At A Glance Author aniorange Contact aniorange@gmail.com IAM aniorange When Two years ago Artist Jason Studio 23rd Street Body PIercing Location Oklahoma City, OK I always find myself falling in love with the idea of a new piercing. I always have a list of things I want to do, but there is usually something at the top of that list that I can't wait to get. There was a time when it was my septum because that looked so daring. After that it became a smiley. I felt like it was really unique and odd, at the time. After adding that to my collection, I wanted a vertical labret. The list goes on for a bit, but for purposes of this experience, we shall advance to the Industrial. I was at a point where this piercing was at the top of my list. It was kind of new to me, and very neat looking. I just had to have one. So one semi planned day, Nicole, my fiancé and I headed off to Oklahoma City to shop, eat and get pierced.
After having some other fun in the city, Nicole and I headed over to 23rd Street Body Piercing. This was Nicole's first time in 23rd Street Body Piercing. I headed up to the counter and informed the young lady behind the counter what I wanted. I asked how much it would be for an Industrial. I had a question or two about how they where going to do it. I had read experiences where the piercer pierced the ear in two spots and put in captive bead rings in. After giving the piercing time to heal, they came back and changed out the jewelry for a straight, or sometimes specially shaped barbell. I wondered if this would be the case today. I am in no position to question the wisdom of such a method. However it would be difficult to have it pierced, then have to drive back later down the road and change out the jewelry. It was a good long drive to piercing shop. On second hand, that is not all too different than other piercings where you have to change out a longer barbell for a shorter one after it heals and such. I usually do that part on my own, I am not sure I would want to change two bead rings out for a barbell on my own. Then there would be the cost factor. Surely it would be more expensive to have to pay for several pieces of jewelry. I would not want to cut corners on cheap jewelry, and I know this shop would not do such a thing. I would also be concerned that the holes would not line up that great if they where healed separately. I would think that would cause more harm to the piercings, as well as pain.
At any rate, I asked how they did it, and was greeted with a slightly confused look. I explained how I had heard of it being done in different ways. The nice lady behind the counter told me that they just do it all in one-step and use one barbell. They went to check and make sure they had a barbell long enough for me in stock. Lucky me they did. I had a seat and waited for my turn Nicole and I chatted about the décor of shop. Nicole asked me if I were nervous. Well of course I was, at least a little bit. It was not foremost on my mind yet. Then I was called back.
Nicole and I headed down the hallway to our awaiting room. I had a seat on the table/bed thing. I believe Jason was my piercer that day. Jason got out his was just finishing setting up. He greeted us and was friendly. Jason had a look at my ear to see what he had to work with. It was then that my nerves started to build. Jason put some little dots on my ear to see if I like the placement. A brief glance in the mirror and I was satisfied. Jason had me sit still, and positioned himself on the side of my soon to be pierced ear. He had everything ready, gloves on, jewelry sitting waiting, needle in hand, He asked me to take a deep breath and let it out, and back in. By this time I was quite nervous, but it was time to sweep it all away, I could do this, I have been in this seat before. As I let my breath out I felt the pressure. Pretty quickly the needle slid through the top of my ear. Without wasting any time Jason preceded to push the needle though the other spot on my ear, completing the piercing. Yes, it hurt. Cartilage has always hurt a bit more to me. The worst part was over. Jason replaced the needle with the barbell. I only felt slight pinches as he did that. He screwed the ball on and invited me to check it out in the mirror.
It is hard to describe the pleasure I feel when I look in the mirror and see a new mod. There is an awesome sense of satisfaction, and pleasure. The want is gone and for the time, I was at peace. I thanked Jason, stuffed some kind of tip in his jar and we headed on our way. I already had the stuff I needed to take care of the piercing.
My ear turned quite read that evening. It was not happy with the treatment I had imposed upon it. I immediately started keeping it clean. I would start by soaking some cotton balls in saline solution and soaking the different parts of the piercing. It was a bit more work than other piercings because it was two holes with four different surfaces. The soaking helps tremendously in getting rid of the annoying and sometimes painful crusties. After a soak I would then use a q-tip to clean the piercing with provon.
Sometime later that night, I got a real wake up call. Nicole and I where playing around. I was tickling her. In her haste to shove me off, she gave me a good square shot on my newly pierced ear. It worked. I retreated in pain. It was much worse than getting pierced. I thought for sure some damage had occurred. After the pain subsided a bit and I was able to lift my hand away from my poor ear. I checked it out in the mirror. There did not look to be any tearing or any damage. However, if I thought my ear was red before, it was on fire now. It could not have gotten any redder.
After the initial soaks and cleanings of my new piercing, I also found that in the shower was a good place to clean my piercing. After getting everything else cleaned up, the crusties on my industrial would be pretty well washed away, and all I needed to do was put a little provon on it, and wash it away. It healed pretty nicely. It was a little slow about healing. You would not think the ear is such a dangerous place to have a piercing, but I managed to hit is a few more times here and there. Beaded curtains are dangerous.
After it healed, I ended up getting a delivery job that did not allow ear piercings. I would take out the industrial on nights that I worked, and put in two little pieces of weed wacker line. It was nearly the same gauge as the jewelry. It got to be a bit of a strain sometimes on my poor ear. It would get sore, but I needed the job and I felt like I needed the piercing. There did eventually come a time when I decided to let it go and not put it back in. You would think by now I would have learned that I always regret that decision.
So for now, the industrial sits only in memory, as I have retired it. The desire to have it again is at least as strong as it was the first time. I need only time, money and good health to resurrect it from the past.