At A Glance
Author	brittany
Contact	brittany@bme.anon
When	A month ago
Artist	neil
Studio	Rock-A-Billy Tattoo
Location	Lauderhill, FL

After having become disillusioned with an industrial once it seemed like every other person I knew had one, I began looking on this site to see what else was out there. Then I found it, the snug. It was unique and I knew I had hardly ever seen any in person and my right ear would be the perfect candidate. The ridge it would be pierced through was raised just enough that where the ends would come through would look great assuming the piercer was on target.

So then came the begging. Now I may be seventeen, but my mother is still very protective of me, and when I asked her to get my snug pierced she said no. But I continued and found pictures of ones that were impeccably placed and well healed (and if you're a girl with a mom that wishes you didn't wear gauges instead of diamond studs, finding the pictures of the girls with dainty hoops or innocent studs with a snug work the best when trying to persuade). She finally gave in after a few days of moderately pushing the subject and asked when Rock-A-Billy (the local tattoo shop) that nearly everyone in my area goes to for navel and tongue piercings. I called and they were open until midnight, SCORE! It was only 7:30, plenty of time.

However, when I got into the studio, I encountered an obstacle. I'm still only seventeen. Because my mother was remarried and we did not share a last name, the studio required a copy of my birth certificate, her divorce certificate from my father, and her marriage certificate to my step father, along with both of our driver's licenses. Not only that, but they also needed the consent form to be notarized, something nearly impossible to do at that time of night. So she agreed, we'd come back Sunday afternoon once I got off work.

Luckily, my friend's grandfather happens to be a notary, so the weekend issue of finding one didn't affect my consent form and Sunday came as planned. We walked into the studio and all of the other people there were waiting for tattoos, so the piercer took us immediately, he made copies of all of the forms and had me fill out the day-of piercing form. What the piercing was, the gauge, etc. I believe he pierced it with a 16 2/3 gauge or something to that effect. But in the long run, I'm very glad they had so many requirements, because it just showed me that they really are quite credible.

Neil, my piercer, led me to the back of the studio, where he had his "office" and all of his equipment. He asked me to point out where along the ridge I wanted my piercing and I must have shown too high because I wasn't looking at it, so he cleaned off the first marks and replaced them with the placement of my dreams millimeters below. He rinsed the jewelry (a smaller, curved 16 and some-odd fraction gauge) and the needles again and told me to lay down on the bench. He counted, one-two-three, pop. I felt the needle enter into my cartilage with a slight pinch and a pop, followed by the second push, pop, and pinch, of it coming out the other side. The most "painful" part and the part I knew to dread was when he removed the needle to replace it with the jewelry. But still, it wasn't all that bad. Just a little bit of pinching and pressure, but surely not the agony that everyone made out cartilage piercings to be. But my pain tolerance is a bit high and I'm used to abusing my ears with gauging my other holes, so that might have played into it as well. And it was done, he told me all of the standard procedure, clean two to three times daily with dial or another gentle antibacterial soap, no alcohols or peroxides or neosporin to help, they will only hurt, and to soak it daily in a sea salt soak to help minimize swelling and oozing. Then I got my first look. In all honesty, I couldn't have asked for a better placement, plus, considering it was just pierced, it didn't look half bad as far as swelling was concerned.

The second day didn't bring much swelling either. I guess it was a bit puffier than usual but nothing horrendous or a bleeding oozing mess. I didn't even get any oozing until people started bumping into it more often seeing as school started back the next day.

I've had it for roughly two weeks now and it's doing fine. The other day it got a little more assault than using and when I cleaned off some of the ooze crust; it leaked a very small amount of blood but nothing bigger around than the ball at the end. But I just cleaned it up and soaked it thoroughly the next few days and it looks better than ever! Not only does it look great, but it seems to be really unique. No one I know has ever seen it before and most of them really like it and tell me "I would have never thought of a piercing right there, but it looks really good on you." Granted, you need the right ear shape, but I lucked out in having the right one. But nothing can be more important than the piercer. Neil was really professional and knew his stuff. Placement and piercing were impeccable. If you're getting your snug or thinking about it, make sure they have it placed right, because it wouldn't look good much higher or lower on me so find what suits you best and look for experience.

Would I do it all over again? Of course! Learning to sleep on my left side is even worth it even though sleeping on my right has been a habit since I've gotten my other cartilage pierced 7 years ago. Pictures soon to come!