Since I was five or six, I've had a thing about piercings. I didn't get my first 'til I was 12 - my lobes, and then after that I really enjoyed the buzz piercings gave me. I currently have 7 lobe piercings and 3 cartilage piercings, my nose and my lip pierced, and, two days ago, I had my tragus pierced. I did have my belly button pierced, but the piercist kind of messed that up so I took it out.
At A Glance Author maz Contact maz@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Tamsin Studio Area 51 Location Basingstoke I've heard some people say less than good things about Area 51, but I had my lip pierced there, along with several of my ear piercings, and I've got no complaints - none of the piercing I got done there have ever been infected.
Originally, I went in to get my tongue web pierced. I'd been reading up on here about different piercings, and I fell in love with the tongue web - one of it's greatest appeals being that it would be hidden for work. However, when I got onto the piercing chair, and after having 3 different people poke around underneath my tongue, it turns out that I pretty much don't have a tongue web, and what I do have, it would be impossible to pierce.
I was pretty upset about this, as I'd had my heart set on geting my web pierced, and had been working myself up for it all day.
The lady doing the piercing asked if there was anything else I wanted done, and I immediately decided on my tragus, as a few of my friends have this done and I think it looks great.
She said that it would be cool to do my tragus and began preparing the equipment. I have a thing about hygiene and I was incredibly happy to see her change her (black!) gloves between the two different piercings.
It has to be said that I'm a bit of a baby when it comes to pain, and so, having heard that the tragus "hurt like a son of a..." I was pretty nervous, but Tamsin (I think) told me that it had been one of the least painful piercings she'd ever had, and that it hurt a lot less than cartilage.
So, she marked up my ear, told me to take a deep breath, and pushed the needle through. I'm not going to lie, it hurt, but only for a brief second the needle went through, and it wasn't anything close to an unbearable pain. She then put the bar through (apparantly it's less painful to pierce with a bar then a hoop)and told me to check it out.
I was a little freaked out because there was a bit of blood, and I'd never experienced that with piercings before, but once I cleaned that up, it looked great, and I loved it. I paid (£15 - piercing and jewellery, which is not bad at all if you ask me) and left to do some shopping.
Cleaning is basically the same as with other ear piercings, and I was offered a bottle of surgical spirit, but I prefer to use warm salt water, which I find great for all piercings.
I will advise eating well before getting pierced, as, when I had my tragus done I had totally neglected to eat for the day, and, about ten minutes after leaving the shop, I started to feel really hot and dizzy and had to sit down. However, after a can of coke and some sugary food, I felt a lot better.
At the moment, it still looks great - one of my friends said it doesn't look newly done at all - although I am experiencing a few difficulties with headphones and using the phone. I've had a lot of people go "oh my god, that must've hurt" or "I didn't know you could get that pierced", and, of course, some people just plain don't like piercings, but, on the whole, everyone has said it looks great.
My mum still hasn't seen it yet, and I'm going to keep it that way for as long as possible, because she is pretty anti-piercings and has threatened to kick me out if I get anymore done (though I doubt she actually would.) The only problem is with work, as we are not allowed to wear any kind of jewellery, and I won't be able to remove the bar for a while. I think I might have to put a plaster over it (unless anyone has any better suggestions, I'd be glad to hear!)
On the whole, I would recommend this piercing to anyone as it looks great and is quick and pretty much painless! Next, I'm planning to maybe get my belly button re-done, or go to another piercing guy and see if there is any way he can pierce my web.