Hello ladies and gents. I'm going to share my most recent piercing experience with you. I just got a custom industrial done on my right ear. I did the usual research (I research everything before getting it done - very important) and I decided that an industrial would be my best bet.
At A Glance Author Nat Contact Nat@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Jeremy Studio Hanger 18 Location London, Ontario, Canada I was feeling pretty pumped up about this one. I've already got my navel and nipple done, with minimal pain, so I thought (quite naively) that this couldn't be that bad. I called up the tattoo/piercing parlour I always go to for all my body mods, they had an open afternoon and told me to just head over whenever I was ready.
I live really close so I decided to walk there, it was a beautiful day. I love to walk to the tattoo parlour before I get work done, it's kind of a ritual I guess. Thirty minutes later I breezed in the door and chatted with Jeremy (the guy who's done all my piercings) and the apprentice for a while. After a few minutes Jeremy called me to the back room and away I went.
I initially went in there wanting just a regular industrial but after Jeremy examined my ear he told me that I didn't have enough cartilage on the outer edge of my ear for the piercing to work out well. Ok, that was fine with me. We started to discuss different locations for the second hole. We looked at all kinds of bars, holding them up against my ear to see which would work the best. I really appreciated that whole process. I knew that Jeremy was good, but it was so cool that he put such a huge emphasis on making this one work out great.
That's when it hit me. This was going to hurt bad. I'm not sure what made me realize it, but something clicked. Well, I've dealt with some serious pain before so I wasn't about to puss out because I thought it would hurt too much. Jeremy marked my ear, then passed me the mirror to make sure that I approved, which I did.
As he got everything ready I made sure that my hair was tightly secured - the last thing I wanted was a piece of hair getting tangled in the procedure. He came over beside me, 14 gauge needle in hand, ready to poke yet another hole in my body. I was feeling pretty lighthearted and happy, not nervous at all. He did the usual "Deep breath in, now exhale hard" and hole number one was made. Ouch. Not a big ouch, not yet anyway. It felt really warm, not entirely unpleasant. He got the bar and told me "Now you're gonna feel this, I have to push the threads through". Oh God, he wasn't kidding. As he pushed the bar through I could hear the threads crunching their way through the hole. That hurt quite a bit, there was a bit of cursing on my part, but no wiggling or whining. Ok, now time for the second hole, through a very thick piece of cartilage. It felt like it took forever. This was the first time my body reacted so strongly to a piercing, I got all hot and stiff, my hands were sweating, it was weird. He told me later that he had to go slow for the second hole because he needed to make sure it was perfectly lined up with the first hole. Fair enough.
It didn't bleed at all, which kind of surprised me. It was just a little red and warm. We had the usual aftercare chat, and he warned me that this sucker was going to take quite a while to heal (I already knew that, but it was good to hear it from him). I paid him (and gave a tip of course) and then I was on my way.
Ok, for me, this is where it gets really interesting. I had no idea how much this would hurt. At this very moment it's not too bad, just a dull throb, but usually throughout the day it's so sore I can't even smile without wincing - and I'm a smiley chick so this is tough. Granted, it's only been about two days that I've had it, so I imagine it will get better, but for now, OUCH. It's red and swollen - although not grotesque, and everyone says they don't notice the swelling, I notice it and I feel it, so I guess I think it looks worse than it really is. I haven't seen any discharge yet, which worries me a little, that stuff should be coming out, but maybe it'll take longer for the discharge because it's in the cartilage.
I'm supposed to go back to see Jeremy by the end of the week so that he can check on how it's healing and whether he wants to change the long bar for two separate ones (depending on the swelling). I hope that I don't have to get two separate bars, I really like this big long one, it's kind of shocking to look at it - I enjoy the shock factor. Haha.
Although this has been the most painful body mod I've had so far, it was totally worth it. I love the look of it. And because it's a custom job there aren't many people who have one like this, it's unique - like me.