About two months ago, I became fascinated over piercings. I had my lobes done at the hairdresser from when I was five years old, but now I wanted something completely different. I started looking here at BME, and decided to go for something in the ear since it suits me the best (easy to hide, doesn't get too much in the way). I decided to go for either an industrial or a tragus, I like the look of them and they didn't look too painful though cartilage was supposed to hurt a lot. I looked at pictures and read stories, it was helpful to make the decision. After a week or two I decided on a tragus. I train martial arts, and an industrial would have made it impossible to put my "helmet" on. If I got and industrial I'd just bump it, and it is two holes at the same time so I thought it wouldn't be the best for my first real experience.
At A Glance Author oxygene Contact kakaoelsker@aim.com When A month ago Location Mandal, Norway I asked some friends about where to go, they recommended a local place real near by so I could just drop in after school. I did, was a bit scared, wasn't really sure then but looking around for a while helped. I said I'd be back next week hopefully. They were really helpful, and calmed me down a bit.
Much thinking and after asking my boyfriend if he were against it, which he didn't, I decided to go for it. I was doing this for myself, and made myself a personal promise linked to the piercing (this really helped me out in different problems). I asked my mom as well and expected some arguing, but she just said "sure, go ahead".
After school I hooked up with a friend for moral support, and we went in. She recognized me and asked if I had decided. I said yes, and that I wanted my tragus done. She took me to the back room and asked me to sit down in the dentist-like chair. She sterilized everything in the autoclave, and started to clean my ear. She chose a hoop for me, I didn't mind at all and I trusted her to know what healed the best and was easiest to clean. I had no idea how my body would react to this, if I would bleed a lot or whatever, but I had at least gotten some food before (coke to drink!) as I read you should.
She was ready, and asked if I was. I said almost, I was very nervous and shaking because I expected the pain to be huge. I tried to breathe slowly, in and out, and said I was ready. She put the clamps on pretty tight, I'm glad she did it because it made me focus on that instead of the needle. I didn't see the needle at all; also glad about that since I'm not fond of them. She made the pinch, and I was shocked that it didn't hurt. No pop, no crouch. It was a bit uncomfortable, but it seriously didn't hurt for me. She put the jewelry in, and got the ball on the hoop very fast. This was the least pleasing moment, my ear was a bit irritated, but I didn't have any pain at all. I asked if I bleed, and she said nearly nothing. I payed her 300 kr (48 american dollars) for it all. My friend was like "show me!" and "did it hurt?" and I said it didn't. We went outside in the cold, I think my ear was a bit red and warm but else nothing. It was a strange feeling with the jewelry in, something was there, and I was so happy that I did it.
Five weeks after everything is still good. I clean it twice, sometimes three times a day with sea salt and antibacterial in the shower. I sometimes sleep on it; it's on my right side by the way. I kept my hair away the first weeks as the piercer said I should, and are careful not to touch it during the day. The last week there's been some crusties since it's growing, it hurts a bit to clean it but it's ok.
Here's a picture of my piercing two weeks old: http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r193/mginaphoto/Piercing2weeks.jpg
I would definitely recommend this piercing to everyone considering it. It's not in the way, but you should consider the fact that it's hard to listen to ipod's and such. I'm going to change to a barbell and see if that helps. About training I don't think it's going to be a problem. Few people here have tragus piercings, I've seen four at my school, so it's uncommon. Feel free to send me an email if you have more questions, I'll be happy to answer!