Howdy!
At A Glance Author Canna Contact Canna@bme.anon When N/A Artist Chris Studio Society Location Nowra, NSW, Australia My name is Canna, I'm 17 and I'm writing to everyone to tell you the story of my Industrial.
About a year ago, I'd started toying with the idea of getting an industrial. I can't actually remember why I didn't get one then and there (lack of parental permission?) but around six months ago, it finally happened.
There were only two piercing studios in Nowra at the time (only one that did tattoos) and Society was offering discounts, so cheapskates that we are, Vi (RAD housemate/buddy) and I toddled off to Society to make the appointment.
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The day of the appointment arrived and during our lunchtime, we abandoned school and ducked round to get pierced. Just as we went to leave school, it began to pour rain. Not to be put off, we huddled together under Vi's tiny umbrella and set out on our quest.
Upon our arrival, we were soaking wet and cold, but soon dried off. We were greeted by Chris, the shops piercer and handed over the appropriate forms. Because I was 16 at the time, and didn't have my guardian (Vi's mum) with me, Chris said he could do the piercing, but only if he spoke with Vi's mum first. I rang Thana and she spoke with Chris (explaining she was legally responsible for me, gave permission etc) and then it was time to go!
We went into the back room and Chris set about cleaning the surfaces and placing new covers on the piercing table. He told us that the industrial is the most difficult piercing to heal, other than genital piercings. He also said it is incredibly painful and asked if I was sure I wanted to go ahead. Of course I was, I said and so he began to mark up my ear. At first, I wasn't happy with the placement – it was too high up and I thought you wouldn't be able to see the bar properly, so Chris re-marked my ear and I was happy. He told me I have tiny ears and I got a little worried that I would not be able to get the piercing, as my ear would not support the receiving tube in the right way. Eventually, Chris was pleased with everything.
He took the needle out of it's packet after changing his gloves. I grabbed Vi's hand to squeeze and took a deep breath. First, Chris pierced the top of my cartilage, which to my astonishment made a popping, cracking kind of sound (not surprising, since it's fairly thick there). This first piercing hurt a little, a bit more than the second one, but neither piercing was as painful as Chris had made out. I pointed this out to him and he laughed, saying he always talked the pain up, so people would react as I did, by saying "that didn't hurt so bad!"
He then threaded the bar through, which felt more hot than painful. He said that some piercers prefer to use two separate rings or barbells to make healing easier, but that this could lead to problems with alignment when you tried to put the barbell through later. But he also added I would have to be very careful while it was healing, due to the size of the jewellery. Then I started to bleed. Not much, but I'd never bled when pierced before. Chris passed me a tissue and told me to keep the pressure on. I laughed because I'd worn a white shirt. Silly. When I'd stopped bleeding, he cleaned me up and we went outside to pay.
I was stoked. I had an industrial. We walked back to school to show it off. When we got there, my band was busy rehearsing, so I went inside, showed them the piercing ("did it hurt?") and proceeded to rock out. Eventually, people were coming up to me after school and saying "everyone's saying you got a massive bar in your ear." To which I'd reply "yeah" and show them. Some people were weirded out, but others thought it looked good. Everyone was asking me questions which I was more than happy to answer. My friend Adam got jealous because he'd wanted one and I'd got in first!
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The first few weeks of healing went fine. Just the usual swelling accompanied by a bit of a dull ache if I bumped it. I was cleaning it with saline solution and in the shower twice a day and everything was going along nicely. It wept a bit but seemed ok. I didn't sleep on my right hand side and eventually worked out a way that I could rest my arm so I could lie on my side, without putting pressure on the industrial. Weeks passed and no change occurred. It wasn't getting worse, nor was it healing. So I persevered with my cleaning and finally things took a turn for the better. Or so I thought.
It seemed that just as one piercing would look like healing, I'd bump it or the other and it would flare up again. This was not helped by the fact that the bar Chris had put in my ear was just a fraction too short to accommodate the full extent of the swelling. At the time, Vi was having trouble with a granuloma on a nostril piercing ("a hellish battle for my nose stud *and combat tips for granulomas on nose piercings*" in BME experiences, march 08 – a good read) and had some antibiotic cream. So I gave that a go but all it did was make the piercing slimy and gross. I told Vi and she said she'd been using the good ol' tea tree oil. Right.
I applied tea tree oil like there was no tomorrow. At least three or four times a day, and lots of it. The results were ASTOUNDING!! It still wasn't fully healed, but progress was being made. I thought I'd finally won. Alas.
Earlier in the year, I attended a music festival. Some friends and I were set on seeing a certain gig, but the venue was packed out. The venue was also a tent. We snuck around the side, away from prying eyes, unlaced a wall of the venue and crawled inside. Just my luck, the industrial got caught on something as I was crawling through, and got a good hard yank. Great.
And so the war began again. Tea tree on the bounty. It went back to the stage where it was almost healed, but it would get a bump and flare up again. I was really starting to get the shits.
Then one night, I woke up and the piercings were so itchy, I can't describe it. I knew it was wrong, but I had to scratch. In the morning, it was oozing, red and swollen. Foolishly, I kept up with the tea tree oil. Eventually, it went scabby, and the entire top of my ear was raw and would bleed. I was torn between whether or not to lose the piercing, after all, I'd come this far! I decided to sort of compromise. I removed the bar and replaced it with two flexible plastic lobe piercing retainers. A smaller gauge, but at this point I wasn't worried - my ear was SUSS! I ended up taking them out and doing several sea salt soaks, then replacing the original bar. The swelling had gone down enough by this stage for the bar to fit a little better.
I completely left it alone for the next few days, except for plain water and in the shower. After about a week, I felt game enough to try tea tree again (after all, it had worked so well to begin with, I wasn't going to lose faith in it now). Again, it became irritated and inflamed (aww....it was going so well). When I woke up, I jumped in the shower, gently scrubbed away the accumulated gunk and dried it thoroughly.
Then a thought struck me. For years, I'd been using this all purpose ointment called Lucas' Papaw Ointment. You know, the lipbalm in the red tub. I swear this stuff could cure ANYTHING. Even the saddle sores on my horse (it really is amazing). So I dried the industrial again, and applied liberal amounts of papaw cream. The next day the swelling was almost gone, and the scabs and general irritation was gone. I was stunned. I'd only tried the papaw cream on the off chance.
It's been about a month and a half since then and it is all but healed. It still weeps the tiniest bit if I sleep the entire night on it. But I CAN sleep the entire night on it. The lower piercing has a little scar tissue (as is common with industrials), but it doesn't hurt and looks great. I'm so glad I persevered with it! Worth it? Oh yes!
But a word of warning. If you are going to get a piercing that takes time to heal, be patient and gentle with it. Just because a treatment works for one person doesn't mean it will for everyone. If you are going with tea tree oil, I highly recommend diluting it slightly, as it will affect healthy tissue. Sea salt is great, as is the shower, but you can't go past the Papaw Stuff.