Yesterday found my friend, my boyfriend, and myself headed towards our piercing studio of choice. My birthday had recently passed, so I had extra money to burn and a piercing itch to scratch.
At A Glance Author Vendetta Contact Vendetta@bme.anon IAM vendetta When It just happened Artist Brent Studio Avant Garde Location West Allis, WI But what to get done?
I toyed with a million ideas as I drove. Septum? Hood? Tragus? My other conch? I really wanted a surface piercing,and I schemed up different places to have one done. It wasn't really until I was in the studio that I decided. My friend Claire opted to get her nostril pierced, and I, on an impulse, decided to get two surface piercings, one in front of each of my traguses. I had seen one other person with these piercings before (IAM: toadie), and I loved them. Adding fuel to my fire was the fact that recently I had taken out my tragus ring, due to migration. Even luckier, the shop was having a half off sale. Total price of two piercings for me: $37 and some odd cents. I love sales.
Claire went in first, and sailed through her first piercing like a champ. A bit of cleaning up, and it was my turn. I was nervous, I always get nervous before piercings, even though I've had my fair share of them done.. These little surface traguses are not my first surface piercing, I've also had one done on my sternum. That one was a piece of cake, but I couldn't stop pulling at the flesh that was about to be pierced, wondering if I even had enough skin. But I trusted Brent, my piercer extraordinaire.
Brent is a wonderful piercer. After going to other shops for my labret and upper cartilages, my boyfriend took me to Avant Garde. Now, I don't go anywhere else. I would recommend this shop to anyone and everyone, and I've since dragged quite a few friends to get their first piercings there as well. We all chatted and goofed around as Brent got out the calipers and carefully marked up the sides of my head. It tickled quite a bit. A quick look in the mirror told me that the marks were perfect. Then it was time to lay down on the infamous table.
Brent tried to use the clamps on the right side, but it didn't work out too successfully, so he opted to freehand it. This made me a little more nervous because I've never had a piercing done without the clamps before. Deep breath in and....a minor pinch. I exclaimed "Oh, that was painless!" and then I felt a tickling, shoving feeling. He wasn't totally through yet! The needle pushed through the other side...and it hurt. He then put the barbell in, which hurt even more. It wasn't unbearable, but it certainly got my attention! I glanced over at Claire, and she had the most concerned look on her face. I told her I was fine. I'm just a whiner.
I asked if the bead was on the end of the barbell, and Brent, ever the joker, replied "Yes, my balls are on your face." I wasn't totally listening, because at that moment, he put pressure right on my salivary gland, causing me to say, "You're making me drool." What perfect timing for me to exclaim that. I was instantly mortified! I was also bleeding from the fresh wound, so he had me hold a tissue on it. As a side note, feeling blood trickle down into the conch of your ear is not the most pleasant sensation.
A lot of laughter later, and Brent pierced the left side. This one felt exactly the same - pop, push, tickle, push, POP. The same torturous sensation as the barbell went in, and I was done. Not so bad, but not the most pleasant piercing I've gotten. Brent took a few pictures because, as he put it, "It turned out way better than I expected!"
We carried on with our day, and I was only minimally aware of the new holes in my head. The waiter at the restaurant we went to asked about my cleavage piercing, so I was more focused on that for quite a bit. I certainly do hope that my surface traguses survive as well as my cleavage piercing has. I had that one done nearly a year ago and it still looks perfect, no signs of migration or anything. I hope I can be as lucky with these, because I'm well aware that surface piercings have the tendency to reject rather quickly.
It's been a day and my new piercings have been relatively painless. The only issue I've had is absent-mindedly tucking my hair behind my ears and hitting the top bead with my finger. My only real caveat about this piercing is that it hurts. I find most piercings to be minimally painful, but this was pretty sharp. But don't let that stop you! Surface tragus piercings are extremely attractive, and rather unique. Mine are only 24 hours old, and I love them!