This is the story of how two piercings (my tragus and my ear rim) can be so very different.
At A Glance Author Lucy When It just happened Artist Colin Studio Exeter Body Piercing Location Exeter, Devon, UK I had problems with my second cartilage (ear rim) piercing from the start. I had to get the position changed; it was seriously painful for weeks; and after I changed the jewellery at the 3-month mark, it started to develop a bump on the back which made changing the jewellery very hard. This is all despite the fact that I got it done at the same place and cleaned it just the same as my other (fine) cart piercing.
But that's not really what my story is about. My tale is about my cute little left tragus.
Well, I'd been trying to figure out what I wanted in the way of new piercings for a while... this was mostly due to my boyfriend's new-found obsession with piercings... which is actually my fault! So, he had his helix pierced, and I thought (still think) it looks really hot. But, y'know, I didn't want his 'n' hers piercings, I wanted my own thing.
My piercing couldn't be on my face because of school and work, and I'm not too sure about actual body piercings. I spent ages on BME, and one day I noticed that two girls at my school had their traguses pierced. One had a bar, one had a ring. I saw the ring first and I thought, hey, that's not nice. It was all crusty with blood... just wasn't attractive. When Josh (my boyfriend) and I saw the other girl, we both thought it was cute.
Okay. He then had to figure out what he should get, and finally decided on a snugg-to-rim bar. So then we decided on a date, and yesterday (13 March) went into Exeter to get them done.
He was working in the daytime, so before we met up I went down to Exeter Body Piercing to get the jewellery in my cartilage piercing changed back to the original titanium ring, just in case it was the silver in my jewellery irritating the piercing. Colin, who's done my ear twice now, was in, and he changed the ring, making sure everything was clean beforehand. Changing the ring back to the thicker CBR hurt just as much as the original piercing itself!
On my way out I noticed they had a display of why needles are better than piercing guns. Suffice it to say that they'd got two guns and and simply put them through the same sterilisation process that they do with their equipment (needles). One gun had melted and the the mechanism in the other had jammed. Although I've not had any problems with my double earlobe piercings, I definitely wouldn't go anyplace that uses them again!
Anyway, later on in the day, I met up with Josh and we went down to EBP. Nik was in this time (the senior piercer) and when I told her that I wanted my tragus done, that was easy. I chose a 1.2 x 8mm titanium bar instead of a CBR and filled out the normal form (consent/medical). Josh's proved slightly more complicated, and when Colin came back he and Nik spent ages trying to figure out the best way to pierce it. Anyway, eventually they decided on a 20mm bar instead of two separate piercings.
I went first. They have two piercing rooms and they're both very plain and surgical-looking. Plus, they're super-clean. You can smell all the disinfectant as soon as you walk into the studio! Anyway, Colin had me sit on the bed-thing while he marked my tragus. He told me that I have small traguses, but they weren't "abnormally small" - thanks!! Then he had me check the positioning, changed gloves again, and had me lie down and make sure I was comfortable.
He then told me that he was going to clamp my ear, told me to take a deep breath in, and on the exhale he clamped my ear... that hurt a LOT. Then all of a sudden he said "Okay, now I just need to put the ball on the back." Um.. what??! Did he just pierce my ear? I swear, apart from the clamp, I felt absolutely nothing... and, on the plus side, no pop from my cartilage piercing like I'd been reading about on BME!
I checked it out in the mirror... it was not only cute, but amazingly gorgeous as well. It didn't throb at all, or bleed half as much as my cartilage piercings did.
Then I got to watch Josh's, and see how meticulous and careful Colin really was.. he's incredibly accurate even though Josh's was the first snugg-to-rim piercing he'd done (after all, it's not exactly a 'normal' piercing!). He then took a couple of pictures of that piercing and we both paid up. Mine was £28, although it would've been less if I'd had a CBR; Josh's was about the same. We left the studio flying high on endorphins and very proud.
I was able to sleep on my left side quite happily last night; figuring out how to clean it definitely made a change from my other piercings. So far there's been no pain or irritation from it at all and it's made me even more unique.
If you're in Exeter or anywhere near, I'd advise you to go to Exeter Body Piercing. They've done 4 piercings on my ears, are incredibly knowlegeable and always willing to advise you about piercings. I've heard that there are only 3 studios in England to be registered with the APP and EBP are one of them.... there's no way I'd now go anyplace else.