Finally... my third piercing (lobe, PA, industrial, although I took the PA out), and the one I really wanted from the beginning! This'll probably be my last one, at least for a while... who can say?, but I'm extremely happy (even through all the pain).
At A Glance Author duke Contact duke@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Laura Studio The Museum of Living Arts Location Charleston, SC So, without all the pretense of how I finally convinced the parents to let me get this piercing, I know all that anyone really wants to read is the experience itself. Without further adieu:
I drove out to my favorite place in Charleston (The Museum of Living Arts), finally having the blind eye from the parents to get my industrial done. So I go in and see a couple of familiar faces, fill out the forms as usual, and am informed that Laura (who also happens to be the owner) is in the back piercing, but she'll be back out soon.
By this point (piercing no. 3 from the Museum), I'm not nervous. I've got a pretty high pain tolerance, so I just kind of look around and muse over all the shiny metal objects that I could have placed through various body parts. Then a boisterous female client comes in wanting 2x nipple rings... and stays and yammers for about 15 minutes and then disappears to get a Coke... And, by this point, I'm wondering where Laura is.
At about that time, she comes through the door into the shop again followed by a girl with her tongue sticking out. She has a rather swollen but very immaculate double-tongue piercing, and I'm pretty damn impressed. This reminds me why I keep coming back to the Museum: their piercers kick ASS (I've had work done by three of them: Lauren, David, and Laura, all awesome).
So I hand Laura my sheet, she takes me back to the piercing room, and asks me which ear I want my industrial in. My mom wanted me to get it in the same ear as my lobe, and I thought it might look kind of cool even though I think it doesn't have the proper ridge anatomy to get an Indie, but I tell Laura left anyway. She looks at it, asks me to see the right, and tells me that I don't have enough of a left ridge, would I mind the right side? Of course, I've been expecting this, but I'm impressed yet again that they take the time to do things right and make sure that their clients are going to be safe and not do a mod that won't work on their body.
So she measures my ear, cleans it, marks up the line to get the barbell straight, and we just kinda chat while getting ready to jam the needle in. She tells me to take a deep breath, and by the time I'm done, the needle will be through. I'm expecting nasty crunching sounds and torrents of blood based on other experiences I've read...
On her direction, I start breathing in, and suddenly all the air I just inhaled is rushing back out. It hurts like a B I T C H (so much for that pain tolerance...), but no crunches or pops, and not much blood either. She's deceptively strong for a skinny girl. Then the jewelry goes through, and its not quite as bad, but definitely the only painful piercing I've had so far... until I remember that its only half-completed. Again I'm told to take a deep breath... and the second hole doesn't hurt as much until the jewelry goes through. Then its done.
She threads the balls on, explains aftercare, I take out my wallet and drop some cash into the tip jar, and we go back out front. My ear is throbbing and feeling like an elephant stepped on it, but I'm happy and its worth every drop of blood and every ounce of pain. Now that I'm taken care of, we stand around and talk for a while and then I realize that I've been gone almost two hours and the parents are probably worried I fainted or had a heart attack or something, so I leave.
First cleaning was rough, but I've already figured out the do's and don'ts of it, and I've figured out how I'm going to manage having the industrial with the ponytail. The first shower wasn't too eventful though...
Bottom line: Industrials hurt - BAD, but they're definitely worth it. The piercer makes the experience good, and not quite as painful. The guys and girls at The Museum of Living Arts are amazing, and they're the only ones in Charleston that I trust my body to. I'm glad I got my Indie here, as I'm not sure I could've (or would've wanted to put in the effort to) find a shop as cool in Baton Rouge when I go back to college (in two weeks, ack!).
Laura, Lauren and David are all cool people, great piercers, and the shop has a great feel to it. So go see them! Tell them about the rave reviews on BME! And if you want a mod, remember - pain is temporary, but if its something that'll make you happy, do it!