At A Glance
Author	Alexis
When	A month ago
Location	Camden, London

My Piercing Experience

I had been deliberating a cartilage piercing for ages before I decided to take action. Aside from that all I had were my bob standard lobes, which I had gunned at jewellery shop when I was 7... (Exciting eh?), and I am pretty conservative, so it was a big step for me. Before my solid decision was made though, I had to run it by my mother who was not happy. She told me that if I got any more piercings it would 'break her heart'. However, with careful pressuring, nagging, and provoking she gave in after about a month, (much to the dismay of my friend, who was also itching for one, but had been denied one by her parents)

Now, I had the permission, so I ran off to Camden, one of my favourite haunts, to see about getting it done. The first shop we wandered into (some 'moral support' and myself) had a piercing studio located in its basement. We walked down a skinny spiral staircase into the studio, which was surprisingly bring and cheery. The room was quiet and clean, and very small, with only enough room for a casher desk and a cabinet full of earrings, lip rings, eyebrow rings and a load of other metal objects. The piercer was an older woman, and she was lovely. We talked about risks, the pain factor, and healing time for a while. My friend actually had to lead the conversation though; she was the only one among us that knew what she was talking about...I felt rather foolish, as I, the one was who was considering a piercing, was hiding behind my friend shaking and looking embarrassed. But in any case, we thanked her, and told her we would think about it. We then proceeded to check out a couple different shops, but they were all noisy and scary with pierced up and tattooed guys at the till, so we were frightened away.

I was a little nervous, so before going back to the store we went and had a bite to eat, and a drink to loosen me up. I have every reason to believe my 'friends' spiked my mulled wine with something slightly stronger, but that is beside the point...

So after our little romp we headed back to the store, and at this point I started to get second thoughts. I decided that in fact, I DIDN'T want a piercing, and could TOTALLY live without one, and proceeded to head out of the store again. Luckily, my moral support kicked in at this point, and drug me, almost literally kicking and screaming back into the studio. I was plonked down in the chair, my friends assuring the piercer that I was in fact ok, and of sound mind. The piercer was amazing, chatting and being generally friendly and lovely, while she got everything ready. She explained that she would pierce my ear with a sterilized needle, which would take one second, and then slide a ring into the whole, which would take three seconds. I was still waiting for her to stick the needle in when I was informed that she already had. It barely pinched! Granted, getting the ring in was a bit more painful, but I've stubbed my toe and had it hurt more, so no worries. Afterwards, the piercer gave me a sheet of paper with information about cleaning my piercing, and what to do if it started to shrivel or grow large amounts of scar tissue...lovely.

I returned home to show my parents my new piercing and inform them of plans to pierce my ear several more times in the near future. They were not happy about this, informing me that unless I planned to pay for my entire college fee I should think carefully before I went gallivanting off to another piercing salon. I have had my new piercing for a month now, and so far my ear has not begun to deform. The cleaning process; dabbing the piercing with warm salt water twice a day, is easy and takes only a few minutes in the morning and evening. I warn anyone who wants to get a cartilage piercing that the healing of the piercing is the longest and most difficult part. Your ear will throb for a few days after, and if any one decides to lovingly punch your ear for the next 3 months it will be very painful. The part that I probably find the hardest was not being able to sleep on my left side, because it still stings if I put too much pressure on my ear. The build up to getting my piecing was definitely not as bad as the real thing, and I'm very glad that I got it done.