A few weeks ago, around the time my exams were ending, I decided to go and get a piercing. In the past I have had various ear piercings as well as my eyebrow, which I chose to retire some time last year because it never healed properly and required more maintenance than I was willing to give.
At A Glance Author Sarah Contact Sarah@bme.anon When A month ago Location Windsor I had decided I wanted my snug pierced before we went to the studio but I wasn't set on the idea. I just knew I wanted a new piercing. It was a bit of an internal debate between tragus, conch and snug to be honest. Any way, I decided on the snug about an hour before I caught a cab with a few friends to the local studio.
I almost chickened out when we walked in to the studio because as I waited for the receptionist I kept squeezing my ear cartilage and thinking about how much it would hurt, but before I could turn and walk away my friend stepped forward and told the receptionist what I wanted. So I mustered my courage (it wasn't waning, but I would have happily left) and filled out my information form.
When I got in to the room and had a seat in the chair, I began to change my mind about the snug piercing. The piercer was really friendly and he joked around with me and my friends (the two of them were allowed to sit on a bench by the door) while he prepared everything he would need. When he asked me where I wanted my ear pierced I, rather unwisely, said I didn't care as long as it was a snug and after he looked at my sceptically for a few moments I got up and looked in the mirror to tell him where. This is why I don't know how to classify my piercing: it's still in the general vicinity of a snug piercing, and it does pierce that flesh, but it goes through the back of my ear so it's a lot closer to a conch piercing. I'll just call it a snonch piercing, haha.
Any way, that's jumping a little ahead of the game. Once we settled on somewhere I would be happy, I sat back in the chair, all the while growing more and more nervous about the impending needle through my ear. I was still joking around with my friends while the piercer finished getting ready and right before he was about to pierce my ear, he said "okay, try not to tense up."
I did my best not to and the next thing I knew he was telling me I was good to go. He gave me a little bottle of saline solution (which ended up being too small a bottle as I ran out of it before my ear was nearly done healing), a few tips on keeping it clean and caring for it and we headed out. My friends joked for days afterward because apparently as soon as he told me not to tense up my face just went deadpan and I didn't move a muscle while he pierced me. Of course I thought I had tensed up, but since it was over and done with I figured it didn't matter.
I will admit, the piercing was rather painful for about a week after I got it done and I vaguely remember saying on a few occasions that I would never get it done again. Now that my brain isn't foggy with discomfort from the fresh piercing, I can say that I will probably never get my snonch (haha) pierced again as long as I don't have to. I also wouldn't change my mind and back out of it if I were to have known this information before I got it pierced. Obviously it'll be sore for a few days because it does have to go through a lot of cartilage, but with the proper care hopefully it will be healed in no time.
It's been about a month now and my ear is sore if I put pressure on it, but it's not painful otherwise. I can sleep on it comfortably should I so chose (and if I can find a nice position) and I've received many comments on it. The good thing about a snonch (haha) piercing is that it's not noticeable immediately. When I was at home over my winter break I would see people day after day and they wouldn't notice until nearly a week had gone by that there was a piercing inside my ear. I kind of like it's sneaky factor.
I would recommend this piercing for anyone interested as long as they don't mind a few days of pain afterward and the care it takes to keep it clean. It really pays off in the end - mine's healing fairly nice, minus a small bump of scar tissue on the back of my ear, but I have definitely seen a lot worse and healing gone downhill.