I got my tragus pierced about a month ago at Staircase Tattoo in Santa Cruz, California. It's a piercing that I've wanted for a fairly long time, at least a year or two. However, I'm not exactly rich so it's the sort of thing that I tend to think about a lot and fully convince myself of before going ahead with it. One sunny sunday at around 6 p.m., after working all day, I decided it was time. I'd just been inside slaving away during the entire beautiful sunday, so it seemed appropriate to go spend some of my hard-earned money.
At A Glance Author Cucumber Contact Cucumber@bme.anon When A month ago Artist the guy with the stretched earlobes Studio Staircase Tattoo Location Santa Cruz, California Staircase Tattoo was the most convenient piercing place to go, as it is a short bike ride from downtown, on Ocean Street. I had never myself been there, but I had heard good things about it from my friends. I got there and told the guy that I wanted to get my tragus pierced.He had me move my hair out of the way so he could take a look at it, I suppose to make sure my tragus was shaped in such a way that it could be safely pierced, and said that it would be fine. It cost $50 for the piercing and the jewelry. I didn't get to pick the jewelry, you just get a is a short stainless steel bar. The piercer told me that they only use bars because they promote better healing for the piercing. He said that it was fine to change it to a ring once it had healed.
There was a bit of a wait after I paid, I suppose while the piercer went to sterilize the room. There were quite a few people there getting tattoos as well. My friend had come with me for moral support so we looked at tattoo samples while we waited. They had big plastic swinging rectangular poster cases displaying the artwork of all the different piercers. Eventually the piercer came out and said that the room was ready for me, and my friend and I proceeded follow him into a back room. It was sparkling clean and all of the needles and things were prewrapped.
The piercing itself was a little bit painful but really not so bad. It was less painful then my tongue and my nose and slightly more painful than my bellybutton. It went relatively quickly and then i was biking home. It had bled a little and some blood had pooled and dried inside of my ear, and as the piercing was so new and tender I couldn't really get to it at first, though I eventually got it with a q-tip. I did sea salt soaks every day for a little over a week and then went camping and so gave up on it; but it's healing fine and never got infected at all. It's not totally healed, I think it takes around 6 months for that, but it doesn't really hurt unless I bash it really hard and I can stick my finger in my ear comfortably. Hooray.
So overall I'd definitely recommend staircase tattoo. They made me feel quite at ease and it seemed like they had a lot of really neat jewelry for sale. They were open late, even on a Sunday, and the piercer was quite friendly. I would definitely consider getting tattoos there as well. They had multiple artists with different styles and lots of experience. In fact, my piercer mentioned that he'd been working there for nearly a decade or so.
My only word of warning if you're heading to Staircase Tattoo would be that considering that it was fairly crowded when I was there, you should definitely give yourself enough time so that you don't have to worry about waiting around for a while. It's worth it for sterile conditions and a confident piercer. They are one of the few large scale piercing and tattoo parlors in Santa Cruz so they probably get a ton of business. If you're getting a tattoo I assume you could probably make an appointment.
I also recommend getting a tragus piercing to anyone who has been considering it. It's pretty adorable and fun and it healed so easily. I've always admired them on other people so I'm glad that I took the plunge. I really enjoy getting new piercings, and getting this one has made me realize how many interesting ways one can pierce their ears. I'd like to maybe get an industrial piercing next. My left ear is pierced four times now, including my tragus piercing, so to balance it out I think an industrial piercing horizontally through the top of my right ear might be nice to balance things out. I'll have to wait till the next sunny day I have to spend at work.