So. Let me introduce myself, first off: My name is Ron, not my true name, but that's what everyone calls me. One of my friends is a big fan of piercings (he has double pierced lobes, and his nipple pierced) and for the longest time, I'd look at him and turn up my nose and go 'Hey, doesn't that HURT?!' But recently, my view has changed. In short... I caught the piercing bug. I could spend hours on BME looking at pictures and wishing I could be like that. I got my butt into gear and three months ago got my first piercings, double earlobes at Claire's. I loved them. I started entertaining the idea of more ear piercings...
At A Glance Author Ron Contact Ron@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Myself Studio My bathroom
But as usual for people my age, parents are a huge problem. I have very traditionalist parents, my mom being more open than my dad. My dad freaked out when I got my earlobe piercings - he told me piercings were disgusting and for animals. Yeah, right.
Also, my school (posh private school) has a 'no visible piercings' rule. Girls are allowed to have various earrings, while boys can't even have simple lobe piercings. I know many people at my school get around this, and just get piercings easily hidden or not visible! Many girls have multiple ear piercings, septums, navel rings, etc. I wanted to try for my ears before anything else.
So, it's a lazy Saturday afternoon. I had been toying around with body mods since the morning, where I succeeded in putting 14ga curved barbells into my ears. After looking at tons of pictures on BME and reading some stories, I decided to attempt a simple helix piercing, all on my lonesome!
I still had a 14ga needle and clamps from the last time I had planned to self-pierce (which failed, since I chickened out!) so I pulled them out of my desk drawer. I probably should have sterilized that needle a bit more (it was rolled up in tissue for weeks... bad idea...)...
So. I went to the bathroom, turned on the lights, plopped myself down on the counter in front of the mirror and lined up where I wanted my helix piercing. I didn't bring a marker or anything. My dad was downstairs, playing some guitar, and my brother was in his room, playing Wii. Perfect! I rinsed my needle, lined it up, and pushed.
I went super, super slowly. I put gradual pressure on the needle, twisted it around, slowly moving through the cartilage. It hurt, but not extremely so. (For your information, I have a pretty low to average pain tolerance, and I thought it was fine!) My ear was burning slightly and turning red, so, with the needle still halfway in my ear, I skipped downstairs and got a glass of ice and water. My dad was in the kitchen and didn't even notice the needle. (He was reading the paper, haha!)
I ran back upstairs and continued pushing the needle through, applying ice at every pause to help cool down my ear. I felt the back of my ear. It was almost through! I pushed extra hard and it popped through with a sound exactly like that – pop! My eyes went wide, and I totally yelped 'Oh fuck!' I was not expecting to have actually gone through with it. The other times I had tried to pierce myself, I chickened out with the needle halfway through. I stared at the needle, sitting in my ear like that for a while, admiring it. Since it had only been the tip of the needle, I pushed it a little further to stretch it up but it hurt like a mother. I left the needle alone, and reached to find my curved barbell... then realized there were none! I had put my curved barbells in my ears that morning! Freaking out, I ran to my room to search through my jewelry box. I was so scared my dad would come up and find me with a needle in my ear like that.
Eventually, I found three things: A small golden hoop earring, jewel studs that looked about 20ga, and a titanium jeweled stud that looked about 18/16ga and had a pretty long shaft. I took them all back to the bathroom, quickly locking the door again. The golden hoop earring was too awkward and didn't open up well, so I left it aside. I decided I'd rather keep my piercing at a larger gauge, so I used the thicker, longer earring. I tugged out the needle; it didn't hurt too much, and washed it. Then, I started pushing the stud in. It took a bit of effort, but it also popped through just fine and I capped the end of it. It's not compressing my ear, and if my ear is going to swell anytime soon, the stud has got about half a centimeter of space for it to do so!
I was so proud when I looked in the mirror and saw my new piercing. I was shaking s slightly and shocked, but so happy! It looks absolutely great! I admired it in the mirror for a moment. My ear was red, but I was expecting it. I read that it could turn red and swell, but it wasn't swelling, it was only red and stinging. I applied a bit more cold water and ice, then cleaned up, and ran to the computer to tell all my friends what I had just done.
Now, it's been about an hour since I pierced it, and it is only slightly red, and zero swelling. The stinging has also gone down. If I think about the piercing, it'll give a dull twinge or too, but otherwise is fine!
So, I really don't advise doing what I did. I got very lucky. You might not. I still have to wait and see if this gets infected – it might. I'm taking steps to clean it well everyday from now on. DON'T PIERCE YOURSELF!
Happy piercing!