Firstly, I would like to highly recommend professional piercers to anyone and everyone, the majority do their jobs well, obviously so as they have earned enough (reputation and cash wise) to own their own studios! Secondly, I would like to advice strongly against actions such as mine, for this is a self-piercing experience.
At A Glance Author ItchyStitches Contact luna_c67@hotmail.com IAM ItchyStitches When Six months ago It started a few months ago, while ordering new jewellery on the delightful BMEShop.com, when I thought
"Do I want a red or a black kaos eyelet?"
rather than wait and decide, seeing as I had the money, I thought I'd order them both, black for work, red for happy hour! It got me thinking, why not even myself out? I already had a 5/8" lobe on my left, why not pierce and stretch my right? Thus, the idea was born.
This idea stayed in my mind until my kaos eyelets arrived, in record time of 3 days (I'm in the UK remember), which brought about the resurfacing of the idea. I had a little cash, so my girlfriend and I walked into town to the local piercing studio, whom I had never tried before. I was greeted by three men playing darts. By greeted I mean gawped at as I entered, which put me off straight away. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they are good at what they do, but I think one of the first rules of piercing is to be friendly and welcoming towards your customers (destroy the stereotype). I asked about my lobe piercing, requesting a needle rather than a gun, only to discover that piercing was a strictly Saturday affair (it was also a tattoo studio and nail bar). So I left, rather disappointed and headed home.
The next few days, temptation got the better of me, and I wasted the money I had planned to use. This left me in a tricky situation, which gave birth to idea number two. Why not do it myself? I had wanted to pierce myself for a while, but never had the proper equipment, so went pro. Now however, I had plenty of jewellery, and, with my mum's consent (it's her house after all) I planned to use a safety pin. Bad idea I know, but I figured it was only my ear, and the pin wouldn't be in there long and it would be sterilised (by sterilised I mean boiled). I left it for a few days as I had a gig to go to that week, and a fresh piercing is a bad idea at a gig.
Post-gig, almost a week afterwards, the idea returned. I made sure I had the o.k. from my mum, and got on with the boiling of the equipment (I use this term loosely). I set up in the bathroom, mirror in hand, and put the needle to my ear. I started to push, and instantly realised this wasn't going to be easy. The needle was sharp, but not really sharp, so it was going to take some work. I aimed as straight as possible, and pushed.
Lot's of experiences I've read talk about a feeling of "layers" when getting pierced. Before now, I had never experienced this. Tonight however, with slow progress, I realised what the meant. Each layer brought me closer to the exit. It felt like I'd barely progressed, but when I felt the back of my ear, I could tell I was close. One last push and the needle came out of the other side. Difficulty arose, however, due to the fact that it's near impossible to follow a safety pin all the way through the piercing, so I had to pull the needle out, and quickly shove the CBR in. one again, I hit a snag. As the piercing wasn't straight, it was it incredibly difficult to get the ring though. 10 minutes and two needle re-insertions later, I needed help. I asked my mum to try and get the ring in for me. She tried several times but to no avail. Eventually, she got one of her smaller gauge gold earrings and after a bit of a struggle, we got it in! It was a bit sore, but a new lobe piercing none the less. I cleaned it with some salt water and went to bed (it was quite late).
Since then, there have been no problems, it's slightly swollen, and still sore, but I've been cleaning it with salt water and taking zinc supplements for healing. I can't recommend self-piercing to anyone, at least not with such unsafe tools as mine, as it is dangerous and unless you're a professional, it's highly unlikely you'll have the proper sterilisation methods. Just because it went well for me, doesn't mean it will for you, so save your money and go see your local piercer!