Keep in mind, I'm home schooled.
At A Glance Author JC Contact JC@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Myself Studio My house First of all I never had my ears pierced when I was young because I was too afraid of needles. I'd cry for along time even from getting shots. All my cousins (girls only) had their ears pierced. And they're all younger than me. My family is quite conservative but my cousins managed to beg their parents to let them get their ears pierced. Also, I'm a metal head, so I'm supposed to be "hardcore". At a DragonForce/Killswitch Engage concert I was at while ago, I met a few people who were basically pierced from head to toe. Quite a few of them had pierced/stretched themselves in their own room or bathroom. So I decided to get ear piercing.
I only pierced one ear, because I was piercing myself. I was just like so upset and depressed and all that crap, so I pierced my left ear. I suffer from depression and several other mental illnesses, so this isn't anything new. I've just gotten over a few addictions which nearly took my life at 14. The devil's spawn... Now onto how I did the piercing. My mom is a blood test worker so she has a few blood test kits which mean needles! I managed to find a blood test kit and took one of the needles. I cleaned off my ear with rubbing alcohol and the put this Chinese medicine stuff to make it not hurt. Then I marked up the spot with a washable purple Crayola marker and carefully positioned the needle. I was too afraid to push the needle through by hand so using the end of a pencil I had with me, I tapped the needle through. It made it through to the cork at the back (just a cork I found in the basement)! I then put in my jewelry (a circular barbell with the normal round beads on both ends) which refused to go in until I tapped it in again with a pencil end. After the entire piercing, I just felt so bad. I thought I was just having another hallucination and this whole piercing thing never actually happened. But as soon as I touched my ear, I felt the barbell that I had put on.
I was very quiet for the rest of the evening because I just had too much guilt and realized how foolish I was. I went to my room and got changed for sleep and had a good cry, played a bit of Slayer and Pantera on my guitar (which I really enjoy doing). Playing guitar eased a bit of that guilt, but didn't ease it completely. So I called a friend (at 10 in the evening!) and told him what was happening. So we talked for a bit and found out that he had tried to pierce his own ears when he was my age (he's 16 turning 17). When my mom came in to ask me what I was crying about (after the talk with my friend that is), I just said "depression issues".
In the middle of the night, I couldn't stand the hiding any more and can't stop thinking about it. So I went to the bathroom (I have an en-suit bathroom in my room), took out the jewelry (the bead got screwed on too tight, so I had to grab a pair of pliers from my basement), soaked the piercing in a salt solution and then put a small Band-Aid onto the piercing and let it heal up. I'm going to tell my mom that I had pierced my ear (yep, I really must face the truth) and then she might let me get it re-pierced at a tattoo shop. I know, truth can hurt sometimes, but it's better than being in big trouble. And plus, if the piercing got infected, I'd have to get it checked out by a doctor and that means my mom will know.
There are quite a few good tattoo shops near where I live, or there are a few good ones in downtown's "Freak Community". I belong to the freak community anyways, so I shouldn't make my "kind" look bad. We metal heads already have quite a bad reputation, but I'm not one of the bad ones. For all of you that would be self piercing out there, please think twice before piercing yourself. Consider the following:
- Am I really mature enough to deal with a piercing?
- Do I really think I should pierce myself or just wait till I'm old enough?
- Did I take proper safety precautions? (I didn't even wear gloves myself!)
*bangs head against wall*
- Am I ready to take care of a piercing?
- Would I really want to harm myself?
I'm not for or against self piercing although I'm mostly against. If in doubt, just don't do it! I can't wait to get my ears repierced by a PROFESSIONAL PIERCER once this one heals its way up. Send me an email if you want.
~JC