Well it all happened a little over a year ago. Surfing BME, found the piercing, you know the drill. Well my friend Carli had been planning to get two cartilage rings, so I figured why the hell not, let's get an industrial! I had to get my mom & dad to approve, so I marched up to my dad and said "Dad, can I get an industrial?" Of course, dad asks "What the hell is that?" And I say "It's a bar through the cartilage of your ear." Dad says "Well, it's your ear." YES! It was going to be my second major piercing (my first was my navel. Surprise Surprise) so I was nervous as anything. Plus, I had heard that industrials hurt a whole lot.
At A Glance Author Kels Contact Kels@bme.anon When A year ago Artist Warren Studio Jersey Devil Location New Jersey About a month later, when Carli and I decided on a good time to go, a Saturday morning, We were so pumped to finally get our new additions. My good friend Staci had crashed at my house the night before, so she came along. On the way there, I was constantly pinching my ear to see what it might feel like. Now I know that that was a stupid thing to do, because the piercing feels nothing like pinching yourself. We were eating muffins and laughing the whole way there. It was a great time; it definitely subsided the nervousness and fear.
Finally, we got there. The way to Jersey Devil always feels like seven hours, although it's only about a half-hour. I called Carli, and she had gotten lost, of course, being the ditz that she is. We directed her and finally saw her van. She was more nervous than me, which made me feel good about myself.
We walked up to the piercing room and I saw someone who looked unfamiliar to me. Warren had never pierced me before. He seemed like he knew what he was doing, so I let him do my industrial. haha. We flipped through piercing pictures, looking at odd additions people had gotten over the years. Carli saw a custom industrial and is now in love with the idea of getting one! Two (cute) boys came in and Staci went crazy! Flirting and being the cute that she is. Who didn't see that one coming!
Carli decided to go first, because she had to leave for Delaware right afterwards. It was a minor piercing for her, but she looked as if she was getting her arm sawed off. Staci and I giggled at her. Now it was MY turn. I picked out my jewelry; a blue bar. Blue is my lucky piercing color. He asked me to sit in the chair, and he marked my ear & cleaned it. Then he told me he was going to count to three and then pierce. One...two...PIERCE! The first hole wasn't bad at all. It was a small pinch that I barely even felt, to tell you the truth. Now time for the second. That was worse than the first, because it was higher on my cartilage. It was a tad worse, but still not bad.
We paid, got the aftercare instructions, and off we were. We said our goodbyes to Carli and Warren, and me and Staci were ready to go out.
The healing process was ridiculous. I got my hair done a couple months after, and it was painful! If my boyfriend so much as touched it, it would start throbbing and aching. I thought I might have an infection. I called Warren, and he said cartilage takes a long time to heal; so it would hurt for a while. Great. Just what I needed. I started being more and more careful with it, and made sure I was cleaning it every day. And sure enough, it got better.
Well about 7 months went by, and it started hurting less and less. Now, finally, after a year, it is finally healed completely! I still get weird looks from older people. I still don't know why, because an industrial is a pretty common piercing. My town is not used to piercing, so basically anything besides standard earlobes and cartilage was odd to the people in it. I got weird comments and looks in school, my favorite being "IT LOOKS LIKE A FISHING ROD!" :) I'm proud to have a piercing that I can say I went through a year of hell to have. That year was probably the most painful of my life, and sometimes, it still hurts every once in a while. But that's usually due to headphones or somthing silly of the sort.
To anyone who wants to get an industrial piercing: Have fun with it. Be prepared for an extremely painful and long healing process. Be careful if you have long hair; it can hurt if your hair gets stuck in it. But most of all, HAVE FUN. happy Piercing, lads.