Let me start off by saying, I am not a person who has a lot of piercings. I have always loved the way they look and have wanted to have them but am terrified of needles. I got my first "real" piercing (navel), last October as a late 20th birthday present, at Star City Tattoos. I have been admiring the way the Tragus piercing looks and contemplating getting it done for some time now. I decided to just go for it and get it done.
At A Glance Author BeatlesFan Contact BeatlesFan@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Katie Studio Star City Tattoos Location Roanoke, VA I got up this morning and got dressed and asked my room-mate and a few other friends to tag along for moral support. I was nervous of course but not as nervous as I was with my first piercing. I walked into Star City and Katie asked me what I wanted to have done. I told her that I wanted a tragus piercing and she proceeded to tell me it would be $30.00 and I would have to fill out some paper work. I gave her the $30.00 and let her copy my driver's license while I filled out the paper work. She came back and gave me my license back and told me to wait in the lobby while she got things set up. My friends and I stood around and talked about the piercings we would like to get and took some photos of me—sort of a before and after type thing.
Katie came back into the lobby and said for me to come on back and have a seat on the table facing the counter. She told me she was going to clean my ear off with some slimy/cold gel. She then took the CBR and hung it on my ear to show me how it was going to look- my friends all "oohed and ahhed" at how nice it looked (I was a little too nervous to look that much but I took a quick look and said it looked great). Katie then marked my ear with some ink and a toothpick. She told me to lie down and turn my head to face the door, I was so nervous that I didn't turn my head far enough towards the door and she kept having to tell me to keep my head turned. She put the clamps on and told me the key to making it through this and all other piercings was to watch my breathing and to make sure that I concentrated on breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth. I felt her line the needle up to the ink and I knew she was about to do it. She told me to take one big deep breath and she pushed the needle through. I have to tell you it seemed like time stood still when the needle was going in-I felt like it took forever to get it through. I won't lie, this part hurt so incredibly bad. My friends told me they'd never heard me curse before today. As bad as this part hurt it didn't hurt nearly as bad as it did when she put the jewelry through. Again this felt like it took forever. But then it was all done and she told me I could sit up and take a look in the hand-held mirror. My hand was shaking so badly I could hardly hold the mirror still to look at it so I just asked my friends how it looked and they all said it looked great.
After my piercing was finished, she cleaned up and told me she was going to go wash her hands and finish cleaning and then would come out to tell me about after-care. She came out and gave me a brochure on how to care for new piercings and a small bag of sea-salt. She went through everything very thoroughly and made sure I understood how to care for my new piercing. She told me that Tragus piercings do have a tendency to stick out when they are first done and that with time it would loosen up and lay down. She also told me that they have a tendency to get inflamed but that it was normal and not to worry. She told me as soon as I run out of sea salt to come back and she will give me some more and that it will also give her a chance to check my piercing and make sure it is healing properly. After that, she gave me her card and thanked me for coming to them again and I was on my way.
I just got my piercing today, so it still has a dull ache to it and every now and then it hurts fairly bad. But, I love it! It looks great and I would highly recommend Star City Tattoos to anyone in the Roanoke area.