May 2006 was my 16th birthday and my grandmother had come over from out of province to celebrate with us. I know this may seem irrelevant, but had it not been for my grandmother I don't think I would have had the opportunity to have this experience! Therefore, I have noted it!
At A Glance Author Frigge When N/A Artist Mike (I think...?) Studio The Crypt Location Winnipeg, MB With the aid of my grandmother and her guidance, I some how convinced my over-protective father (who is very against any sort of body mods, and gave my mother a really hard time when she took me to get my ear lobes pierced when I was young) to let me get the rook of my ear pierced along with second lobe piercings on each ear. My mother was all for it though! (Yay for hippie relatives!)
Now all this was before I had realized how handy the Internet is, so I went to research which studio to get pierced the hard way. I asked around! I decided to go to The Crypt here in Winnipeg because a few of my friends had had some work done there before, and assured me that is was a good place to go. I realized now how naïve I was though, I really had no idea about piercings at all! To be honest I was so afraid that it was going to hurt that I almost wimped out at the last moment! I mustered up the courage though and trekked over to the studio with my grandmother, my Mama, and my younger sister. (grandmother had the money, Mama had the permission, and my sister just loves reasons to laugh at me!)
The man that was going to pierce me was called Mike, I believe. I'm really sure that that is his name but I don't really remember all that well! (I have difficulty remembering names) He asked me if I wanted a curved bar or a ring in the rook piercing. I chose a ring because I figured it would have been easier to maintain. Mike then lead me and my grandmother to the back room and I started to get a little nervous. It reminded me of a hospital room, but then the same thought that startled me reassured me because it looked very clean and sanitary. Mike took out the packaged needles and the jewelery (with gloves on, of course) and talked me though everything he was doing. Once we had agreed on placement for the lobes and the rook he told me he was rather impressed that I was going for three piercings in one sitting. He told me not too many people do that. I felt pretty tough! Then I figured lobes are virtually painless anyways... (I had pierced them on my own one time, but my father made me let them grow over... And he was right! I had no idea what I was doing! It was a horrid idea.) He was probably just trying to give me a little confidence because I'm sure I looked like a lost puppy!
Then the nerves returned when he was done with the lobes. I focused on my breathing and closed my eyes. I was really surprised when I heard my grandmother gasp! I got startled but then she told me she just didn't expect to see the cartilage come out of my ear like it did. I didn't even really feel it! I just felt this pressure on my ear and thought maybe he was having some trouble getting the needle through, but then it was over! It only felt as if someone took their thumb and pushed on the top part of your ear quite firmly. My grandmother paid and Mike gave me an aftercare pamphlet and told me to go buy some sea salt to clean it with. (Not table salt! Sodium Chloride has sugars in it! Sugars are bad!) My entourage and I went off to Starbucks for some coffee and then off to home we went!
That night when I cleaned the rook I almost fainted! There was a lot more pain that I thought there would be. Obviously my ear was a little swollen from being freshly pierced, but I also think I may have put too much salt in the hot water and it irritated it a bit. I managed though! I couldn't sleep on the left side of my head for about a week, but around the 9th day I was getting used to the annoying pain in my ear. I kept telling myself after it healed it would all be worth it! I was NOT taking it out! Never never never!
After that first week though, things started to turn sour. This "friend" of mine thought it would be really funny to spray a can of aerosol silly string in my ear while I was sleeping and I completely freaked out! My rook piercing immediately started to sting so I ran to the washroom and cleaned it right away. It stung so bad for about an hour but then it kind of receded, so I didn't worry about it too much. Until I got home that is. I was watching TV with my Mama when she pointed out that there was this yellow bubble above my piercing. Back to the washroom I went and I almost cried! It was OBVIOUSLY infected and looked as if it was a giant pimple! (I dealt with that annoying throbbing for nothing!) I took a Q-tip and tried to see if anything happened if I applied some pressure to it, but it only made it hurt a hell of a lot! I told my Mama that I should probably go back to the studio and tell them what happened, but my mom is seriously a hypochondriac and made me go to the doctor the next day. The first time I saw the doctor he told me to take it out, but I refused. I wasn't going to let some infection get the best of me! He gave me some antibiotics and sent me on my way. They seemed to work, but once I ran out of them the hideous beast reared it's ugly head again! I struggled with it for about 2 months until the doctor (and my mother) made me take it out (which really, REALLY hurt!) and gave me a prescription for Fucidin cream. I was SO disappointed and angry.
The infection went away and my rook healed over nicely, there is just a little indentation where it used to be now. My father wasn't overly pleased at first, but I think the whole experience has left quite the impression on him. I've recently become slightly obsessed with the piercing world, mostly thanks to BME, and he seems to be quite alright with it! He's even considering letting me get venoms for my 17th birthday! Now that I've put so much time and research into this I feel a lot more confident with getting pierced, and I think I have a better idea of what to expect. I don't know if I'll go back to The Crypt though. I think my rook may have gotten infected from a mix of my friend's irresponsible actions and me not knowing how to properly care for the piercing. I've read testimonials of other people on BME and I don't think Mike went over aftercare well enough for someone to properly take care of it.
Now even though my first "real" piercing (in my opinion) wasn't a pleasant experience, I've definitely learnt from it! I plan to get pierced after the venoms too and hopefully get my first tattoo once I'm 18. (Just 16th months away!)
You'll read from me again!
-Frigge