Previous to this experience, I'd gotten two sets of adjacent lobe piercings at different times, a few years apart. I'd been to a "studio," if it can be called such, that used piercing guns and the success rate had been 100%. I was lucky enough to have little more than the usual swelling and discharge with all four piercings, so I figured it'd be safe to go back a third time.
At A Glance Author Joanna Contact Joanna@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist James Studio Saint Sabrina's Purgatory Location Minneapolis, MN
I got third holes pierced in both of my lobes at a Claire's in the Mall of America The place was incredibly busy and the selection of jewelry was much more limited than I had remembered. The fact that I had to settle for jewelry I didn't like and a "piercer" who looked quite makes me very uncomfortable in retrospect; unfortunately, I didn't know my other options at the time. I made sure to tell the piercer to do them far enough away from my current holes that I could actually wear jewelry in all of my holes at once; after all, there seems little point to punching holes in myself if I'm not going to use them, but I digress.
The piercing experience was similar to those previous; it hurt, but not too badly. My ears felt hot, but I was giddy with the prospect of showing my friends back at school how cool I was. When I got back to school, I couldn't resist messing with the piercings. The people at Claire's tell you to rotate the jewelry a few times a day to dislodge dried lymph, I suppose I just got carried away. At some point I decided I would pull the backing off and make sure there wasn't excessive discharge building up. As luck would have it, I didn't just pull off the backing, but removed the earring entirely.
I can safely say, even in retrospect, that one of the worst and most painful experiences of my life was attempting to re-pierce my own ear in the minutes that follow. A friend eventually helped me get it back in there and, amazingly, it healed faster than the piercing in my left ear, which had remained mostly untouched (I eventually removed that one because it was constantly swollen and discharging). Hindsight being 20/20, I realize that trying to re-pierce my own ear was ridiculously stupid. No amount of money lost is worth the pain, nastiness and danger I put myself through just to get that earring back in.
Under circumstances I hardly remember any more, I decided to remove the re-pierced earring once and for all a few weeks later. After the painstaking instructions at the parlor on giving it enough room, it was still too close to my second hole to be of any aesthetic use (unless you like the bleeding look). I was pretty upset by this, but there was little that could have been done for it, as it was my own mistake to have gone to a busy Claire's once again.
About a month and a half after the holes had pretty much closed, one of my friends set out on an adventure to have her nostril pierced. She'd been talking about it for two semesters straight, and I'd insisted from the beginning that I'd accompany her. She had researched and found what sounded like the most reputable place in the Twin Cities (Saint Sabrina's Purgatory in Uptown, Minneapolis). My purpose on the visit was to hold her hand if necessary, because the other friends coming with us seemed pretty squeamish about the whole ordeal.
Plans changed a bit upon arrival because once I stepped in, I knew I couldn't resist getting one of my ears re-pierced. I talked to one of the guys over by the jewelry case to make sure I could be re-pierced after such a short time. I was really cutting it close, based on what he told me, but I decided that I was in one of those "now or never" situations, and went ahead with the paperwork. I had initially picked out a tiny emerald and sterling silver stud (I'm not sure what gauge; I'm definitely still a beginner when it comes to the jewelry itself), but was told that I'd need to get something bigger to ensure better healing. I was a bit upset with that at the time, but I still wanted the hole in my ear; I figured I could change the jewelry after it healed.
Jewelry and piercing came to about $50, which seemed exorbitant at the time, but I can assure anyone out there thinking about a piercing, even something as simple as a lobe piercing, that it was well worth it. My friend and I went into the room to be pierced together. The guy who'd be piercing us was named James, and the studio in which he worked looked incredibly clean and was decorated with a few Dunnies and some Sanrio paraphernalia. He was incredibly nice and funny, and explained everything to my satisfaction. My friend went first, which was a little scary, because I had to sit there to bear witness to a massive needle being shoved through her nostril. I think I was more traumatized by it than she was. As nervous as I was, however, I wasn't going to show fear in front of her (or our other friends, who were sitting outside the open door to watch).
I'd been very gung-ho about the piercing until I sat down. There was sterile paper on the chair/bed and I was starting to feel like it was going to be a very ill-fated doctor's visit. James' demeanor was really reassuring, though, and he drew a dot and allowed me to check placement before we proceeded. I recounted the woe of having the previous piercing totally wrong, even though the girl had marked it in the right spot. He was very serious in explaining that piercing guns are inaccurate and can be possibly dangerous. A spot can be marked, but once the piercer pulls the trigger, if the earring hits anything on its way through the lobe, it can be redirected. After investigating, he determined that's what had happened to me; the previous earring had gone in incredibly crooked.
James had me breathe deeply a few times before he put the needle through. He inserted the jewelry quickly and pretty painlessly, all things considered. He told me that it was bleeding, but it was to be expected, because he couldn't avoid piercing through some scar tissue. I wasn't worried, but I double-checked aftercare procedures with him. As it turns out, the people at Claire's have it all wrong. James told me not to touch the new piercing at all and only to rinse it with warm saltwater; the antiseptic they sell elsewhere is way too harsh to be effective in the healing process.
As we were walking back down the stairs into the main floor, I was simultaneously giddy and really upset that I didn't have cash on me to leave a generous tip. My experience at Saint Sabrina's couldn't have been better, and now, four months later, I'm incredibly happy with the job that was done on the piercing and I'm very fond of the bigger stud they used; I've decided to keep in indefinitely.
To anyone in the Twin Cities, I highly recommend St. Sabrina's. And to anyone who has had bad experiences at a Claire's or similar parlor, I recommend going to a real studio; the quality of service I got for the money was absolutely incomparable, and I plan to go back during the next school year to try a slightly more adventurous rook piercing.