Before I start writing about my experience, I should probably tell a little about myself first. I currently have seven piercings which are my belly button, my earlobes twice (but the second hole on my right ear is stretched slightly to 10g), my helix, and now my tragus :). I love piercings and pretty much live off of BME. Reading everyone's experiences has really helped me a lot so I thought that I would give back a little and submit mine. Anyways, on with the story.
At A Glance Author ashley Contact ashley@bme.anon When A week ago Artist one of my best friends Studio my room :] Around where I live, pretty much everyone has something pierced. The most common ones include nose, tongue, eyebrow, etc. At first I wanted a daith since I've never seen one in person before. They weren't very common and I thought that they looked really cool. After stretching my second hole on my right ear to a 12g at the time, I was itching for something new!
I knew that my parents wouldn't approve of another piercing, as my dad had already signed for my belly button and my mom took me to get my helix done. My mom said that I also told her that my helix would be my last piercing although I don't remember saying anything like that. Being only 15 I needed parental consent if I wanted to be professionally pierced. I'm turning 16 in less than a month, but I really couldn't wait. I asked my mom one morning during breakfast if she would be mad if I pierced it myself. I think she thought I couldn't handle it or something, because she said "I don't want you coming crying to me! Yes, I would be very upset!" or something like that. My step dad said "If you keep poking holes through your head your brain will start seeping out... and you already don't have that much to lose!" haha.
Later that day I went to hang out with my friends for a bit. One of my friends decided that she wanted to come over and spend the night at my house, and I told her about the idea of a daith piercing. She said that it would look cute, and it would compliment my ear well. I asked if she would pierce it for me and she said "hell no!" so I figured I would pierce it myself. I looked in the mirror to make my marks, but I was disappointed to find out that I couldn't pierce my daith myself without it being extremely crooked (since I can't really see that area). This really frustrated me and I had the really bad piercing itch that I'm sure you're all familiar with!
The idea of a tragus piercing wasn't really new to me. I was thinking about doing it a while before I considered my daith, but I heard that you couldn't listen to music with earphones so I figured I wanted something a little more convenient. I brought up the idea to my friend and she said that it would be easy for me to pierce and it would look cute. That was it, I was going to pierce my tragus.
I got all my materials ready and took some Advil for the pain. I had read some stories on BME about tragus piercings and the pain level varied for everyone. Just to be safe I decided to take some Advil anyway and numb it with ice. I iced my ear for about ten minutes (my friend told me that it takes ten minutes for Advil to kick in anyway) and prepared myself for the pain and the infamous "crunch".
I marked the spot where I would be pushing the safety pin soaked in peroxide through (a BIG no no! When it comes to DIY piercings you want to make sure you use properly sterilized piercing needles, but I didn't have any at the time) and I took a deep breath. I pushed the safety pin lightly through the first layer of cartilage and I heard a pop. I didn't feel it at all, the only way I knew it was through was because of the sound.
I didn't want to keep pushing it through because I couldn't see what I was doing and I was scared, so I had my friend do it. I heard a lot of crunching, but I honestly couldn't feel it at all. "That's gotta hurt!" my friend told me, when I told her it didn't she called me a liar haha. Before I knew it the needle was poking through the back of my tragus and it was over! My friend pulled out the needle and I told her to put a small sterling silver hoop that I found in my jewelry box through, but she couldn't get it in. Instead I ended up pushing one of those piercing studs from when I got my first lobes pierced when I was nine at claires through and it went in without any pain or blood.
I was so excited! My adrenaline hadn't died down yet, and I couldn't believe that my tragus was really pierced! My friend checked to make sure it was in the right spot and she said it looked really nice.
The next day I showed all my friends and they were actually quite amazed. There aren't many people here with tragus piercings either, so I feel special and unique :). A few days after I ended up going camping and I had no problems with it. The day I got back I went out and bought a 18g barbell with a black gem on it along with a 10g circular barbell with a dark pink/purply (the color of my belly button ring) ball and a black ball for my right ear. I put the barbell in and it looks beautiful! I love my tragus piercing and I think that they look really pretty on people! I would definitely recommend this piercing to anyone!
Don't be stupid and do what I did. If you're going to DIY you should at least have proper materials to make sure it doesn't get infected or anything. Always make sure they are sterilized and wear gloves! You'd be much better off going to a professional, actually, but if you absolutely HAVE to DIY, the tragus is a good thing to start with. It wasn't painful at all, and I'm extremely happy with it!
By the way, I was wrong. You CAN listen to earphones with this piercing, you just have to put them in at a certain angle. I haven't told my mom yet, and I think my dad has seen it but he hasn't said anything. I don't think he minds since it's on my ear, but he's DEFINITELY not a fan of facial piercings.
Now, I want to get my tongue pierced. My friend refused to help me pierce my tongue haha. She says that she doesn't want to hurt me or anything :P. My birthday's only in two weeks though and my friend has her license so she says she'll take me to get it done for a birthday present. I can't wait!! Hopefully you'll see that story on here soon :D.