Having been to Blue Banana several times for ear piercings, and having always found them to be friendly and competent, I was considering giving my ear another bash. I'm by no means experienced in bodmods, mainly because my job and college limit me to ear piercings, but I had two lobe piercings, a daith, a helix and a tragus already so I thought a slightly more unusual hole was in order.
At A Glance Author Imogen Contact Imogen@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Can't remember Studio Blue Banana Location Doncaster, UK I knew exactly what I wanted- a snug. I'd seen them on BME and even my mother had said that it looked 'cute'. So one Saturday, I took my two best friends (both rather averse to piercings) to Doncaster and we headed for Blue Banana. I was slightly hesitant, as I knew that it was unlikely that many of the generic 14 year old custom would ask for anything beyond a navel and, if they're feeling adventurous, a tragus. I spoke to the woman who had pierced my helix and daith and she seemed excited about it. She had never pierced a snug before, but the other piercer there had and advised her about the jewellery. She also supervised her while I was being pierced, which I thought was very diligent.
We decided on a curved barbell, coloured purple to match all my other piercings in my right ear. I then was sent away to Hey! Potato for lunch, to give them time to wade through the half dozen kids behind me who wanted lip piercings.
I returned, extremely excited, after about half an hour to find everything ready for me. I sat on the doctor-type bed in the back room while the piercer prepared everything. We spoke about any facial piercings I'd like (there are a few, but I can't get them until I'm out of school) and tattoos.
She then asked me to lay down on the bed, and she cleaned up my ear a bit. I closed my eyes, as I always do, and she carried on talking to me about some clients of hers who had come in the day before (two 16 year olds, both who cried before, during and after having their tragi done). I was quite proud when she said 'I like piercing you, you never flinch or squeal!' I suppose I am always very quite when I'm pierced. I enjoy the pain, it's quite strange!
Anyway, I digress. The piercing itself: I wasn't really sure what to expect, as many experiences I've read say different things about the pain and the healing. For me, it did hurt but not terribly badly. I'd gladly go through it again (and I'm planning to soon, on my other ear. It was a sharp pain on entry, then the familiar warmth as the needle passed through. There was a slight delay in pushing the needle out the other side of the incredibly thick bit of cartilage because I had on that side 'the thickest bit of skin she'd ever seen!'. It took a little bit of force, and as the needle passed out of my skin, I can remember exclaiming 'Holy Baby Jesus!' very loudly. The insertion of the jewellery was simple, if a little hindered by my usual bleeding.
At that point I was raring to get up and have a look, and as I shot up, I suddenly felt rather faint and flopped back down onto the bed- giggling slightly.
I had a sip of Coke and then looked in the mirror. It was gorgeous! Quite sore and red, but painless and totally looked at home with my other piercings. I was happy, thanked the woman about 20 times and skipped out of the room to show my two friends, who were looking slightly out of place surrounded by posters of mods and heavily pierced people. They played the part of the horrified parents: 'When will you stop???' but ultimately said that it looked quite nice.
Immediately thereafter, there was no pain as I carried on shopping. It did bleed slightly for 20 minutes or so but the redness and swelling went down quickly.
I can't sleep on my right ear unless I prop my head on my arm or a strategically placed hand, but I don't find it interferes with my sleep at all. Also, I was concerned about how I would manage earphones, but I found that with some careful manouevering between the snug and my tragus, small earphones sit comfortably.
A month on and it's healing quite nicely. As my daith is currently quite angry and inflamed, my snug can feel a little sore at times, but that's nothing a warm sea salt soak can't fix. The jewellery is perfect for it, and I don't think I'll attempt to change it for a good half a year yet. People react quite well to it, I tend to get asked if it's two piercings- they don't believe you can get pierced through a bit of ear that thick! I'd recommend this piercing to anyone really, sure there may be a bit more pain initially than with many other ear piercings but it's definitely worth it!