I had gotten 4 lobe piercings in each of my ears when I was in high school and now 10 years later for some reason decided I wanted more piercings. I had gotten a labret done in September and by January I wanted more. I was looking all over the internet for different experiences and locations for the piercings. I had already decided I wanted one in my ear but where in my ear?
At A Glance Author Kristi Arbuckle Contact kristiarbuckle@gmail.com When A month ago Artist B.J. Studio Soul Survivors Location Winnipeg, Manitoba After some thought I decided I wanted a rook. I had never seen anyone with a rook before. So I called to Soul Survivors and made an appointment. I called 2 days later and said I wanted to add a helix as well and they changed my appointment from Friday at noon to 1:30. Which meant I would have been late for work so I just booked the night off.
I was supposed to go shopping with my mom that afternoon but told her I had an appointment that afternoon and would be over later. The plan was to surprise her with my new piercings, but she surprised me when she offered to go shopping with me earlier that day and drop me off at my appointment. I had to tell her where I was going. I hadn't told my mom what I was getting done but by the time we made it to the piercing shop she knew. We went to the front desk and did all the forms etc. and he said it would just be a couple minutes. We looked around at all the different jewelery they had there. Plugs and barbells and weights etc.
Finally I got called in. My mom had to wait in the waiting room as he didn't like to have anyone else in there when he was piercing. So I went in with this guy that was over 6 feet tall and stretched lobes and 6g snake bites. He introduced himself and had me sit in the 1930's dentist chair. We chatted while he cleaned my ear and marked the spots he was going to do the piercing and handed me a mirror while he held up a CBR without the ball on the spot to visualize what it would look like. That was the best idea ever. No more trying to visualize, the ring was right on the spot.
Looked good to me, so he did the Helix first and it was so painless I didn't even feel it. He kinda jabbed the ring in there though which did hurt a little. Then he told me we were then going to do the rook. I got really nervous as everything I had read described it as being quite painful. He showed me the receiving tube he would be placing on the underside of my rook and said he didn't like to pierce slowly cause he didn't believe it should be any more painful that it has to be.
The usual, breathe in, breathe out etc and in like 1/8th of a second it was done. It was more like a pinch than any real pain. The jewelery went in smooth and all I felt was the cold from the metal. He put the balls in and used to ring closing pliers on them but when he closed the rook they slipped and he pinched my ear. I made some smart ass comment and he apologized and we joked while he was cleaning up. He gave me the usual care instructions and gave me 2 vials of an anti-microbial liquid soap to use to clean them with.
Within 5 minutes I could feel they were warm but not really painful. Of course Winnipeg in Winter is not warm at all and it felt so good to go outside and get them cooled off! They were really tender for about a week. I usually sleep on the side I got them done on so I ended up making a small pillow shaped like a letter u. It was the greatest idea. After about a week of trying to clean them and getting salt water everywhere, I decided to order a bottle of H2Ocean. I couldn't find it in my province but I ordered it from a supplier on eBay.
I had trouble getting the salt water on the under side of the rook and the sea salt spray was the easiest was to get it in there. It's been 2 months now and after 3 weeks I was sleeping on my right side, and touching them without sensitivity. They still get kinda crusty now and then but I spin them all the time and spray them at least once a day.
I am so glad I did it. So if you want to get a rook, I recommend it but it isn't as painful as some people make it out to be.