Last weekend I decided it was time to get another piercing. I have contemplated it for awhile and figured Saturday evening was as good a time as any to do it. My husband and I were already going into the city for dinner, so I wanted to go to Sacred Tattoo to get it done. I had my largest tattoo done there a couple years ago, and knew it was a reputable shop.
At A Glance Author Kim Contact Kim@bme.anon IAM xcurseddiamondx When A week ago Artist Josh Studio Sacred Tattoo Location New York City We arrived and I met Josh, the piercer on duty. We talked about what I wanted done (anti-tragus), placement, aftercare, type of jewelry, etc. I came prepared. I had previously purchased a 16 gauge curved barbell for my rook. It turns out though, that the rook had been pierced at 18 gauge. I thought it had been done at 16, so my mistake meant that the jewelry wasn't sliding into the piercing as easily as I had imagined. That's another story for another time. But, since it was a quality piece of internally threaded jewelry by Industrial Strength, I didn't want to toss it. I decided to hang onto it for "the future". Well, the future was now!
After signing the necessary papers, I went to the piercing area and met Josh's apprentice. Seems I was going to be a test subject! He prepped the area, the needles, cleaned my jewelry, etc. Before I knew it, the needle was going in. It didn't hurt any more or less than my rook did, which I suppose I had expected. But now came the tough part. Getting the jewelry in was taking a little longer than normal. Josh thought perhaps it was a little larger than 16 gauge. I feel like I may have heard that Industrial Strength's stuff was like that...but I could be wrong. Also, he mentioned that since it was internally threaded, there wasn't much of a taper to the end he was inserting. He stopped for a second or two and grabbed a taper of some sort. I didn't really see much of what was going on because of the placement, and honestly, I didn't want to look. Because by now I was starting to get pretty light headed. I'm a wimp, yes. But there was a lot of extra trauma going on because of the difficulty getting the jewelry in. I asked to take a break for a second or two. When I was ready again, it only took him a few seconds to get the ball on and clean me up.
He told me to lie down if I felt I wanted to. I definitely did. He wet a paper towel and put it on my pressure points, my forehead, etc. He was very concerned and wanted to make sure I was totally okay before I left. I appreciated this. I guess in a way it was "good" that I had this reaction, because it gave his apprentice a new encounter to learn from. After I pepped up a bit, I sat in the waiting area with my husband and they kindly gave me half of their brownie for some sugar. I thought that was extra awesome. All the niceties they provided me meant I gave them a bit of a larger tip than I might have otherwise. But when someone goes above and beyond your expectations, then I think it is totally warranted.
The next day I awoke to a pretty swollen and bruised anti-tragus. This worried me, as none of my other piercings ever bruised. I did my research here on BME and elsewhere, and saw that it was considered normal for some people. I don't blame the piercer for being "rough" or anything like that. I guess it just happened because of the circumstances. Plus, I have been vegetarian for the past 3 weeks, and the last time I did this, my body bruised more easily than normal. So I chalk some of it up to that, too. It's Tuesday now and it's still quite bruised, but is now turning more red/brown than black/blue. I hope this is a good sign. I am doing my routine warm sea salt soaks and cleaning it with my Crazy Chameleon soap, so I know it will turn out alright in the end if I keep taking proper care of it. I've also been taking lots of ibuprofen to help reduce some of the swelling and the slight pain. Luckily, there really hasn't been any blood coming from the piercing.
All in all it was a good experience, and I definitely recommend Sacred to anyone in the NYC area. Though others may not feel this way about them, or some shops in general, any time I have been there I never experienced any snootiness or been made to feel "not cool enough" to be getting mods done by them.