Hey, I'm Eleanor, and this is the story of my newest permanent piercing – a horizontal industrial in my left ear.
At A Glance Author Psyx Contact piggy_wiggy@hotmail.com When A month ago Artist John Studio Angels Location St Andrews, Scotland Just a little history about me and my love of piercing:
I have both my lobes gunned when I was eight, and the scars left meant that I recently spent 8 hours getting them up to a 1.6mm horseshoe and CBR, my advice, don't gun whatever you do, there's so many medical as well as aesthetic reasons not to. After this, I was intrigued by the multiple ear piercings and navel piercings I saw around me, and became enthralled with the idea of metal under my skin. So, I got involved with play piercing, many thanks to Lee – a friend who can get professional quality sterile needles for me, as well promising a temporary 30-set corset piercing for my Christmas. After a while, just after a few of my friends had got some more piercings (most noticeably Sarah, who has the most beautiful VCH) I began getting urges for some permanent piercings.
Now, for all those reading who are still under the govern of the parents, as I am – quite often, parents do know what they're talking about, sometimes you underestimate the risk, or sometimes you overestimate your ability to clean it. However, very often, parents will try their utmost to keep you suppressed under their rule, either because they want you to remain innocent and their child, or simply because they have a grudge against you, and will do anything to make you miserable. This is my particular case.
For eight months, I deliberated over what piercing would suit me, and mean something special to me. After countless hours of BME browsing, I caught sight of a 'scaffold'. I was totally hooked on the idea from that day on. Now, deciding to be responsible, I searched up all the risks, detailed procedure, asked my local piercing place about it, cost, materials etc ad infinitum. I printed them all out, labelled certain paragraphs, pointed out some obvious flaws. I also included some generic piercing horror stories, so my parents could see how stupid I was not going to be. Eventually, I sat down with my dad, and explained about the piercing and the procedure, offering to take him to the piercing studio so he could see the cleanliness and hygiene maintained. He agreed, so long as "it was discreet, and I knew I could take care of it".
Now, I first approached him because I know he sees any kind of body mod as dangerous and stupid. To his credit, he was fair and heard me out, so I thought talking to my mother would be easier. No way. She immediately said "No." as soon as I mentioned a piercing. I persevered, eventually getting the basic info over, but still failing to make her read the articles I had printed. Still, NO. I asked for a reason, and got none other than 'I don't like piercings' and 'they don't heal'. Well, the first is an opinion, and the second is bullsh*t - the piercer who would be doing my industrial had a vertical, and you cannot tell in the slightest. She then changed the argument to the fact that "all my cartilage would be infected and shattered, as if I'd had it pierced with a gun." This is fairly hypocritical, as she has recently has had her lobes gunned, after the problems I had with mine (several trips to the doctors), as well as knowing the risk of blunt point trauma. So – after making the appointment, I was not going to be disheartened by my mother's utter and completely willing ignorance of the subject put me off. On the last page of the BME info I had printed, I wrote a little note saying that I was going to get my ear pierced the next day, and that if she made the effort to read the information, I would respect her wishes, and wait for a while. Surprise surprise, paper was left untouched, so next day, I went to Angels (my local studio) to get my lovely piercing.
My afore mentioned Sarah came with me (being the adorable piercing fetishist she is) and soothed my nerves before going in and promised me as soon as I got in the door, the nerves would vanish. And my God, they did. I knew John (the piercer) quite well, and knew he was professional, hygienic and friendly so had no problems in signing the forms, and the like. I sat down, and got measured and was ultimately ecstatic when I was told my ear was perfect for the industrial. He went over the procedure again with me, and explained the jewellery to me – it would be a slightly curved piece of PFTE with metal balls at each end, flexible enough to allow easy healing and cleaning. I was sprayed with anaesthetic (by far the most uncomfortable part of the day!) and got my helix clamped first. I felt John slide the needle in – I could feel it every millimetre and I loved it. Then the second hole got clamped, and the same procedure. Even more enjoyment for me.
I should say that my pain tolerance is insanely high – for me, pain and pleasure blend together beautifully.
He then threaded through the PFTE, and screwed the balls on. By this point, another friend had appeared and was ooooooooh-ing over my new addition. John cleaned me up (I had bleed quite a bit) and went over the aftercare, the basic boiling salt water twice a day for a week, then using an antibacterial spray, along with directions to come back if anything went wrong, or I wasn't sure about it -helixes are notoriously hard to heal.
It's just 3 weeks into the healing, and it's going brilliantly. Hardly any pain (except a direct smack) although I will warn you if you're considering getting this done, be prepared to pick dried blood out your hair for a couple of days. I'm hoping to get changed to a metal bar soon, and I won't be able to stop showing everyone *grin*.
Well, the parents saw the bar about a week in, and I'm not dead yet, so I guess I proved them wrong... And I intend to get a vertical in the same ear sometime soon, so I'll just have to see how they take it!