I've been itching to get a new piercing for several weeks now, but I couldn't decide which one (I'm considering a medusa and/or labret)! As a compromise on the facial piercing I really wanted, I decided to get my tragus pierced to tide me over for a while. It's a really cute piercing, and it's pretty inoffensive, too, as far as piercings go. No one's going to look twice at me and my little tragus... Anyway, I went in to Apocalypse Tattoo around 2 o'clock on a weekday. My usual piercer wasn't there, but I agreed to be pierced by the other piercer that works there. I didn't catch his name, but I think there are only two of them, and this guy wasn't Robert (Robert is also really, really good, by the way). He had me fill out the usual form, attest to the fact that I'd eaten and understood the risks, and checked my driver's license to make sure I'm not a 12 year old. He asked me what gauge I wanted to be pierced at, and we settled on 14 gauge. He was really nice, despite me kind of being a dumb ass: I wasn't sure how to pronounce "tragus" so I was just pointing to my ear. We went back to the piercing room, and he cleaned my ear really well and marked the spot with a toothpick dipped in ink. He told me that the tragus is one of those piercings that you don't really get a say in precisely where it's pierced, it just depends on your anatomy. The spot he marked was fine with me, though. He changed his gloves after each step, which was nice to see. He had me lie down to actually do the piercing, and then remembered that I was chewing gum. He literally took my gum out of my mouth for me (with a glove on) and threw it away so I wouldn't inhale it during the piercing process. This really impressed me, because I don't think I'd fish someone else's gum out. I'd probably make them get up and spit it out their own damn self. The whole time he was getting ready to do the piercing he was talking, joking around a little and explaining what he was doing. I work in healthcare, and all I could think was THIS is the kind of person we need working in healthcare! He was so much more friendly and professional than any healthcare provider I've gone to for my own care in at least the last two years. He was obviously knowledgeable, and trying to make this a good experience for me. I was just trying to be calm, and not look at the set up, because I don't like to see the needle before I get pierced. We don't want a repeat of me at age 8 screaming "NOOOOOOO" and trying to get away from the nurse after watching her sloooowly draw up a vaccine. And that needle was tiny in comparison!
At A Glance Author BlueEyedDelphine Contact BlueEyedDelphine@bme.anon IAM BlueEyedDelphine When A week ago Studio Apocalypse Tattoo Location Seattle, WA Anyway, once he had everything set up he had me take a deep breath in, blow it out, and he pushed the needle in. I immediately stopped breathing, and he reminded me to start again, and then finished pushing the needle through. For me, this hurt quite a bit more than my septum piercing did, but it was definitely tolerable. I didn't hear too much of a crunching sound, although I don't think I would have been bothered if I did. The jewelry (a stud) was threaded through with no difficulty, and then he cleaned my ear up a little with q-tips. I have chronic mild anemia (just like many women) and I'd had two cups of coffee that morning, so my ear didn't want to stop bleeding. He held pressure to it for a few minutes until it finally did stop. He asked me if he was torturing me by pressing around the piercing, and I said no. Actually, I kind of felt like a pervert because it felt sort of nice. I didn't tell him that though! Then we went out front, I payed 63$ and some change (which hurt more than the piercing!), and I was on my way.
It's been two days now, and the piercing looks great! It also doesn't hurt at all. I could even sleep on it last night. I haven't done a sea salt soak, because I'm using the LITHA approach (the hardest part is not touching the piercing!), but if I change my mind I was sent home with a baggy of sea salt to use. I'm having a little difficulty remembering not to slam the phone against that ear when I answer it, but I'm really happy with the piercing, and I can't recommend the piercers at Apocalypse highly enough. They are both wonderful.