First, I'd like to start off by saying that this was my first "real" piercing experiences. Solely background information, I have little piercing experience. I had my lobes done three times, probably, in my lifetime, and a cartilage. However, these were done very unprofessionally at Claire's. I know, I know, it's terrible. I was young and didn't do proper research first. I wasn't even aware that it was able to get piercings professionally done. I simply got tired of the lobes, and the cartilage got infected. I took it out.
At A Glance Author Zoe Contact Zoe@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Ian Studio Icon on 21st Location Nashville, TN I had a friend that was very into mods. I searched BME for a very long time and became accustomed to the lingo, the piercings that were possible, etc. I looked at cartilage and my eye was immediately caught on the industrial. I'd never seen anything like it before. I had to have it. I toyed with many other ideas. Tongue, tragus, eyebrow, orbital, etc. Of course, I was surprised when I heard that the tongue was a lot less painful than an industrial, so I kind of put it off for a bit. This went on for about two years.
A little before Spring Break, I decided to bite the bullet and get it done. I contacted Icon because many of my friends said they were wonderful. Another possibility was Lone Wolf, but Icon seemed more aesthetically pleasing from the outside. Stupid basis, but Icon is very reputable, so it didn't really matter to me.
I got my money together ($60 – a very expensive piercing; the barbell was $20 alone), but I didn't care. I met Ian, asked if they used an autoclave, etc., and waited around for my mother to fill out the paperwork. After struggling with finding ID for myself, my Mom left, and I was left with my boyfriend and brother. Ian took us back to the room and cleaned me, marked me, made sure that everything was in order, and we were good to go. He had me lay back and get comfortable. There was a mirror to the left of me, and he sat in between the mirror and I, and everybody was looking on.
I was not aware of what he was doing. He told me to breathe in, out, in, out, hold it and .. pierced. My breathing was a bit shallow and I was squeezing my boyfriend's hand, and they looked pained and excited. A few seconds later (or so), he was repeating, "Breathe in, out, in, out, hold it .." and pierced again. I don't know how the piercing went in, or which hole he did first. What I –do- know is that the second hole hurt a LOT worse than the first, and the first was pretty painful. Don't let "a lot" worse fool you, though. It was a painful pinching, then a burning, but nothing near excruciating. It was very manageable.
Ian had me sit up, then lay back down because of the bleeding. He tended to it a bit more, then I was able to stand up. I looked at it and was positively beaming. All of us were. We emerged from the room and I was giddy. I tipped Ian and left with a burning ear, racing heart, and a barbell through my ear.
I asked the boys what they thought. They said it was amazing, but the process, for them, was excruciating. They said it made a really loud crunch and blood was everywhere, and it was a slight adrenaline rush. I showed it off to everybody and they volunteered the story to everybody that listened. Everybody cringed at the, "And it crunched!" It was a great experience for everybody.
I came in the next day for a follow-up, and I asked a lot of questions about swimming (no), how long it should hurt (a year), how long it would bleed (a year), how long until I could sleep on it (a year), and should I do sea-salt soaks (no). All of these kind of surprised me. It wasn't Ian answering these questions – it was BettyAnn. I was kind of hesitant on what she said, but she was very symmetrically pierced, including two industrials. I came home and asked the LiveJournal BME community about the sea-salt thing, and other questions, and they all said that sea-salt soaks were pretty imperative. I felt a little uneasy with the studio, and I think I'm resolving to go to Lone Wolf next because of the weird aftercare suggestions.
I haven't done any sea-salt soaks, but I've been doing saline cleanings regularly. I've had it for about 2 weeks thus far, and it's rarely sore. It gets crusty now and then, but that's to be expected. It's really great and I've gotten tons of compliments. If you're wondering, go for it! Don't let the warnings of pain stop you; just take good care of it.