About half a semester into my freshman year at my University, I decided to get a piercing as a sort of rebellion against my very conservative parents. I decided on a cartilage piercing, because of all the ones I knew of (which wasn't many) it seemed to be the most tame and uncontroversial if it were discovered by my parents. I only wanted it done on my right ear because I like the idea of asymmetry and it seemed more "rock and roll" than getting both done. It's lame, I know, to do something rebellious and be scared to get caught. But, I digress.
At A Glance Author Lauren When Six months ago Artist Colleen Studio Halo Tattoo Location Marshall Street, Syracuse, NY After I figured out what I wanted, I looked around for piercing shops within either walking or bus distance, as freshman aren't allowed their own car. There was only one piercing and tattoo shop close by that I knew of, just off the campus - about a 5 minute walk. After I found it, I didn't bother to look around any more, which probably wasn't a very bright idea, but I just wanted to do this as quickly as possible.
I called up Halo's to see if I had to make an appointment and ask just a few questions before coming down. Since they have three shops in the Syracuse area, their piercer spends time among all of them, so I had to wait until that evening before I could venture down. Over the phone I also asked them if they used a gun or a needle because I'd heard if you used a gun on cartilage it could damage it. Of course, they use a needle.
After I had ate dinner and psyched myself up, I moseyed on down to Marshall Street and up to Halo's. I brought a friend along because I really didn't know what to expect as this was only my second piercing, after my lobes, and I wasn't sure how much support I'd need. After a brief wait and looking at the tattoo pictures on the wall, Colleen, the piercer called me up to pick out my earring and sign the paperwork. I picked out a 16g barbell because I didn't really look how rings looked in my ears.
Colleen brought me back to her station and sat me down on a table like the ones found at the doctor's office and showed me that all of the supplies she'd user were brand new and in packages. She marked 3 dots on my ear and handed me a mirror to pick which one I liked the placement of and then she cleaned me up. She pushed my hair back and told me to take a deep breath and let it out slowly. As I exhaled, she shoved the needle through, took it out, and screwed in my barbell. It wasn't at all painful - in fact, I actually liked how it felt. I experienced an adrenaline rush as I could feel and hear the needle crunch through the cartilage. I can see now how people get addicted to piercings.
She gave me the mirror again to see how I liked it, and gave me the classic run down of after care and I left after paying.
Unfortunately, I chickened out before going home before Christmas break and took out the piercing so it could grow back together to hide it from the parental units. However, the week before I was to go back to the University, we got in a big fight, and I came back to school with a new urge to piss them off, so I re-did the piercing, and have stuck with it.
It's been just over six months from the second piercing. I'm not sure if it's completely healed yet, though, because some days it's kind of sore and occasionally I still get this crunchy plasma stuff that builds up on the back of my stud. I assume I probably didn't wait long enough to change into a new stud after piercing.
All in all, I'm glad I got it done. My parents eventually discovered it when I came home for Easter break, but surprisingly, they weren't as mad as I expected them to be, probably because there was nothing they could do about it. I'm planning on getting my septum pierced this coming fall when I go back for my sophomore year, and then getting a skin brand on my forearm for my birthday in February. I spent a lot of time considering these next mods, as I want to look professional when it's time to go out to get a job and I want to have something that's easy to hide from my parents, because I think they'd have a farm if I came home with things done other than my ears. But, again, I digress.