At A Glance
Author	syn
Contact	syn@bme.anon
When	A year ago
Artist	Krystal
Studio	Skull of the Dragon
Location	Newport, ME

The Actual Piercing

My Industrial was one of those spur of the moment things. My mother and I had been out buying seeds for the garden when I asked her if we could stop by the tattoo parlor. She gave me one of those looks then said fine as long as I left my face alone (at this time, I had my lip done twice and an anti-eyebrow, not enough for me, too much for her). Though it would have been easy to black mail her make her change her mind, I respect her and quietly decided on getting an Industrial. Why not? I had been fawning over them for ages and I must have read every available story and article about them.

At the parlor, the man behind the counter (he is still nameless to me) wasn't there! Score. I can't stand him most of the time. Instead, the body piercer herself came out of the backroom to great my mother and I. She recognized me, asked if my mother knew what I was getting done, and then decided to not bother with the paperwork since I've filled it out 4 times before and my mother was standing right there anyway.

She led me to the clean backroom while my mother scurried outside to smoke. We made small talk as she set up her tools and I looked at the jewelry they were selling. When she had her second pair of gloves on and all the bagged tools out she called me back in. She had me hop up on this padded table and tie my hair back. I told her I wanted my right ear done as she looked over the structure of my ear and showed me where the best and safest placement would be. I told her it was perfect and she marked both sides of my ear where the needle would enter using a surgical marker.

Nerves kicked in then. I never had cartilage done before and after reading some of the experiences on here, I was prepared for the worst. Krystal, the piercer, must have noticed that I was getting jittery so she started asking me questions about random things to keep my mind busy while she rubbed iodine on the purple marks. It worked. By the time she had changed her gloves once more, I was ready. Krystal warned be about the pain and asked me not to move. She explained to me that clamps were useless here so she was going to free hand it. I took a deep breath and the 14 gauge needle bit through the inside ridge of my ear.

And damn did it hurt. Not enough to draw tears, just enough to make me catch my breath and grit my teeth. There was no pop sound. Instead, I felt like my ears were full of gravel and the needle had to grind it's way through.

Krystal let me catch me breath as she slipped part of the stainless steel bar through the fresh hole. Taking the second needle and dipping it in lubricant, she carefully grabbed onto my ear, waited for my nod, and ran it through the second purple mark. She slid the needle out and tried to slide the rest of the bar through. It wouldn't go through. By then it felt like my ear was on fire and I was getting slightly dizzy. She told me that she was going to have to repierce it. She did and thankfully the bar slid through with no problem. After screwing the ball back on the end of the barbell she handed me a paper cup filled with water and told me to lie down for a second.

I was embarrassed but did so anyway. Cartilage isn't my thing. I seriously thought that I was going to throw up and my ear didn't even hurt that much! It just burned.

I felt better in seconds and made sure to tip her even though I had very little extra money. The piercing cost $75.


That Night

Sleeping wasn't fun. I toss and turn all night long and every time I rolled on to my right side, I was awoken by a sharp annoying pain. After many trials and failures, I found a way of positioning my head on my arm to keep my ear from being bumped.


Aftercare

I used dial soap most of the time with the occasional sea salt water soak. When hypertrophic scarring began to show, I added more sea salt soaks to my daily aftercare routine and, with time, the scarring went away.


Notes

I suggest purchasing a shorter barbell the very day you get pierced. Most of the time, you will be pierced with an overlong barbell to leave room for swelling but after a week or two I suggest changing the initial barbell for a shorter one. Why? Well, I noticed that the longer barbell put a lot of stress on the piercing and it acted up less when I changed the barbell. If you aren't sure about the length, grab a ruler...

Long hair loves to get wrapped around the barbell. The shorter, the more likely this problem will go away.

Cell phone addict? Don't get an industrial done on the ear your phone is married to.

When I move to Alaska, this piercing is coming out. In the winter, you will be more than well aware that there's a barbell running through your ear. None of my other piercings have ever bothered me in the cold but this one did. Yay ear warmers and hats.

Prepare yourself for a long wait. I've had my industrial for 10 months now and it's still not healed. Krystal told me it may not be healed for a year to two years.

Any pain that you may feel during the initial piercing only last seconds. Don't let it keep you from getting an industrial.