Most of the time I'm at school in New York. So, I spend lots of time during the school year thinking about what mods I'll get when I come home for the summer. I had a lot of ideas floating around for new piercings as well as some of my first ink.
At A Glance Author nikki Contact snickypie@gmail.com IAM inyourface When It just happened Artist Lumpy Studio Level 5 @ Goodtimes Location Manchester, NH My friend got a hold of me and we decided to head over today to get some work done. She ended up not getting anything today, but we might show up later this week so she can get another tattoo.
This time I had mostly decided on a snug. Which really amuses me because I used to hate the piercing a while back. Eventually it grew on me and I looked at my snug a lot in the mirror trying to decide if I really wanted it pierced. I was pretty sure that it was prominent enough, and I was right.
Today I went in to Goodtimes with the idea of either my snug or a set of second lobe piercings. I did my usual internal mental debate, but I decided on the snug. I filled out the usual paperwork, initialing wherever there was a little box. Lumpy decided on a curved barbell for the initial piercing jewelry, to which I quickly agreed. I'm okay with healing most piercings with CBRs, but this is definitely one I didn't want to try it out on.
I waited for a very short time while he prepped the piercing room. I went in and we talked a little about school and the usual goings on. Lumpy prepped the cleaner, jewelry, and needle. Then Lumpy did the standard, but appreciated spiel about how the needles are one time use where they get put once everything is finished and how everything is autoclaved. Then he explained to me about how they were using a Neometal barbell. I have previously read about this company and was secretly psyched that they're using these products at the shop!
If you don't know, Neometal makes high quality steel and titanium pieces that have snap fit ends instead of threads. Very convenient when you're dealing with tiny ball ends and such. I'm excited to hopefully try some of their jewelry in my monroe piercing as well.
Anyway, after that, gloves came off, and new ones were put on for marking. I joked about how much money they have to spend on gloves, but I wouldn't have it any other way. After marking, another glove change and we were ready. I talked to Jonah, the other wonderful piercer, about the botany class I just finished taking at school when he came in the room to grab something. Then it was time. Deep breath in and....needle in and through. After the needle went a taper to make jewelry insertion easier. I wish I could watch all of this happen, but since my ear is attached to my head, it's pretty much impossible. Everything happened pretty quickly, I didn't really have time to react. It was completely tolerable for me, but definitely the most painful piercing I've had thus far. I just kept breathing steadily and then before I knew it, jewelry was in and my ear looked fantastic. Right now I have a 1/4" 16g barbell. That might seem really short and it is, but it fits perfectly on my ear. I'm not much of a sweller, so I'm fairly certain that I'll be fine. After the piercing, we did a quick bead replacement on the CBR in my rook and I was good to go.
As far as aftercare goes, I'll probably be alternating Satin soap and sea salt water soaks. Salt soaks are great as long as you remember to do them at least once a day. Satin is nice because you don't have to make a special time to sit and be still like during a soak. I haven't touched it yet today. I let it rinse in the shower, but I'm mostly doing a bit of LITHA (Leave It The Hell Alone) until I feel comfortable touching it in the shower. It feels great right now, and should look great tomorrow as long as I don't sleep on it.
I'm going to sound like I'm on Reading Rainbow, but, if you're looking for a completely awesome piercing experience, Level 5 piercing over at Goodtimes in Manchester, New Hampshire is definitely the place to go. It's wonderfully clean, well-maintained, and the guys are great at making you feel welcome in the shop. I keep looking at my ear in the mirror because it looks so awesome. Both piercers there are very talented at what they do. You can't go wrong with talent and personality to keep you happy/comfortable in the shop. I hope I can get back there at least once more before I leave for school again.