It was an April evening and I was really bored, as usual. I had some extra money in my bank account, so I decided I was up for a piercing. After a bit of thought I decided on inverse navel, to match my standard.
At A Glance Author Lisa Contact Lisa@bme.anon When A year ago Artist Owen Studio The Chameleon Location Boston, MA However, after showing up at The Chameleon in Harvard Square, I was strongly advised against it because of the shape of my navel (and the fact that The Chameleon does not do surface work anyway). After about a split second I decided on a conch piercing instead.
I was actually really scared because my conch is quite the thick bit of cartilage, and I'd never had any super painful piercings before. But I loved the look of them when I looked through BME and I decided that I should just suck it up and do it.
So... I did.
Owen sat me on the table, looked at my ear and asked if I'd like a CBR or a barbel. I politely told him a barbel because I like to wear cute girly earrings and I'd like something discreet, plus a giant CBR wrapped around the outside of my ear does not really match (style-wise) cute girly earrings. He quickly retrieved a straight 14g barbel from the shop and measured it to make sure it was the correct length.
After this he set out all of his tools (saline, needle, etc) and marked up my ear. I had him move the mark a few times, since I wanted the piercing right in the middle of my conch. After we'd decided it was in a good spot, he told me to grab my friend's hand.
I did... very tightly. I actually felt kind of bad because I was holding this poor kid's hand so tightly and my hand was all sweaty and sticky from adrenaline and nerves. I'm a total baby when it comes to pain, and despite my love of body modification, I'm really afraid of needles. So I turned my head and tried not to think about the fact that Owen was about to stick a big, scary, hollow needle in my very thick cartilage.
Owen warned me not to flinch and said that he was just lining up the needle and that it'd be touching me, but he wouldn't surprise me and pierce yet. He told me to take the obligatory deep breath and let it out slowly... I did and he shoved (in a gentle manner, of course) the big, scary, hollow needle through my very thick cartilage.
I winced, I teared up, and I kept taking my deep breaths while he did a very smooth needle-to-jewelry transition. The worst part of any piercing, my in opinion, is when the piercing goes from needle to jewelry.
I asked if I was bleeding and he told me no. I was actually kind of disappointed since if I had bled I could have joked with my friends about how "hardcore" I am.
For the 6 weeks after the initial piercing, I couldn't sleep on that side, hold the phone for too long on that side or even get bumped. It was incredibly painful (but I'm a baby, don't forget) and every time someone hugged me and hit it, I was almost in tears. I absolutely loved the look of my new conch though, and it was totally worth it in my opinion.
For aftercare I used saline solution in a metal can, which I sprayed on the piercing twice a day (or whenever I felt like it got particularly gross). I couldn't sleep on that side, but it didn't keep me awake at all. I tried to lay off headphones, because they bumped the piercing and I didn't want any more pain and irritation than necessary. Not being able to wear headphones was probably the worst part since I was still in high school at that time and wore them to and from school.
A few times some hair got caught and wrapped around the back of the barbel. This was entirely my own fault though because I got bored and would twirl the piercing (I KNOW! I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO!). There would be crusties or just general lymph and the hair would stick to that and then get twisted around the back of the barbel right underneath the bead. After about three weeks I actually had to have my mother take off the back bead and remove the few strands of hair because I was afraid of how disgusting and dirty that was for my piercing.
I had no trouble, other than that, with my hair and the piercing. I never caught it while brushing my hair or washing my hair. All in all, when it wasn't aching I totally forgot it was there.
So anyway, it's a year and 8 days later, and my conch is STILL not fully healed. I figure it's because I'm a slow healer though. I usually allow myself at least 150% of the average healing time before declaring myself healed. After about 4 or 6 months of absolute perfection, my conch has been irritated lately, which just goes to show that things aren't healed when you think they are.
I still have the original jewelry in, and I can't wait for this side to be healed so I can get the other one done.
My conch has definitely been worth all the pain and bother.