In 7th grade, I got my left ear pierced twice. I was a bit different back then and as I was inexperienced with piercing, I had it done with a piercing gun at Wal-Mart(where it got really screwed up...but that's a story for another time). Over the years I stretched both to 14 gauge and changed my style from "normal" ear studs to larger body jewelry(CBRs are my favorites). I always wanted to get my other ear pierced, but my mom always said no and told me only gay people did it and I wasn't allowed.
At A Glance Author Jordan Contact Jordan@bme.anon When A month ago Artist My Dad Studio My Basement Location Kentucky When I was 16, I started meeting more people who were into mods and started really wanting it pierced, so I brought up the subject of having it pierced again. That didn't go over well. My mom made a bit of a scene in Kroger, but I didn't care, there was no changing my mind.
After a week or two, I finally convinced her that she wasn't gonna dissuade me and she might as well shut up and let me have it done. However she wouldn't go with me because she doesn't like tattoo/piercing shops and in KY an underage person has to have a parent and a notarized letter to get a piercing. I called my dad, who was going to go with me to have it done but then noticed I didn't have any proof he was my dad, as he has a different address because of my parents' divorce. He told me just to get some 14g earrings at the local tattoo place and come home and he would do it. This surprised me at first, but then I remembered a friend of my dads worked in a hospital and had brought some sealed catheter needles home. Obviously, I was a bit nervous. I had never done a piercing with a needle, let alone at home!
I went to the local tattoo place and got two 14g CBRs, $7.99 each. I told the woman that a friend had just got a piercing and it fell out and I needed to get some CBRs that would be good on a healing piercing. She gave me a pair that they would've used to pierce with and told me those were the best for the initial swelling and the healing piercing. I thanked her, and nervously left the store, knowing that in just a few minutes I'd be under the needle...
When I got home, my dad was waiting. He told me he would pierce me in just a few minutes, and his friend who worked at the hospital was also there to help. Before the piercing, we all put gloves on and doused everything in a liberal amount of rubbing alcohol. The needle was about 3-4 inches long, and so that made me even more nervous, but my desire for the piercing overcame. I took out the jewelry in my left ear so we could see exactly where the hole was. I checked the mark to make sure it was in the right spot and gave the "OK". I put the jewelry in my left ear, had my dad look at it so he'd be able to get the angle right, then sat down in a chair waiting with anticipation...
I watched in a mirror as my dad pushed the needle through my ear. It didn't hurt near as bad as I thought it would, though he did stop about midway through then kept going and that hurt a little bit. Being that it was a catheter needle, it had a big hub on the back so a reverse-insertion was necessary. My dad put the CBR in the front end of the hollow needle and pulled the needle back through the way it came. I was happy. I finally had the piercing I wanted. But all was not over just yet. Now came the time when we needed to put the bead into the CBR, and that proved to be a bit harder than expected.
I can usually pop a CBR bead in no problem, but this CBR seemed to be different. My dad kept trying everything he could to get it in, but it just wouldn't "pop". After trying a variety of methods, his friend tried his hand at it. Still no success. Finally we got the idea to open the CBR a bit more with some pliers and got it a little looser. My dad finally managed to pop the bead in, and I was relieved, as pushing and pulling on a brand new piercing isn't exactly recommended by most. Total time to get the bead in was about and hour, and my ear showed it. It had swollen massively and felt absolutely horrible.
The piercing healed fairly quickly. I sprayed H2Ocean on it daily and cleaned it in the shower. The swelling however did take a little less than a month to fully go down, but it was just because of our massive attempt to get the bead in. All in all, the healing process wasn't too bad. It didn't get infected and it looked really good. All my friends thought it was cool and my mom finally got over it. I personally love it, and it feels a bit more knowing that it was a "Do-It-Yourself" type of piercing. I know, this could have turned out horribly. I expected that it would at first to tell the truth. For me though, it turned out fine. One thing I would suggest for those attempting to duplicate my method is to make sure you can easily pop the bead in and out before hand. Having a swollen ear lobe like that is no fun whatsoever.