So this past summer has been a pretty crappy one. For one my chick broke up with me after 3 years of dating. Also my mom was going through some stuff health wise. After stuff like this happening back and forth with me trying to find a job on top of that can really stress someone out. After these hardships were starting to wear down a bit, my birthday was approaching plus I wanted to mark this overcoming of situations with something that represents me rather than someone expecting me to be a certain way. Now I've wanted gauges for a long time I just never got around to getting them. What triggered me into getting them was a friend of mine who came over and showed me his diamond studs. Afterwards, I felt now was the time to start thinking about getting them.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist Mark Studio East Village Tattoos and Piercings Location East Village NYC, NY At first, I didn't know whether I wanted to get a lobe scalpeling or just stretch them gradually. So I went online and did some research and read some F.A.Q.s and decided that stretching them out gradually would be my ticket. Then, my birthday arrives and I end up not getting my piercings, instead, I went out with a couple of friends to eat and have a good time. That weekend though, I headed out to the city with my brother and looked in to some piercing shops. Not yet getting the piercings I ask for a price range and took a look at the jewelry and their sizes and figured 8 gauges would suit me well.
So then I gathered my cash and made a trip back to the city the following weekend. I then went into the shop and picked out the jewelry, 8 gauge surgical steel single flared plugs. The guy at the counter tells me to walk to the back and show them to Mark so I can these suckers in. when I get a chance to meet Mark he looked very intimidating he had huge stretched out lobes, nose piercing, tattoos, and he was a genuinely big guy. When I go to the back I show him the jewelry and at first, I though he asked me if I already had holes which in reality he asked me if I was getting holes (I don't know how I messed that up in the first place.). He then proceeds to tell me to sit down. While I made myself comfortable I looked around the area and it was a very clean, spic and span, white room. I also gazed into his Laptop, Pink Floyd, nice.
After I tried to get comfortable I felt a little uneasy in that this was my first piercing. I had an idea that it may not hurt that much and tried to get myself in a certain state so that I won't feel uneasy. As soon as Mark came back with the supplies and showed me the needle and how the procedure will work. He starts cleaning the area where he is going to pierce and asked me if this is my first, I said yes, and he talked me through it saying that it won't hurt since the ear lobes have no pain receptors and once he drove the needle in my ear it wasn't bad, it didn't hurt at all. He then put in the jewelry and zeroed in on the next ear. With the same results, in 3 minutes not even, I was done. I gave Mark a hearty hand shake and tipped him. He then told me what to get to take care of it in which I did and left the city.
I got these suckers in August and it is now December, this was my first experience with piercings. I intend to stretch it out a little more. Actually earlier this month I went back to the city to upgrade to six gauges. For the new set, I went to Cutting Edge Body Arts Inc. in the Village. I talked to a woman (in which I feel like a fool since I didn't get her name.) who helped me pick out my next set and I asked her some recommendations on how to get the new ones in my ears and told me to take a hot shower to loosen the muscles in the lobes and to put Bacitracin around the new jewelry to get some lubrication to get it in. I then went home and did exactly what she told me and I'll tell you it hurt a bit, but now it isn't so bad. The woman told me to stretch once a month and I will do so. Now this is my first experience with stretching even though it wasn't as pleasant as getting them pierced it was definitely worth it.
With these new editions along with a tattoo I got a while back (in September but I'll leave that to another section.) it will help me overcome the hardships that I had to deal with during the summer.