My extreme yearning for a piercing of my own has driven me through many, and I mean MANY, arguments with my mother. I had mostly given up on any hope of getting anything done [and keeping it] after I was caught with my navel pierced when I was a freshman in high school. After I turned eighteen I figured that I'd be free to get anything done i wanted, I just had to bide my time. Wrong. It was either move out, or deal with it. Finally I changed my tactic, instead of asking and pleading, I decided Id just start telling her I was going to get it done soon, what could she do? And to my amazement it worked!
At A Glance Author Meagan Contact meagank90@gmail.com When A week ago Studio Homeward Bound Tattoo Location Port Washington, Wisconsin Now I just needed to find out what it was that I really wanted done. I had contemplated getting an anti-eyebrow piercing, but figured I could do without having to find a different job. The industrial piercing had always fascinated me, but I had heard a lot of horror stories about the piercing still hurting after months, infections, skin rejections, and the skin actually growing around the piercing. I was fairly confident, if not cocky and over-confident, that I could prevent this from happening to me. I knew how important cleaning the piercing was, and I had pierced several friends' navels with no sign of infection, or rejection [mind you, running around piercing people is not a good idea, if you don't know exactly what you are doing.]. Before I got too excited I decided to check for a price range. I called a place I knew a few counties over from my cousin, who works as a tattoo artist there. Seventy dollars including the barbell! Hoooly cow. I gave up on the idea for a whil e, until my grandfather gave me my graduation present. I figured seventy dollars from a grand wouldn't hurt anything.
Finally one day my older sister was over at the house, and we had nothing to do. I suggested that we head over and get my piercing done, and the tattoo [a lily and her daughters name] she had been wanting for a while. Once we finally headed out it was me, my sister, her daughter, my sister's friend and HER daughter, and another close friend of hers. Shortly after we arrived I was filling out a questionnaire about allergies, skin sensitivity, etc, etc.
The girl who would be piercing my ear called me over, I was relatively nervous but more than a little reluctant to show it in front of my sister, Melissa marked my ear, handed me a mirror, okay-ed the angle, and we were on our way.
While she counted to three I attempted to concentrate solely on not jerking away when the needle pierced my skin. Needless to say, it hurt. There is nothing like the warm penetrating pain of a needle, and oddly enough there is something exciting about it. My ear was throbbing and I was feeling a little light headed, but decided to continue acting as nonchalant as i could. I decided that since the lower part of the piercing had less cartilage, it would hurt less. I was wrong. This pain was more sharp, and dare I say, a bit more cheeky than the first. I tossed it up to being my lack of endorphins left in my body to deal with the pain properly. I'm usually rather good with dealing with pain so I was relieved that I didn't cry, scream, or to my great satisfaction, even whimper. I was ready to hop out of the chair, dignity in tact and leave. But wait, the barbell wasn't in place just yet. This was probably the most pain throughout the entire thing, which was still bearable, but de finitely uncomfortable.
I spent another five minutes in the chair while the piercing artist, Melissa, tried to stop the steady flow of blood coming from the upper part of the piercing. Then another hour and a half sitting in the waiting room with my niece as my sister got her tattoo, which turned out amazing, by the way.
When I got home my mother, with a look on her face that can only be described as horrified, proceeded to tell me that it was disgusting, ugly, and stupid. Her reaction alone made the whole experience worth while in my book.
I took on a small obsession of following the rules on cleaning my ear, I was determined not to have wasted seventy dollars just to have to take it out. It was beautiful and exactly how I wanted it. A friend gave me an amazing product called H2Ocean which is probably ten times less painful, and tedious as mixing sea salt and water, and then holding a paper towel soaked in it for seven to ten minutes. It comes in a spray can, and works nicely. I cleaned the piercing four times a day using non-scented and non-colored [and did i mention non-moisturizing?] soap with Q-tips.
Four days after the piercing took place and my ear didn't bleed anymore when I washed it. Five days and my right ear didn't look bigger than the left. It's day six and my ear has officially stopped crusting over, making the skin stick to the barbell. Which has probably been my least favorite part of the entire experience. I'm crossing my fingers on being able to sleep on my right side soon, as I've had a crick in my neck for almost a week.
Overall, the experience of the piercing was painful, but definitely worth it. At the most, the week following the procedure was a tad annoying and aggravating. I count myself lucky that my ear has healed as fast as it has and owe it all to my obsessive compulsive disorder. After all of the horror stories, along with all the sickeningly blissful and painless stories the industrial piercing has accumulated I'm glad to have fallen somewhere in the middle. I recommend the industrial piercing to any who are considering it, but advise them to be responsible in caring for it.