A couple years ago, I was going through that stage that many us of call "teenage angst". I did anything and everything I could do to both infuriate and repulse my parents. Looking back on it, I really don't know why I even wanted to do such things. It almost makes me laugh, all of the ridiculous things I did. Oh well, such is teenage life.
At A Glance Author Becca Contact Becca@bme.anon When Two years ago Artist Myself Studio At my house Location Minnesota Anyway, one of my earlier rebellious acts was going behind their back and getting a piercing.
Now, being that I was under eighteen at the time, and I sure as heck wasn't going to be given permission to go to a professional piercing place, I decided that the best idea would be to pierce myself. So I jumped online and read as much information as I could about "do it yourself" piercings. I should've realized by then that it probably wasn't a very good idea to pierce something by myself... But you know teenagers, they never want to listen to reason.
So, on a day that my parents weren't home I went ahead and "prepared" all of my instruments I would be using to pierce my ear. I set up a pot of boiling water with a couple of random needles I found around my house, I got a bowl of icecubes, some rubbing alcohol, and a couple earring studs.
Then, I went online and looked at different piercings. I had decided first off that I would be piercing my ear, so it was just a matter of finding out what ear piercing would be easiest to do by myself.
I settled upon a basic ear cartilage piercing, thinking that if my parents did ever happen to see it, at least it would be more on the conservative side than some other ear piercings out there.
I had everything set up for my "piercing experience". Now all there was left to do was pierce my ear.
I felt excited and nervous at the same time. I grabbed all of my supplies and headed to the bathroom. First, I used some rubbing alcohol on the area of my ear I was going to pierce. Then I marked the spot with a black pen. After that, I did something rather dumb. I iced my ear for awhile. The reason I say it's dumb, is because when you ice your ear, instead of making it easier to stretch or pierce something, it makes it harder. Something to do with the blood vessels or something. So while I couldn't feel the needle very much, it was much harder to break through the skin than it would've been had I not iced my ear.
After about ten minutes of icing my ear, I toughened up enough to get ready to pierce it. I steadied myself, made sure I was looking in the mirror and the needle was right on the spot I had marked, and pushed hard. I don't know if it was all that excitement and adrenaline pumping through my system, but I didn't feel anything but heard numerous popping noises as the needle slowly broke its way through my cartilage. I'm very thankful I didn't feel much of anything, because when it comes to expected pain, I'm a huge wuss.
After I had gotten the needle all the way through my cartilage, I let the needle sit in my ear for awhile, and then quickly slid it out and jammed the earring stud in. Boy, did that hurt. Seeing that the needle was probably 18-20g, and the stud was definitely a smidge bigger than 18g. I probably should've bought proper tools online, but heck. It went in.
I didn't have many problems with infections and whatnot, thank goodness. I lucked out on that one, big time. Since piercing my ear, I've read up on what happens when you do get an infection after a piercing, and it's really opened my eyes about "do it yourself" piercings. I definitely think I'll never pierce any part of my body by myself again.
Oh, and my parents did notice my piercing, four months after I pierced it. By that time my angsty ways were cooling down and they actually liked it. Well, liked it more than the thought of me stretching my ears, which I really started wanting to do.
And so that's the story. I still have my piercing to this day. I'm actually pretty impressed with the placement of it too. I've seen plenty of other ear cartilage piercings that have been done professionally, and I think the placement of mine is just perfect.
Not saying it's a good idea to pierce your own anything, because it's not. It's definitely much safer to go to a piercing place to get it done. The risk of infection in a professional piercing place is way lower than it would be if you attempted it yourself.