In grade 9, I began stretching my ears having seen them on one person and thinking, "wow, never really seen that much before.... I really like it and want to get that done!" I began to look into it and started stretching, which, for most people – is the gateway into the wider concept of piercing.
At A Glance Author SHIV Contact deadbeat_sweetheart_____@hotmail.com When Six months ago Artist 1st time woman, 2nd time man Studio new york new york @ queen and spadina Location toronto, on
After having started stretching, I was craving a new one... I saw a tragus on someone and immediately fell in love with it. Close to a year later, my friend got her nipple pierced. However, she was only 15 and didn't want to wait the extra week for her birthday. Thus being said, she went to a place run by the hell's angels (note: she said to me that night that things that are not comforting during a piercing include "FUCK," "SHIT," "UH-OH," and the worst being "THERE'S A PROBLEM WITH THE NEEDLE..."). Needless to say, that got infected pretty fast. Determined to get it again properly, I decided to get on the bus and visit her for a weekend (in Newmarket). I said if she was to get her nipple pierced, I would finally get around to doing my tragus.
My initial experience with having getting this done was very good – it was done by Jenny at Stinger's. Very, very clean and friendly environment. Worst. Pain. Of. My. Life. Ever. We were finished and went back to her place. Sleeping on it is a bitch! Anyways, after about a month the ring from the CBR fell loose and I began having to shove random earrings through – do NOT do this.
It had gotten so infected, and I bought the wrong gauge replacement and it finally just closed. During the summer, me and my friend (different one this time!) chose to hang out down around queen west for the day. Now, if anyone who knows Toronto and is into body modification, the craving of this is like putting a smoker trying to quit in a room with cartons and clouds of smoke. It's addictive – and tends to make you crave a new hole. I was still mourning over the loss of my tragus and chose to get it repierced. I obviously had no intention of going to Newmarket, though. The place we chose was this seedy basement place I had seen many times before – called New York New York. It was fairly dinky and sketchy looking – but I had looked in before and basically said to myself fuck it let's do this shit.
The second first time I got it done was done by the woman at NYNY. She wasn't the best speaker of English and seemed noticeably foreign whose only skills were basic piercing and maintaining shop. She laid me down (on one of those patio chairs...covered in brown paper!?) and I laid back. Having been through this before, I was terrified. She, however, kept getting mad at me being scared. She then clamped (with the unnecessary strength of the Hulk, mind you) and put the needle in... really slowly. She was clearly not very good with this. My friend said the piercing actually hurt more then one person! The woman who was doing this then kept playing with the ring, causing me to believe I was finished. Let me also note, that she got mad when I requested CBR instead of a barbell, saying that I am making a mistake and she should be the one who has power to decide what form of metal I want in there. However, when I would ask, she got irritated and said "HOLD ON I'M NOT DONE." She was also being quite rude when I cried by saying "It doesn't hurt STOP IT." So much for me knowing my own pain threshold, eh? ....
Five days later, still knowing it was done quite poorly, the ball fell out. Surprise Surprise. I called NYNY and asked what could be done. They said nothing: they were in business for 7 years and it wasn't their fault – it was mine. But I could come down and talk about it properly. Me and the same friend who came with me that same week went and talked to the man (they are a married couple, I assume, taking alternating days as to who pierces for the day).
The man made me soo soo angry that I wound up cussing him off for saying it was my fault and they have no problems with anything that he threatened to get the police involved. I then left, and went back 20 minutes later and just settled on his offer for paying $20 for the jewellery. I only paid $15 and we went through with it again. The piercing was obviously very very tender and sore and I would rather have my cat scratch my nipples off then having to re-experience the feeling of it twice in a week. I this time settled for the barbell – which 6 months later, has not been replaced and also feels as if It was super glued on to the ball.
Tragus piercings, in my experience – are gorgeous. However, they are PAINFUL and BLOODY as hell. DON'T go to New York New York – for your own sake.