Since I've been looking into body piercing when I was younger, I have always been interested in industrials. I got the idea from the old AOL body piercing message boards. (Does anyone remember those? They were pretty hardcore low technology. I got my addiction from there.) I saw some pictures of industrials online, and I think that they always look really good, and I thought it would be a good addition to my stretched lobes (then, at 1/2"). I was talking to my boyfriend at the time (now ex) about getting it. He then surprised me on his next day off and took me over to Classic Electric in Frederick, Maryland to get it done. I've been to this studio once before to get my labret done, and the apprentice (Mike), explained everything he was doing. Mike wasn't in this weekend, and this is where my first problem came in.
At A Glance Author Christine Contact CSSchramm@email.msmary.edu When A year ago Artist Brooke Studio Classic Electric Location Frederick, Maryland Brooke is the main piercer there. I know that my ex and Brooke were friends before I even walked into the shop. When Brooke brought my ex and I back, Brooke explained everything to my ex, and didn't really explain anything to me. When Brooke marked my ear, he marked it and showed my ex the marking, and not me. Mind you, I'm laying on the table just kinda saying "uhhh...". At this point, the two of them are too busy talking when I see him reach for the needle. He didn't tell me how he was doing the piercing, and well, he did both the piercings at the same time. I was not aware of this, so I was waiting for the second needle, and after he inserted the jewelry, he told me I was done.
I'm not going to lie. It hurt. It was a different kind of pain though. I have also had my nipples done at another studio and the industrial hurt slightly more than they did. Apparently though, my ex said it was a violent piercing, and that I didn't even flinch, so I must have a high pain tolerance or something like that. It kind of felt like when you burn your ear on a hair straightener, or when your cat bites your ear (maybe my cat is the only one that does that, but if there's anyone else out there who's cat does that, please contact me).
I was kind of upset that he didn't even warn me, and that I kept my adrenaline up for that long when I actually didn't need to. I felt light headed, which is rare of me during a piercing, and I asked my ex to go down the street to the Sheetz to pick me up a Hawaiian punch. I got all the aftercare procedures and left the store. My ex then decided it would be really funny to take me and my throbbing industrial to the porn shop next door and stay there for an hour as I'm just sitting on the curb outside the store. Eventually I dragged him out of there and I got to go back to my dorm to show the girls what new hole I put in my body.
Sleeping that night was rough. I didn't take in mind that I sleep on my right side almost all the time, and in a dorm, I always hated facing the outside of my room when I slept. I kept on tossing and turning all night trying to avoid sleeping on that ear, then eventually just got up at 3 am, grabbed a cup of coffee and started checking out everything and anything on the BME website. I found some pain killers from an earlier surgery and took one and that let me sleep that night.
Fast forward to a few weeks later. I went back into the shop because I needed a labret retainer. I asked Brooke to check out my industrial because I started getting that dreaded scar tissue. He looked at it and said it was completely fine, when I knew it wasn't. I continued to do the aftercare, and nothing helped it getting better. When I went home from college for the summer, I had my piercer at home take a look at it. Of course, my guy wasn't in the store, but another piercer at Infinite in Philly took care of me. He told me to get Bio Oil and to start massaging it twice a day to get rid of the scar tissue. Low and behold, I could see results in the first week.
I love my industrial, and the only annoyance I have with it is that it gets caught on my Bluetooth headset all the time. Eventually when I get a larger paycheck, I'll get my left industrial done (at Infinite, of course). I've still got about 4 months left of healing, so hopefully it heals well.