Well I guess I should start from the beginning. My addiction to piercing had to have started with my very first at the age of three, though I didn't know what was going on then, I loved finally having "pretties" of my own after begging my mom every time we'd pass the kiosk in the mall. By the age of 11 I began craving more and my addiction slowly grew from there. Now I have a total of 9 including my new industrial, which I count as two, because that's how many times I had to sit there and let the needle be shoved through my cartilage. Which leads me to the story of my brand new beautiful industrial.
At A Glance Author Rene' When Six months ago Artist Jay Studio Mystical Body Location Modesto, CA I had been looking for something new, something that not everyone had, and something that looked unusual, yet still met my mom's approval. I had seen industrials around before, (mostly on guys) and I thought they looked pretty cool. I decided that it was probably my best bet with my mom, due to her turning down an eyebrow piercing earlier in the year. I must have brought it up a million times and I'm thinking this is why my mom finally said yes, because she was sick of hearing me talk about it.
So I looked all over the place for a good piercing studio because my hometown is relatively small and all the studios had moved or been shut down. I ended up settling on a really good studio in Modesto. When we finally found the place, after a half hour of bad directions, I started to get the excitement butterflies that most piercing fanatics are probably all too familiar with. We walked in and were greeted by Jay the guy who would later shove a 14-gauge needle through my ear. He asked me what I was in for and I told him about the industrial and that I was the girl who kept calling all morning for info. Soon my mom started filling out the papers as I gawked at all the pretty little pieces of jewelry through the glass counter.
We were ready to start after the paper work was done. Jay asked to measure my ear and then he went to clean up the room where it would all take place. He came back out and invited me into the room, I sat down in the chair and looked up at the handcuffs dangling above my head, I commented on them and he assured me that they were just decoration. He marked the points on my ear where the needle would pass though and then asked if I liked them, I wear glasses and he was really cool with making sure the piercing would be as comfortable as possible with them. He asked if I was ready and then gently started the piercing, I winced as he pushed the needle through the bottom of my ear and then through the top, he immediately followed the needle with the 14 gauge surgical plastic bar and screwed the stainless steel balls on the end. Then he joked, "Okay now we have to do the piercing." He set me up with a antimicrobial theraputic skin cleanser, and told me to wash my new piercing twice a day in the bath or shower, and to rotate it and slide it back and forth. He also informed me that although peroxide is great for cleaning, it can also dry out a new piercing, and slow the healing process, and for that reason I shouldn't use it. With that, my mom paid the $70 and we were on our way.
Okay so now fast forward 6 months, it really is hard to believe that I've had my little beauty for so long! The whole healing process went amazingly well, and, I went back yesterday to get the surgical steel barbell put in, which was also a piece of cake. I hadn't planed on going back just to get the jewelry put in but I tried it myself with some jewelry a friend of mine bought me from Hot Topic for my birthday a few months before, and though the piece looked cool it wasn't the most wonderful jewelry in the world for a piercing that's trying jewelry out for the first time. I tried to put it in and it was far too long, I explained this to Jay yesterday and he told me that it really helps if the jewelry is custom fit to your ears. So I brought my naked ear in to jay and he gladly inserted the new barbell I bought from him, and I didn't feel a thing.
So basically, I have loved every part of my industrial experience and I would highly recommend this piercing to anyone considering it! Since the new jewelry has been put in it's a little uncomfortable to sleep on but well worth it! As for my future in body mod I hope to have a new orbital to add to my collection by this fall.