My industrial was the last piercing I had before getting an obsession with tattoos, so I remember it quite well. I spent a little while looking on BME at photos and stories to be sure that I definately wanted it done, this I strongly advise because it's quite a prominant piercing, if you get it done just for the sake of having another piercing, think twice because a lot of people, in my experience don't like it(including employers and colleges), and it's pretty difficult to hide. Looking at videos of other people having it done kind of helps too, just to get yourself familiar with the procedure and what it looks like for real.
At A Glance Author tash Contact tash@bme.anon When A year ago Artist andy Studio northamptonshire So, I went down to the piercing studio to get it done. I sat in the chair as the guy prepared all the equipment. He then measured the diameter of the part of my ear I wanted pierced and chose the bar to fit this. This measuring is very important, make sure 100% that it is done correctly, because mine wasn't and as I will explain shortly,it later caused a lot of un-necessary complications.
A lot of people I had spoke to or read about say that industrials through the ear hurt a lot. In my experience, this varies a lot from person to person, everyone has different pain thresholds. I have a very high pain threshold especially with piercings and tattoos, so my word may not count for much. Personally, I didn't think this piercing hurt at all, however, this is the only piercing in which I have ever actually felt the needle going through, so I imagine, if you know you have a relatively low pain threshold, this one would probably be quite unpleasant for you!
The industrial can be pierced in 3 different ways (I think!); either with one needle put straight through both holes at the same time, with 2 separate needles, or some people even have one hole pierced,wait for it to heal and have the other pierced at a later date,then just put an industrial bar through when they are both healed. Getting both holes done at the same time is probably advisable because it aligns the piercing better. I had both my holes done at the same time with a single needle, simply to make it cheaper! Mine cost £30. All the stories you hear about the cartilage making a really loud 'pop' sound aren't true, I've had a few cartilage piercings and they've all been sound-free!
Keeping this piercing clean is really important, hair gets tangled round the top and bottom of the bar frequently and it can get infected easily, as with all piercings I guess, but as cartilage ones take longer to heal anyway, they need that extra bit of care! Salty, warm water 3 times a day will be fine to clean it with. Cartilage piercings normally take about 16weeks to heal, but as mine had complications, it took around 8 months.
As I mentioned earlier, getting the industrial pierced with the correct size bar is essential. Mine was pierced with a bar that was too short, this caused the bar to pull on my ear and it folded it a bit, thinking about it at the time I should have gone back to the piercer and asked them to swap the bar, but I just put it down to initial swelling. If yours does this, even if you think it is only swelling, go back to where you had it done because all initial bars should be big enough to accommodate swelling anyway. After about a week, I noticed the piercing started to hurt a little bit, which I thought was odd as the pain should have disappeared by then. When I looked in the mirror, the bar had cut through my cartilage and the hole had turned into a big slit half way through my ear, all because the bar was too small. Due to the size of the split it became infected needless to say. I had to order a 'bioplast' bar off the internet and bend it away from my ear so the bar didn't touch my ear or the slit. This helped a lot and it healed eventually with the bent bar. Even now I can't wear a standard scaffolding bar because where the tissue was badly damaged, it's now scar tissue,which is softer and straight bars go straight back through my cartilage. 'Bioplast' bars are great to wear anyway even if your piercing doesn't mess up, they're soft and flexible so don't cause as much tension on the tissue structure, they're also cheap, a 90cm bar cost me £3, you can cut and thread them yourself to all different length bars.
Industrials are great and unique piercings, just make sure they're done properly, and if they're not, don't be like me, don't be afraid to speak up and get it fixed! If you look after if, all will go well!