I'd wanted my nostril pierced for a long time. A few of my friends had it done, and I loved the way it looked with a tiny jewelled stud in it, but working in the customer service industry, or getting ready to go travelling, it never seemed to be the right time for me to get it done.
At A Glance Author thysanotus Contact thysanotus@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Hayley Studio Primal Urge Location Perth, Western Australia Finally, after months of procrastination, I grabbed a Sharpie, and dotted a mark on my nose about where I wanted to be pierced. I was forced to grudgingly concede that it didn't actually suit me! I was horribly disappointed, but knew that I wanted some kind of piercing beyond the two holes in each earlobe I had at that stage.
I considered a monroe or a medusa for a while, but the idea of gum recession and possibly losing my teeth (which I've paid all together too much money on, for braces and the like) put me off those - at least for the moment, I still secretly want one.
Surfing bmezine, i came across the tragus piercing. I did a bit of research on it, including investigating healing times and the pain levels (although with a few tattoos, I wasn't too concerned about the pain), and thought it was quite subtly pretty. It wouldn't violate the jewellery restrictions at my current workplace - I work as a botanist, and the company I work for sub-contracts to mining companies, so we're often on site, and there are health and safety restrictions about the type and location of jewellery - for example, rings are prohibited on site due to the possibility of degloving injuries.
I'd just got back from a two week field trip, and decided that as I had a few days off, it would be a perfect time to go and get my tragus pierced. I managed to talk a friend, Dee, who wanted her helix pierced into coming with me.
I'd looked up Primal Urge Piercing on the internet, and was impressed by what I saw, so, around lunchtime on Tuesday, Dee and I walked through the door. Hayley and Josh greeted us, and we signed the requisite consent forms. I decided to have a barbell in my left tragus, while Dee opted for a CBR in her helix.
Josh took Dee off to one piercing room, while Hayley ushered me towards hers. She told me what she was going to do, let me watch her break out the needle from the sterile autoclave packaging, marked me up and checked I was okay with the location - and then we got a little distracted, talking about our tattoos and other piercings, before moving on to a brief discussion of bmezine and modblog, and then microdermals, which is probably the next mod I'll get, thanks mostly to Hayley.
Somewhere in there, she pierced me, and I was surprised that it didn't hurt as much as I'd been led to expect! I was also kind of disappointed that I didn't hear that audible pop that other people report from their tragus piercings (maybe I'll just have to get the other side done?).
The jewellery went in without a problem, and before I knew it, Hayley was explaining after-care to me, and handing me a pamphlet with instructions and a bottle of ear care antiseptic.
I usually sleep on my left side, so staying off it was a problem, and I think I may have accidently rolled onto it during the night. I was cleaning it twice a day, after showering, and leaving it alone besides that, but despite this, it swelled enormously on Thursday, and by Friday morning, was so swollen that the front ball on the bar came off.
Luckily, the bar didn't come out, so I raced towards Primal Urge, hoping they'd be able to change the jewellery for me.
Hayley was quite surprised by the amount my tragus had swollen, but replacing the jewellery with a longer barbell only took a few seconds and it felt better straight away. At least she didn't have to repierce it! She refused to take any money for switching it out for me, saying instead that "these things happen" and thanking me for coming back while they still had a chance to fix it, rather than let it go to possibly become infected.
Three weeks on, it's still a little tender, but I haven't had any problems with it since. The swelling went down slowly, and it's still a little swollen, but in another three weeks or so, I think I'll be heading back to Primal Urge to get a smaller bar put in.
I highly recommend Primal Urge - the staff are professional, friendly, and know what they're talking about. It's where I'll be going to for all my piercing desires in the future.