There's a problem growing up in a town that has only one body piercing place: the lack of options. Well, technically, I guess this town has two body piercing places, but one of them doesn't have much of a reputation (which is almost as bad as having a bad reputation), and the other is better known, at least in my circle of modified friends.
At A Glance Author Rose Contact Rose@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist Brenna Studio Backroads Location Russellville, Arkansas My first cartilage piercing, I hate to say, was a gun piercing at Claires, so, I was still unknowledgeable when I decided to get my snug done. However, I had discovered BME, and was discovering my ignorance.
Two weeks before the end of my spring semester, before the end of my first year at college, I caught "the itch". It had been 8 months since my gunned cartilage, and I had just survived my first year of college, including quitting a horrible job, making new friends, and choosing a major (that sucked up all my time, though I do get to work with some of the more interesting individuals on campus). One of my newest friends expressed interest in getting her lobes repierced, this time, correctly. I had been cruising BME, looking at different cartilage piercings and had found the snug, and, somehow, knew that it would look great on me, so, I volunteered to drive her down there, and, with the last of last paycheck from my most hated job, get something I could enjoy.
I hadn't studied the snug quite as much as I wished I had. Had I spent five more minutes, I would have learned more about what I should have expected.
Piercings have always been relatively spontaneous. I give more thought to cutting my hair than putting another hole in my body. I was just eager to get this done.
We went to Backroads, the, at one time, respectable establishment in our town. Snugs were $35 dollars, displayed on a crudely drawn ear diagram with prices for other piercings. I filled out my paperwork, paid in cash, and waited for my friend's lobes to finish.
The very first sign that I was in the wrong place was after my friend came out. Brenna, the piercist, had told her that it was just fine to pierce lobes with a gun, and nothing bad should come of it. For whatever reason, no warning flag came up at that.
I was led to a back room, to a room that looked relatively sterile, listening to the music the tattooist was playing next door. Brenna got everything set up. Second warning flag that should have had me running for the door- I couldn't see anything she was doing. She worked behind me the whole time. I did mention an allergy to practically anything, and she assured me that the CBRs (third warning flag, if I had studied for 5 more minutes) she'd use were surgery grade, and no one had ever complained of an allergic reaction to it.
The fourth flag was her lack of knowledge of the placement of a snug. She asked if it went on the inner part of the ear. I said "No, it's here", pinching the rim of cartilage. "Ah," she said "I was thinking it was an inner conch."
Bells, sirens, and whistles went off, but, she's older, and one doesn't see too many snugs running around, so, I forgave her of that fault.
She disinfected, and I mentally and physically prepared myself for pain. It was clean pain, a clean piercing, no popping, crunching, or anything... a 7 on my chart of pain, 10 being my lobes (very painful, for a very long time- gunned), with 1 (my gunned cartilage-virtually no pain).
She popped in the CBR, just annoying scraping pain with that, took her time with the ball, and off I went. No problem, no pain after that, and no blood.
It was a beautiful piercing. Everyone liked it, including my parents, who are against body-mods. I slept on it the first night, no pain. The first month or so was painfree. It was the easiest piercing I had ever had. By the end of the first two weeks, because it was so painless, and not bloody, I grew lax on cleaning. I'd clean it every other night, as I remembered, and that dropped to as often as I felt it needed it. Soon, however, boils started to form at both the entry and exit hole. At 3 months, I bought new jewelry, curved barbells, as I read that that was a more appropriate jewelry piece, and with the help of one of my upcoming piercist friends, switched to a barbell, which made a world of difference.
The boils went down, the back of my ear stopped bruising (I had been putting arnica gel on it for the bruising, and to help with new healing- very helpful), sleeping was easier, and the overall appearance of the piercing vastly improved. Everyone loved it more, especially me.
But, after another two months, problems happened. School started, which meant more hugging, and germs... The boils came back, the snug got hit, and, recently, my stylist caught it with her nails and tore it slightly, aggravating one of the boils horribly, right before an awesome party.
I took out the barbells just in time to prevent damage from swelling, cleaned it, and attempted to put it back, only to find the barbells were too short. Back to the CBR.
Unfortunately, now I'm faced with a problem: either diligently and religiously work to get my snug back into shape, or retire it.
This can be taken as a warning to everyone who ever considered anykind of piercing: if you have doubts, don't get it. Even if you really want it, it's always better if you wait and find the perfect place for your perfect piercing. Take excellent care of your piercing, as it will safe you anguish, and, in my case, repeated concerned comments from friends who often know that it's not quite as fine as it should be. Don't make my mistake.
The woes of a favored snug.