I was in London for the past 10 days, and I decided that while I was there, I wanted to get my rook pierced. My cousin and I were walking through Soho, near Piccadily Circus, and we stumbled across this piercing parlor. Tiger Army was blaring from inside, and I suggested we go in. We walked down the narrow staircase into a brightly colored and very small waiting area. An artist who was working on some flash asked me how he could help me, and I said that I was interested in getting pierced and that I wanted to see their licenses and autoclave. I'm very obsessive about that. He got the piercer and we talked about it and he told me to go grab something to eat and come back in about 20 minutes after showing me what he'd be piercing me with. It was all fresh out of the autoclave.
At A Glance Author spuget Contact spuget@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Bruno Studio A True Love Tattoo Location London About 20 minutes later I came back and filled out a form and stuff. Then, I mentioned my age. He said that in Westminster, where the parlor was, you have to be 17 to get pierced without a parent or guardian present. I said that was fine, and then he told me that in Camden I could get pierced since I'm only 16. He gave me directions for a parlor in Camden within walking distance, and we were off.
After about 15 minutes of walking, we stumbled upon a black and blue sign that said "TATTOO / PIERCING" on a main thoroughfare. We decided to go in and check it out. It was down a sketchy alley, but once we actually got in front of the place, I saw that it was very well kept up, clean, and professional. "A True Love Tattoo" is painted bright orange, which is oddly comforting. I walked in and I saw their license proudly displayed on the wall over the desk. My cousin and I sat down on the couch and looked through some of the many portfolios. When the man behind the desk, who I later learned to be Bruno, a hilarious and very pierced and tattooed Italian, was free, I went up and told him what I wanted done. He suggested I get a daith because it'd be more comfortable healing than a rook, but I said I'd wanted the rook for a long time and I was finally getting it. He gave me a form to fill out and said he'd do it.
After I turned in the form, I went back into the piercing room with him. He got the needle and the jewelry (a curved 16g barbell) out of the autoclave and set them on the tray next to me. He put on rubber gloves and told me that he's a freehand piercer, so he wouldn't be using clamps. He marked my ear and asked me if it looked okay. When I looked in the mirror I said that my hair was blocking the marks and he said "Oh, I can cut it off. I'm a hair stylist too," and started laughing...I said that I was fine with my hair the way it was and I just moved it out of the way and told him the marks looked perfect. He came over and opened the needle and jewelry in front of me and told me to take a breath and before I could finish inhaling, I heard a pop and had shooting pain from my ear. At this point, my cousin was in the corner freaking out (she hates needles) and I said "HOLY JESUS. That pinched." When I was saying that, I heard two or 3 more pops and then he quickly inserted the jewelry (which hurt like hell, thank GOD it was so fast) and showed it to me. It looked so great and I was so excited to have it, I was almost dancing. He showed me this BPA oil that I later bought and use 3 or 4 times a day on it, and we talked about healing time and cleaning and what not while I was paying. I got my picture taken with him to show my parents when I got back into the states, and then my cousin and I left.
I ended up being so happy with my rook that I stopped by a few days later to show him how well it had been doing. The day after that, my cousin and I went back in again and I ended up getting my belly button pierced by him as well. He was on the phone when we went in and I was leaning on the counter messing with one of my lobe piercings and he saw my hand moving toward my rook and he slapped it away while talking in Italian to someone on the phone...it was very funny.
All in all, my rook is very very very amazingly fantastic. It's still sore, but it's only a week old. By far it hurt more than anything I've ever had done (smiley, tongue webbing, belly button, lobes 3 times, 3 other cartilage piercings), but I'd do it again in a heartbeat. My next endeavor? Flying back to England to get my daith done by Bruno.