us with some card tricks and this definitely helped to ease my nerves alot. Then the 15 mins was up and she lead me and my friend into a small room at the back of the shop. She asked me to sit down on the chair and then cleaned my ears. I was holding on the my friend's arm the whole time. Yeah... I was that scared.
Then came the clamps. HP told me that the clamps can help numb my tragus and therefore the piercing would not hurt much. She even tied a rubber band on the clamps to make it tighter. But I don't really remember how the clamps felt, but I think they were very tight anf very uncomfortable. I was too scared to remember anything.
Oh... before clamping, she marked my tragus.
Then she asked me to look the other way and my poor friend's arm was going to break. I was holding on to her arm like holding on to my dear life. Then I felt something really hot in my ear. Then the buring stopped. I was pierced!
The whole process felt weird. You could feel the needle sliding through your tragus and it went much smoother than i thought. The needle felt cold and very very smooth. But the piercing wasn't that painful and much better than i thought. The pain was like someone pinching your tragus very hard and that's it. Very bearable.
The most painful part is when the jewelry is inserted. The pain was what I was expecting for the piercing, not the insertion of the jewelry. Then everything was over. It took only about 1 minute.
My ear didn't hurt any bit the whole day, it only felt sore. My friend and I were admiring my piercing in the mirror in the shop. Then I called my boyfriend to tell him what I had done. He was excited to see it.
Personally I think threading my eyebrows hurt much more than piercing my tragus. And I have a low threshold of pain. So it wasn't that bad.
To people out there who are still wondering if they should pierce their tragus, I say go ahead. It is every bit as beautiful as you've seen in the pictures. Well, maybe not those infected ones. Anyway, have fun with your tragus piercing, coz I love mine to death...