I randomly decide to get piercings when I want them. Its never a planned thing to do. I have had many, but nothing really cool in my ears except your typical lobe and cartilage. I decided that I wanted to get my tragus pierced and talked my dad out of some money (even though I'm 22 and have my own) so that I could go get it done.
At A Glance Author Fallynn Contact Fallynn@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Josh Studio Wildside Tattoo Location Richmond, IL I convinced my friend to come with me so I didn't have to find a babysitter for my 6 month old son (no one under the age of 14 is allowed in the studio), but it worked out because she wanted to change her eyebrow ring while we were there. When we arrived, she went in and had her ring changed before I went in. When she was finished and came back out, I left my son with her and went inside. Redwood (the owner of Wildside) and Josh were waiting for me since I called to tell them I was coming. I filled out the paperwork and paid for my piercing and went to the back with Josh.
Josh took one look at my tragus and said, "I'm not going to be able to pierce that." Evidently my tragus is just a little too small to be pierced. Weird, right? So then I'm like, hmmmm, "What do you suggest then?" He told me that his favorite piercing, as well as favorite one to do, is the conch. So I'm like, "Ok, I'll do it."
I was back to being excited again, and Josh continued to talk about how bad it was going to hurt and that its going to be the most painful piercing out of all of them. So then I was kind of like, "Wait, let me think about this." I thought about it for a few minutes and was almost going to say forget it and decided that if I can go through childbirth, I can take a needle being shoved through my conch. So I said, "Go for it!!!"
I felt the coolness of the alcohol wipes when Josh cleaned my ear. Then came the marker pen makings dots on my ear for where the needle was to go in and come out. I began to get nervous, but I didn't want to show it. He kept going on and on about how much everyone tells me that it hurts. I was getting more and more scared by the minute. He then asked me once more if I was sure that I wanted to do it. I didn't want to let on that I was scared, and I said, "Go for it!!!"
The next thing I knew, I felt this searing pain, and my ear felt like it was on fire. My conch cherry had officially been popped! It took only a few seconds for my ear to numb itself from the pain and I was fine. I didn't flinch, and Josh asked me how I was doing. I was doing good. The painful part was over, or so I thought. Josh was fast about putting the 12g ring in, and he really was good about making sure there was as little pain as possible, but putting the ball on was another story. He tried and tried, and it just wouldn't stay on. That was so much more painful than the piercing itself. He just kept tugging on the fresh ring from the hard cartilage. By the time he got the ball to stay on my ear was throbbing with pain.
When I got up and went to look in the mirror, I was super excited, and it seemed as though the pain completely went away. Then I seen it and was instantly satisfied with the whole experience. It really was the coolest looking piercing I had gotten so far!!
After only 2 days, the ball fell off again while I was sleeping. So I had to go back and get another one put in. This time, pain was all I felt. A two day old conch piercing being pulled on, pushed on, trying to get a ball for a 14g ring on my ring, that was so painful I could barely sit still. I managed to, but I sooo wanted to jump off the chair. Josh got this ball on faster than the last time, thank goodness, and it stayed on this time.
I have changed it to a barbell now, which I love even more. I think the look is awesome to have this little pink stud in practically the center of my ear. I love to show it off and I love when people ask about it. I am thinking about another one right above this one. We'll see what happens the next time I get a piercing urge!!!