Like all of my mods, this had been a long time coming. Unlike my other piercings (navel and nostril), this one wasn't about making peace with a body part I used to despise. I've always liked my ears.
At A Glance Author Ziva Contact Ziva@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Jimbo Studio FleshWound Location Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand Unlike all my other mods, I experienced a very quick transition from never having considered large gauge lobes for myself to really, really wanting them. This happened about two years ago when I was at a tribal bellydance workshop and noticed how much I liked the way some of the dancers' ears looked. I ferreted around on the sites of my preferred piercing studios, and discovered that initial piercings could be done at larger gauges than I'd ever imagined possible. I looked at jewellery. I really liked the idea of wearing flesh tunnels through which I could hang big, chunky tribal earrings. I decided that 6-8mm would be the perfect size.
I quit my job and promised myself I'd get my lobes done when I found another one. I found another job and procrastinated – there was always something more urgent to spend the money on, and frankly, I didn't fancy the idea of having to stretch up to the size I wanted. I know I shouldn't knock it until I've tried it, but the idea of stretching just seems difficult and annoying to me. I want a piercing which gives me no more trouble than the annoying healing period.
Then I accompanied a friend to FleshWound to get her lip pierced, and met the newish piercer, Jimbo, who has a great manner and some beautiful ink, and explains everything in such a lively fashion that it's hard to believe he repeats the same stuff for every client ever. He was fine with my watching, and it was really interesting seeing my mate's piercing done, and I asked Jimbo how big a piercing he could do on my lobes from scratch. He glanced at them and said 8mm. I was delighted.
I told my sister about my enlightening visit to the studio, and for my birthday, she and her boyfriend gave me a donation towards my lobes. I rang up and booked an appointment for that Friday.
Jimbo recognized me and asked after my mate's lip, and left me to fill out the paperwork while he got the sterilized hardware to show me: simple steel flesh tunnels with black rubber rings to hold them in place on either side of the lobe. Then we went into the piercing room. I got to sit on the chair that looked like a dentist's. That was when Jimbo told me he was going to use a 6mm dermal punch then stretch the hole up to 8mm to fit the hardware. I was a bit scared by the thought of the dermal punch, but Jimbo explained the benefits of removing a segment of flesh and told me that it didn't hurt any more than a needle. I'd already decided I wasn't too worried about the pain of the piercing, it was more the irritations of aftercare that bothered me, so I accepted the idea of the punch without any trouble. I was more worried about my sister being put off by watching, as she'd been talking about getting her navel done afterwards.
I lost count of Jimbo's glove changes after about four. He spent a long time marking my ears with gentian violet, because it's harder to make symmetrical big dots than symmetrical little dots. When he was finally happy I took a look in the mirror and saw that he had done a great job, he's obviously more of a stickler for artistic symmetry than I am. Then he had to change gloves another two times because the first clamp he unwrapped didn't have a smooth edge. Meanwhile we were chatting about which pieces of equipment were autoclaved and which were single-use, about where he'd got his beautiful tattoo, and about the annoying bugs in the shuffle mode of our respective MP3 players. I am so impressed at this guy's ability to make people feel comfortable whilst doing his job so scrupulously.
Jimbo asked me which ear I wanted to start with, and I chose my right, hoping the pain would distract me from my sore shoulder. Clamp on, dermal punch unwrapped, and we were ready to go. The thing looked kind of like a small apple core remover. Jimbo uses the common "breathe in on two, out and pierce on three" model, but as I know I tend to breathe more slowly than most people count, I started the in breath on one-and-a-half. I wouldn't call the pain of the actual punching sharp or dull, it was kind of medium-grade pain. I could feel the dermal punch twist, but only within the clamped area. I could feel that the incision was clean and precise. I don't remember feeling anything much as the incision was stretched and the hardware inserted, although it felt heavy once the jewellery was in there. I was too busy being high on adrenaline. Jimbo put a cold compress on my ear before it even started to feel hot, and the pressure felt nice.
A few hazy moments and it was time to do my left ear. Jimbo moved his wheelie-table of equipment around to the other side of the chair and put the clamp on my ear. I told him it was pinching my cartilage a bit, but it settled itself quickly. Same procedure, except this time I went "ouch" rather than "oh yeah!". "The second one is always worse," Jimbo said, "but I wasn't going to tell you that before". Even so, the pain wasn't that bad and was over quickly.
"I just need to stop something from falling on the floor," said Jimbo between the piercing and the jewellery insertion. "It's your ear. You can have a look later if you like."
That made me feel nauseous. Much as I like to think I have a strong stomach, the idea of looking at little disembodied rounds of my beloved earlobe was a bit much for me at that point.
Jimbo put the hardware in my left lobe and put a compress on it, and either before or after he said he was really pleased with the work and asked to take photos of it, I sat there in the chair and said, "I feel remarkably like I'm going to faint." Jimbo gave me a cold compress for my forehead and let me sit there for ages, and we talked quietly about passing-out experiences of piercees and onlookers. Then when I was ready to stand up and go and have the recommended warm, sugary drink and something to eat, I got to fill out the guestbook. I wasn't feeling particularly articulate, so all I put in the comments field was "WHEEE!".
A nice warm mocha and a bit of hanging around for my sister to get her navel done left me feeling pretty stable on my feet and ready to get on with my day.
I absolutely adore my newly-adorned lobes. They bled a bit in the first 24 hours, but since then it's been the usual fun of removing crusties, being careful not to whack them with my hair or clothing or bedclothes, and twice daily cleaning with antibacterial soap and sea salt compresses. Sometimes they feel warm or itchy or heavy. And as always when I get a new mod, I'm full of renewed enthusiasm for the million-and-one things I want to get done next. I'm going to be nice-ish to my body for a while and let it heal though.