So a little bit of background first. I am in college now, and for the last three years, I have been part of a touring music group. All good, right. All except for the fact that they allow no piercing at all. None at all. And since we toured pretty much every weekend, this posed a little bit of a problem for me, because I rather like piercing. Needless to say, I was able to get both lobes and my helix done on breaks and healed enough to take out for whose. But those are stories for another time.
At A Glance Author Dinosinmypants Contact Dinosinmypants@bme.anon IAM dinosinmypants When A week ago Artist Shayla Studio South Side tattoo Location Pittsburgh I recently graduated from the group, and as a present to myself, I decided that I was gonna get another piercing. Now that I didn't have the time limitation, I could get whatever I wanted and not have to worry about taking it out. Or at least not until med school interviews, but those are quite a while away, so I didn't really have to worry about that just yet. So here I came to BME to see what new hole I wanted to put in my head, and after much looking at pictures and reading experiences, I decided on going for my anti-tragus. At this point I had 2 gauge plugs in both ears, and another 10 gauge in my left ear, so I figured that the anti-tragus on my right would balance things out, without being too symmetrical. I like being a little offsided.
So when I got and get a piercing, I like to try and convince someone to come with me and get something done too. Thins generally isn't too hard, for most of my friends are quite into body piercing and are generally willing to get something else done. So this time it was going to by my ex-girlfriend that was gonna go. I was going to do the anti-tragus, and she was going to get her daith pierced. Even though we are now broken up, we still have in common that we love piercing, so it's a fun thing to do together. I digress.
So we head down to the studio that has some all of her piercing and most of mine. South Side Tattoo. They are very professional and clean, and pretty reasonably priced. So we head down from school, find a parking spot (no mean task in the south side on a Friday night) and started to walk over. It was at about this point that I realized that it was around six in the evening, and I hadn't eaten anything since lunch. I was at work all day, and being pretty busy there, I had completely forgotten about it. Well, as neither of us were really on any sort of time limit, we decided to stop and grab some food, because piercing on an empty stomach is really not much fun.. So after a quick few slices of pizza at our favorite place, we resumed our journey to the studio.
It was such a nice feeling heading in there. Sorta like coming home. We walked in and chatted with the people there. At this point, I was getting that nervous/excited/butterflies in your stomach feeling. It might have been the pizza...or the face that I was about to have a needle stuck into a pretty big chunk of cartilage. I had read of BME people saying that the anti-tragus hurt like hell, so I kinda figured that I was getting into some pain. But no pain, no gain, right? And I just loved how the anti-tragus looked, so I knew that pain or not, I just had to get this one.
There are a good number of people in the shop, it being a Friday evening and all. So we fill out our paper work, get out licenses copied and grab a seat and hang out for a little bit. After a bit, they call our names and we start heading back...
We had talked about it before and decided that I would go first. This was completely fine with me, as I would rather get it over with than have to wait in silent nervousness. So I sit in the chair of pain (my words, not theirs) and get ready. Shayla, my piercer was there getting everything ready. She got the clamps, needle, Q-tips, and jewelry (curved barbell) out of their sterile packages. After this, she marked my ear. Perfect placement first time. Exactly where I wanted it. I have somewhat thick cartilage, but she said that it wouldn't be a problem, so I say lets go. On go the clamps. Damn, these things hurt. I was starting to get a little nervous, and I think she could tell, because she said that it shouldn't hurt yet, just to relax. On her word, I start the deep breaths. All I could think about was the pain that I had heard others talk about getting this done. Before I knew it, in went the needle. Well, it hurt, but not so much as I was expecting. I think that because the clamps were on for a while, it was starting to get a little numb. Though, this was the first piercing that I got that I heard the pop as the needle went through. I would say that the pain level is a little higher than getting a helix done, but not enormously so.
So there I was, with a needle sticking out of my ear. What a sight, I'm sure. Next thing I know, in goes the jewelry. On goes the ball. And that's it. As I sit there, Shayla starts going over the after acre while wiping off the blood with Q-tips. Apparently I bled quite a lot, but I was more paying attention to the feeling in my ear and what I was being told rather than what Shayla was doing. Later, my ex told me that she had never seen that much blood come from an ear. Nice. But back to the chair. Everything finishes up and I am done, with a brand-new piercing that I absolutely love. I think that this thing is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I must say that the whole time that me ex was getting her piercing; I was sneaking glances in the mirror to check out my new baby. Well, we get done, pay for it all, tip for the great job, and head out, completely pleased with ourselves. What a great feeling.
Well, it's been about a week now, and it is doing great. It hurt the day after, as expected, but by now, I can barely even feel it. But boy, does it look nice. I defiantly have a new favorite piercing. I highly recommend this one for anyone. It does hurt a little bit, but it looks amazing. What a fun time!