Just a bit ago, I finally decided to get myself some holes in my ear. I decided on two 16ga helix piercings. I was up at college at UIUC and was not in my hometown of Springfield, IL and therefore, didn't really know which tattoo parlors were decent around in Champaign. It was my first year up there, and I didn't really know anyone to ask. I looked around on the Internet a bit, but was actually very disappointed by the amount of feedback I found there. The only two around town a knew about was one called New Life and one that was attached to a hardware store. Needless to say I was wary about the hardware store one.
At A Glance Author Cmoon Contact Cmoon@bme.anon IAM Cmoon When A month ago Artist Lunchbox Studio New Life Tattoos Location Champaign, IL In the end, I decided of New Life Tattoos. Apparently a friend of my roommate's was currently doing an apprenticeship learning to pierce. He told me that his buddy would give me piercings for the cost of the jewelry so as to help him progress. I wouldn't really be okay with an inexperienced piercer working on me, but I figured that a helix piercing is really pretty simple. As long as the studio seemed okay, and used good sterilized needles and jewelry, there wasn't too much he could do to screw it up.
I went there, and the studio seemed great. It was a very friendly shop with great art and nick-knacks all over the place. It was also spotlessly clean as far as I could tell. Everyone was really polite and kind, and I got a good vibe off my roommates friend, but unfortunately he was no longer doing cartilage piercings. He had gotten all he needed and the shop didn't want him taking any more of their business. I still wanted my new holes, and I had the cash, so I decided to just get it all the same, but this time from the piercer.
A guy named Lunchbox pierced me. It was all very painless, and professionally done. First he used a surgical scrub to clean my ear. I was getting them both done on my right ear, so we only needed to clean it once. He used a toothpick and that purple ink piercers use and made two little dots on my ear. He had me check them in a mirror, of course, and they were right where I had wanted them. He had me lay down on the chair. After opening both the needles and jewelry for me, he placed a cork behind the first dot and did the 3-2-1 breath out technique. It worked great, I didn't feel hardly any pain whatsoever. Also, there was almost no blood whatsoever. He swabbed the fresh hole with a q-tip and there was just a little dot of it when he was done. It was great. He put the jewelry through, and did the next one. It was no worse than the first. I had asked him for CBRs, and he ended up putting in 3/8 inch ones. They just barely left enough room for the rim of my ear. I was concerned that there wouldn't be enough room for swelling, but Lunchbox assured me that my concerns were unfounded. I paid and left, happy with my new piercings.
Over the next few weeks, my hear hurt pretty bad. It would swell and push against the rings. That would, of course, cause more swelling and it was pretty much a vicious cycle, and it wasn't getting any better. About a month after it was pierced I was home in Springfield, and I finally got sick of it. I went to see Roger at New Age tattoos, and he put in some labrets and it felt instantly better. Not only do I like the way that the new jewelry looks better, but it was so much more comfortable. It let my ear breathe so much better, and within about three days the swelling was gone and everything was fine.
After getting pierced by Lunchbox, I found out that he was not the normal piercer in the parlor, but rather he was mainly a tattoo artist. It seems like a fine shop, and a later experience I had with Matt (their regular piercer) leads me to believe that they're just fine if you're looking for a new hole. Also, I don't mean to make Lunchbox seem like a bad piercer or anything. The actual piercing was fantastic and well done. He just picked the jewelry poorly, and that's an issue of experience, and probably a byproduct of not doing piercings that often. I knew before that you not only need a piercer who knows what they're doing, but also one who did piercings regularly, however now that I've seen it first hand, I would certainly recommend you get your hole made by someone who's a professional piercer, not a tattoo artist who does piercings on the side.