I'd been considering a pair of industrials for a long time. To date I have 4 helices, 2 14g lobe orbitals (two piercings per orbital, for those new to this mod thing), 1/2" lobes, standard navel, deep navel, septum, labret and horizontal hood. I've reached the point where getting new metal doesn't make me very anxious or apprehensive any more...it's more an issue of what will look good with everything else and what I can reasonably expect my body to handle now.
At A Glance Author UberAlice Contact uberalice@gmail.com IAM UberAlice When It just happened Artist Meg Studio Beelistic Tattoo & Piercing Location Cincinnati, OH As I already had 4 helix piercings, I knew that cartilage hurts. A lot. My first set of helices had me squirming in pain for weeks afterward. The second set wasn't as bad, but I distinctly remember days of sea salt soaks, hair tangled in jewelry and keloids a plenty. I wasn't really nervous about the piercing hearsay, but needless to say I wasn't going to bound out to the nearest shop with my next paycheck and start sticking barbells through without some more research. A dear friend already had 2 industrials, and considering that I had been one of the first people she consulted when she started getting interested in mods, it seemed fitting that I finally end up getting the piercing that brought her into the culture in the first place.
The first issue was finding a studio that I was comfortable with. Since graduating from college and moving south, I had only had tattoos done, and unfortunately my artist didn't do piercings. I knew of several studios in the area, and had stopped into a few, but really wasn't very impressed with most of them. In two of them, even the staff looked at me strangely, and I just wasn't comfortable with the concept of talking to them, not to mention letting them shove needles through my body. I knew Beelistic was known for more unusual piercings, and as I was considering a nape project I figured I'd stop in and get a feel for the staff as well as talk about the feasability of the project. I intended just to ask a few questions and keep researching, but I ended up talking to the piercer for probably an hour and a half. I was pleasantly surprised to find two other IAM members in Cincinnati....the first since I'd moved over 7 months ago. We finally decided that my neck wasn't suited for the project I wanted, and I put my hopes for some nape jewelry to rest. But I left feeling very comfortable with the piercer and the shop in general, and knew that I had found the place to finally get my industrials done. We decided to do my left ear first, as I sleep and talk on my phone on my right side, then if it all went well I'd come back for my right ear. We measured my ears, I paid for the jewelry and set up a tentative appointment, and I went home.
I went to check on the order a little over a week later, and happily my barbell had come in! (My ears are an uncommon measurement, and I wanted pink titanium, so we had to do a special order for my gear.) I gave my friend a quick call to have him come over to shoot the photos for BME, and we popped the barbell into the autoclave. We shot the shit for 20 minutes until the barbell was claved and my friend got there, then Meg went back to set everything up. NOW the butterflies started to set in. I mean, I'd done this before, but it's been years since I had my cartilage pierced. Not only that, but I was starting them at 12g, and slanting the piercing so that it nestled against my very high helixes, and oh god, that's a big needle in my little ear. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was a little nervy when I went in and scooted around on the big cushioned table. Meg had laid out the needles, tapers, freshly claved jewelry, lubricant and cleaning materials on the tray, and I got a good long look at the needles again as she marked my ear and I finally laid my head down to get the show started.
I laid my head to one side while Meg explained the process to me and my friend. First we'd pierce the side of the ear closest to my head. Then we'd keep that piercing open with a taper, slide the barbell through, pierce the other side, taper that open then finally slide the rest of the bar through and put the ends on to make it a proper industrial. We had removed my helix jewelry beforehand (I had changed to labret studs so the CBRs wouldn't put pressure on the bar), and would reinsert them when the bar was in. "Jonni, I might need your hand here," I laughed as we got ready for the first needle. He grabbed my hand and I started to breathe deeply as Meg instructed. Deep breath in, deep breath out, deep breath in, tummy clenched, waiting for the sting....and then.....done. It stung, but was far from the brutal agony I'd been psyching myself up for. I opened my eyes and kept waiting for the pain to hit as Meg tapered...nothing. Huh.
"The other side of your ear is more skin than cartilage, since your helix rim ends sort of close to here," Meg told me, "so this second one probably won't hurt as much." "Hurt as much?" I said, "The first one really didn't hurt at all." Lined the needle up again on the other side of my ear, breath in, breath out, quick little sting....and done. At this point the endorphins started kicking in and I felt giddy. "That's it?" I laughed, and got a quick look at Jonni, who had been snapping photos the whole time. The poor kid was white as a sheet. We slid the bar all the way through, screwed the ball on, and we were done. My first piercing has started dribbling a little blood, which we cleaned up as Meg checked that my ear wasn't being pinched and screwed my helix studs back in. We snapped a few more pictures, and Jonni managed to mumble "Whoa. That's dope", then went outside for some air. I paid, placed my order for my right barbell, tipped Meg for being so awesome, and grabbed my stuff to go to work. "Girl, that made my stomach do somersaults," Jonni confided as he went to walk home. Yet another one of my friends inducted into the world of mods.
Outside it was a pleasant day, but windy, and every time the wind blew on my ear I'd wince a little. My ear had started to heat up and was tender to touch. I spent the next few hours at work without much incident, except demanding that my coworkers get a look at my pretty new barbell. I stopped at my boyfriend's house on the way home. Adam knew I was getting pierced but had to work, and immediately made me show him the new metal. My ear was still very sensitive, and any time I accidentally touched it or he brushed against it I winced, but overall aside from swelling it really wasn't a big deal. I woke up a few times in the night when I would sleep on it the wrong way, but made it through the first night with no real problems. The next morning it was a little bloody, but some saline solution and a cotton ball more than cleaned it up.
Overall, I was surprised at how little it hurt in comparison to my helix piercings. I was expecting a lot more pain than I experienced, and a lot more trouble keeping it clean and happy. My swelling's gone down and aside from a little more blood, it's as happy as can be. I'm eagerly awaiting it finishing healing so I can get my right industrial done. Maybe it's just the sheer number of piercings that I've had that prepped me for the experience, but it was one of the best piercing experiences that I've had thus far.