Easter weekend 2007, my parents had left me home alone for the weekend to take my brother to Maine for a soccer tournament. After a semi-wild night with the girls, my rebellious side was still running wild. A friend of mine had gotten her nipple pierced about 6 months earlier, and I couldn't think of a better way to rebel -- a secret piercing that my parents would never see!
At A Glance Author eejjpp When Three months ago Artist i forget .. sorry! Studio pins & needles Location saint john, nb You see, my parents (mostly my mom) are extremely anal, to put it nicely, about what I am and am not allowed to do to my body. That is to say, no tattoos ever (we shall see about that!) and no piercings besides my ears. At the age of sixteen, I want nothing more than to push the limits and test their patience so the first chance I had, I knew I was going to either get a tattoo or a piercing. Seeing as they were away for the weekend, and I had just gotten my license, I couldn't think of a better opportunity.
So, on Saturday, April 6th, my aforementioned friend and I drove to uptown Saint John to Pins & Needles, where she had gotten her nipple pierced. I've never heard anything bad about this place, and it is one of two piercing places that I would consider to be "well-known" in the area. We entered the wide-open studio-style building, and the piercer (whose name I really wish I could remember) approached us, asking what we were there for. His red eyes (colored contacts), tattoo-covered arms, and good dozen piercings - that you could see - left me a little taken-aback. I nervously stammered out that I would like to get my nipple pierced. To my shock and dismay, he asked if I was 18, and did I have I.D. to prove it. I replied no, and he explained that I needed to be 18 or have a parent present so they wouldn't be charged for sexual assault of a minor ... even though another guy who worked there had indeed pierced my friend who was 15 at the time.
After a minor consultation with my friend, I decided I still wanted something done. I wasn't too keen on facial piercings, and I also had to be 18 to get a tattoo so I debated for a while between my navel, or something on my ear. I had pierced my upper ear cartilage before, so I knew I wanted something a little more exciting than that. We settled on my tragus, which I had always thought was nifty anyways.
I was led to a bed/table type thing, that reminded me of what you would lie on when you went to the doctor, and the guy put on a pair of gloves and took a new needle out of the drawer. I had a choice between a curved barbell with spikes on it, or a round hoop for jewellery. I chose the spiked one haha. The clamps were applied to my trag, which had been thoroughly cleaned. I didn't feel that at all. Next, with my friend holding my hand, the guy counted to three and stuck the needle through my ear. I had to ask him if it had happened! I felt nothing, not when the needle went throught, nor when he put the jewellery in. I didn't bleed at all either. I was sooo surprised and happy with my lack of pain! I paid $20, received a sheet of aftercare instructions. Normally, they give you a saline solution with which to clean it, however they had run out temporarily, so my friend and I stopped off at the Bulk Barn and purchased a pound of sea salt.
Aftercare was quite simple really. Twice daily, I had to scrub the front and back of my tragus with some saline solution on a q-tip, followed by doing the same with an anti-bacterial soap. However, I got a little infection about a month after the piercing, and I found using an alcohol-free ear-piercing solution worked a lot better for keeping the piercing clean. I totally have to warn you though, make sure your solution contains no alcohol, because that dries out the piercing, making healing a lot harder.
I had to wait 12 weeks (which was actually just a few weeks ago) to change my earring, which I haven't actually gotten around to yet. During the healing process, I had very little pain, there was only some light throbbing in the day or so after it had been pierced. It only got slightly infected and swollen/red once, which made me quite happy.
Overall, I was very impressed and pleased with the service I received and I was quite happy to have pierced my trag because it looks just adorable. Once I find someone to sign for me, or once I turn 18, I'm certainly going to look into some tattoos and nipple piercings haha .. but that's another story, for later down the road.