When I was in high school I wanted to have my lobes pierced, but my parents wouldn't allow it. I come from a very strict/religious Hispanic family. Both parents were against it, especially my father. A year or so earlier my girlfriend had pierced my lobes with a self-piercing gun she bought at a beauty supply store, but almost immediately my parents made me remove the earrings. At my high school almost all of my friends had piercings or mods of some sort, and lobes were considered mundane. For me it was a big deal though.
At A Glance Author HugoB Contact HugoB@bme.anon When N/A Artist self Studio home Location Dallas, TX My parents were taking a trip to Paraguay to visit family and would be gone for about eight weeks. I could not go because school was still in session and would have the house to myself. Piercing my lobes was the first thing I thought of doing while they were gone. I knew the piercings would probably have enough chance to heal while they were gone.
I had already gathered my supplies before my parents left. My girlfriend had ordered a piercing needle and I had purchased some 10 gauge stainless captive bead rings. I wanted to pierce at ten gauge because I thought they had less chance of closing than a smaller gauge if I had to remove them when my parents returned.
Not five minutes after my parents left for the airport I was piercing my ears. I put the needle and rings in a kettle of boiling water and boiled them for about half an hour. (by the way...I'm not recommending this...this is just what I did!) I laid out my supplies on a clean towel in the bathroom and cleaned my ears with rubbing alcohol. I then marked my ears with a marker. I used a fresh cork from a wine bottle to support my earlobe/catch the needle. I had soaked the needle in the same rubbing alcohol that I cleaned my ears with. The needle looked awfully big, but slid right into my lobes. My right ear bled like a stuck pig, while my left ear almost didn't bleed at all. I was very careful to line the needle up straight because I didn't want my earrings to hang crooked, and I didn't want to have to re-pierce my lobes with that big needle. The jewelry was a smaller diameter than the hollow needle and I didn't have any trouble following the needle through my ears with the jewelry. Inserting the balls was more difficult than expected. I kept dropping the balls and having to resterilize them. I finally got them in and all was well. Looking back, it probably would have been easier if someone was there to help me lining up the needle and getting the jewelry in, but I was anxious to get it done. In the end though, it worked out ok.
My girlfriend was mad that I didn't call her for the piercing event, but she was surprised and glad I did it. She looked at them and said the placement/straightness was perfect. I am obsessive compulsive and that kind of thing bothers me to no end. Her inspection and approval of my piercings made me feel a lot better.
Over the next few weeks the healing was uneventful and went quite well. All I did was keep ears clean and dry. My ears did leave a little blood on my pillowcase, but thats about it.
The day before my parents were to return I began to panic. I decided that I would just have to let the sh*t hit the fan as there was no way I could hide the piercings. When my parents walked in the door they didn't notice for a few minutes, then they saw and were furious. I felt a little bad, like I violated their trust, but I was more glad to have the piercings. They made me take the rings out but at this point my ears were pretty well healed. I put my jewelry in at night to keep the holes open until they were fully healed and wore my jewelry outside the house, at school etc... Eventually I just started wearing them all the time and now nobody says anything.
All of the hassle was definitely worth it. Lobes are probably the de facto "starter piercing". They were for me. After I turned 18 I had my nipples done professionally and have had three tattoos done as well. Right now my ears are at 6 gauge. It is worth putting up with some hassle in order to be yourself. Now nobody in the family says anything to me about my mods. Really getting the lobe piercings gave me confidence to be myself. Anybody worried about family disapproval must realize that it is more important to accept yourself, and your family will eventually learn to live with it.