I've always been fascinated with tattoos and exotic body piercings, and I think some of it had to do with the fact that they were strongly frowned upon in my family. After all, it took 15 years to talk my mother into letting me get my earlobes pierced! I had always wanted the industrial piercing; it was so badass and yet so... I don't know, laid back? So on my eighteenth birthday I decided that it was time to take matters into my own hands.
At A Glance Author Eleni K. Contact EMKunz@LuckyMail.com When Six months ago Artist Joey <3 Studio Tatooed Planet Location Tempe, Arizona I was super-nervous when I got to the tattoo parlor. There were so many huge men, each with a plethora of tattoos and bars sticking out all over the place! Talk about an inviting atmosphere! But a cute young woman came up to me after a few seconds and, after looking me up and down and deciding that I was either lost or here for my first mod, sat me down and began talking to me. The only reason I knew that it was an "industrial" that I wanted was because my friends had informed me moments ago; I had been planning on telling the piercer that I wanted "one of those bar thingies that has two little balls and goes from here to here," and hoping he would get the gist. After paying (a lot more than I had expected!! - $75) and showing my ID (which was still really exciting, as I still was and am a relatively new adult), the woman hollered at a man I couldn't see, asking him if he could manage to "nail out an industrial" before his lunch break.
Fortunately, the piercer was extremely nice, extremely helpful, and totally okay with the fact that I was freaking out before he even introduced himself. His name was Joey, and he gave me a rundown on what was going to happen. He let me play with a set of tools he had out just for people like me, telling me each one he was going to be using and what it did. I asked him if it was going to hurt, and he just laughed. Apparently, the question gets asked quite often. He told me that an industrial ear piercing is one of the more painful ones, but he would do his best to take care of me. He had me pick out my jewelry, which ended up being a platinum barbell (go big or go home, right?) that cost an arm and a leg. After I emptied out my bank account and decided on my jewelry, the real fun was about to begin.
Joey took a purple marker and put four little spots on my right ear. I looked in the mirror and gave him my approval. It was now or never. He had me lay down on my stomach and told me to relax and breathe deeply. I considered it a good sign that right before he started, "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns n Roses came on. I took a deep breath and felt a slight pinch in my ear. I began smiling and laughing; it was over! I even started sitting up before Joey put his hand on my back and laid me back down. I heard him say something about "the other one"... and I got the gist that it wasn't over. I felt another slight pinch – not as slight as the first one, but close – and he told me I was done. I had been expecting so much worse! I hopped up, ran toward the mirror and admired my two new holes, which I named Juanita (bottom) and Janice (top). I was so excited that I began giggling and prancing about; I thought it was going to hurt a lot more than it did. I walked back home and showed Juanita and Janice to all my friends, who all agreed that they were totally kick-ass, and so was I for getting them.
Since then, I've had other piercings, and the industrial still remains the least painful one that I've gotten. (As opposed to the most painful, which was my nostril; who knew?) The industrial was definitely sore for a long time, and sometimes it still is. My only regret was that I had thought to have it done on the other side – I use my right ear way more than my left (answering the phone, sleeping, etc.) and had I just had the girls set up on my left ear, a lot of painful problems wouldn't have come up. My biggest suggestion, other than knowing what you are doing before you decide to do it, making sure you have a really patient piercer, and getting the logical side pierced, is that you follow all the instructions that the piercer gives you. Juanita and Janice came with a massive complimentary bottle of H2Ocean (miraculous formula, by the way) and sea salt. I used the stuff as directed and had almost no problems. Another important piece of advice – don't go and do it on a whim, while you're drunk, while you're mad, to get revenge on your parents, etc. When I showed it to my mother, well, let's just say that things were rough for a while. All in all, though, I love my industrial. It's my favorite piercing, and I would recommend it to anyone. Best of luck!