The July before my senior year, I found myself alone, wandering Oxford Street in London, in desperate search of an ATM machine. Why, you may ask? A lot of tattoo and piercing studios don't accept credit cards.
At A Glance Author Amber Contact Amber@bme.anon When A year ago Artist Angela Studio Haunted Location SoHo, London Let's step back a little bit. Seven days earlier, I arrived in Heathrow along with nine classmates, ready to embark on a journey we'd never forget. But really, I'll never forget that trip for as long as I have my rook piercing.
I've always liked piercings. I have four lobe piercings (two of which have been previously stretched to 4g), and a tragus. My rook, however, was my first "unusual" ear piercing.
All while exploring much of southeast England, our classmates were busy buying t-shirts and mugs as mementos, but Chris, a friend of mine since first grade, and I were ready to take advantage of another souvenir England had to offer us. In Pennsylvania, where we're from, you have to be 18 to get a piercing without a parent present. But in England, we could do so at 16. We jumped right on that.
First we had to convince our chaperone. Being fairly young, very laid back, and having had her fair share of piercings previously, she said we could do it, but we had to wait until the last day, because she didn't want any discomfort ruining our trip.
Chris did all the research on which studio to go to. He did some searching on the internet, and went to visit a few places during some downtime.
Finally, the last day of the trip arrived, and having decided on Haunted Tattoo House, we hopped on the tube and headed for Berwick St. I had been to my fair share of piercing and tattoo shops back home and Haunted is by far the best place I've been. Aside from the staff being great, the decor and ambience was fantastic.
Upon arrival, Chris knew he wanted an industrial, but I wasn't quite sure yet. As we waited for our turn, I thought about it. My parents are not fans of piercings, so I didn't want to get anything too crazy. I had almost settled on simply getting a helix, when I decided that was too safe. I could get that at home in Claire's. Then it hit me- a rook. I'd never seen one in person before. I wanted one.
When it was finally our turn, we filled out the paper work, told the piercer, Angela, what we wanted. After I asked how much it would cost, which I believe turned out to be 25 pounds ($50), I discovered I couldn't pay with my credit card. I didn't have enough cash on me, so since I couldn't go back in the piercing room with Chris, I'd run to an ATM while he got his industrial done. Let me tell you, it was a little harder to find an ATM than you would think, especially since I was under pressure. But I found one, took out some cash, and made my way back to the shop.
I had become increasingly more nervous as time passed, but it was really too late to turn back now. I can handle piercings pretty well, but I had never had cartilage pierced before, and was really unsure of how it would feel. I was assured that yes, it would hurt, I was putting a hole in my body, but it wouldn't be terrible. Angela proceeded to explain to me what she was doing step by step. She picked out my jewelry, cleaned everything, and before I knew it, she was counting to three, telling me to breathe in, and the needle had pierced my ear. I heard no pop, no crunch, and it was over before I knew it. She popped the 16g curved barbell in, and I was done.
Of course it hurt. Like I said, I was putting a hole in my body. But it was COMPLETELY bearable. It hurts for what, fifteen seconds, and then it's done. It bled for a little, but we cleaned it up as she explained the aftercare. I was concerned about not really being able to clean it right away, seeming it was our last night and I would be on a plane early the next morning. She said she didn't advise cleaning it so soon anyway, and that I'd be fine if I started as soon as I arrived home. I paid as Chris and I thanked her for our new piercings.
Finally, we were home, and the healing was going great. I used ear care antiseptic and Dial soap, and had no problems with my rook for the first 6 months. My rook seemed completely healed, and for my birthday, I decided to get my tragus pierced. I went to That Piercer Girl in Lancaster, PA. Melanie, my new piercer, said she would change the barbell in my rook for free after I told her I got it done in London. A week or so after getting my tragus pierced, I bought a tiny purple curved barbell with rhinestones in the balls. It was cute, but in hindsight, it was a huge mistake. I have very sensitive ears, and although I bought the barbell from a shop that sells only body jewelry, it turned out to be very low quality. But we couldn't tell by looking at it, so Melanie put it in for me, and I was good to go.
Both my rook and tragus were doing great, until one night at work. It was a slow night; ironically, I was perusing BME, reading tragus experiences. One story was describing a keloid, and my hand wandered up to my rook, only to discover a bubble. I was mortified. I ran to the bathroom to check it in the mirror, and sure enough, there was a puffy pink bubble around my new purple barbell.
I wasn't quite sure what to do about it, so the next day I headed back to Melanie, who popped the bubble and told me to put peroxide on it everyday for about two weeks, or it wouldn't go away. I babied my rook, and thought that the bubble had finally gone away when I woke up with an even bigger one the next morning. While examining it, I was dismayed to find that my once shining purple barbell was well, not really purple anymore.
I kind of freaked out and made yet another trip to That Piercer Girl. Melanie wasn't there, but there was another piercer on hand. I told her that the barbell wasn't really purple anymore, and I was afraid that it was the source of the infections. We decided to remove it, and replace it with a SSS horseshoe. When she took it out, I almost immediately felt relief. Sure enough, the barbell was silver, with faint traces of purple in the center of the jewelry, where it had been in my ear. The bubble had popped, and she began to clean it. She said that along with the pus and blood, for a lack of better words to say, purple junk was also coming out. She thoroughly cleaned it, put the horseshoe in, and I was done.
It's now two weeks later. The bubble on my rook has subsided, but it's still a little irritated. I've been cleaning it with peroxide and I'm going to continue doing so until all signs of infection are gone.
I love my rook, and can't wait to get a few more piercings. I definitely recommend getting a rook, but beware of the jewelry you chose. Always use high quality jewelry, and make sure the place supplying it is respectable.
And if you're in London, definitely go to Haunted. Likewise, if you're in Lancaster, PA, hit up That Piercer Girl. They've helped me out so much there, and they didn't even do the original piercing. I'm extremely happy with both places.
All in all, I love my rook. It's a nice piercing, was fairly easy to heal (despite the infection), and it reminds me of my awesome trip to England. It is hands down the best souvenir I could have brought home from my visit across the ocean.