It had been months since I've been pierced, and I felt the need for the needle once again this past weekend. My previous attempt with piercing (my nipples) was a failed one, and I needed something to reassure me that I could find a decent piercer in the Amherst/Northampton area. Anyway, after about 3 weeks of letting my poor nips heal, I got some sound advice from the QOD folk, and decided to retire my babies. The timing for reclaiming my nipples was not right, as I will be fairly intimate in the next month or so, and I need to have a large stretch of initial healing time before those babies can be played with. You may be asking, "why not just pierce one?" Well, I have symmetry issues, and I would rather get both done at once then wait for one to fully heal over a year or so, then repierce. Oh boy, I digress greatly...
At A Glance Author evilolive Contact evilolive@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Ryan Studio Lucky's Tattoo and Piercing Location Northampton, MA So my rook piercing was a fairly hasty decision, as my other piercings were. I have obviously seen rooks before, like the look of them, and have done my fair amount of research on such a piercing, so I felt ready enough to make a modification on myself. Hey, it's not as if I was reclaiming my cartilage or anything and needed to do some searching within myself. The majority of the time, for me, the physical aspect to a piercing outweighs the intrinsic aspect to modifying myself. At least, up to this point it has.
My roommate and I decided to get the rook done on the same ear (the right) to kind of symbolize our long-term friendship of 8 or so years, and as a reminder of the time that we've been spending together here at college. Seeing that I'm kinda the more "all knowing" about how to pick a piercer and studio, I went from hearsay, BME submissions, and a look at the shop before we got pierced. On Saturday, we ventured into Northampton, MA to visit Lucky's Tattoo and Piercing. I knew right away this was the place we wanted to be. I inquired as to the price of the piercing including jewelry, and was surprised to find such a good price- roughly $45. The receptionist girl told me that people usually get pierced at either 16 or 18 gauge, and 5/8" length. That sounded pretty good to me, so we decided to go for it. Along with my roommate, we went with our other friend who was going to get a nostril pierced. After filling out the proper paperwork, getting IDs checked, and paying, I ran to the ATM to have a smoke and get some cash before the procedure was done. By this time I had started to get the pre-needle jitters that always accompany my excitedness and impatient nature. We walked back to the shop, and about 10 minutes after going back, I was the first one called in. Guess it takes a pro to make the others pumped up and calmed down about the whole experience!
Lovely, wonderful, kind, professional Ryan called me into his little office, and told me to get comfortable and sit down in the nice leather chair. While he was prepping, I was careful to take notice of his sterility with his tools. He changed his gloves at least twice when getting ready, had all his tools lined on a sterile metal tray with a paper lining, and kept his whole room very neat and tidy. It definitely had that hospital smell to it, which I oh so love (I'm a nursing major). I talked to Ryan about my previous experiences in Amherst, where I got pierced last, and he just kinda replied with a strained grin of dissatisfaction. I told him that compared to that shop, his room was immaculate.
Well, Ryan had me tilt my head slightly to the left when he had his needle all ready to go, and had my ear sterilized. Compared to my hood piercing and my nipple piercings, this piercing definitely took the longest to complete. I could feel the needle slide through the top cartilage of the rook, the crunch of the cartilage being removed, and the needle finally slide back through to the outside of the rook. It felt like it took at least a few seconds to complete, but the pain was nothing major to me. I'd say it was maybe a 4/10 on the pain scale. My ear must have been bleeding a bit, because after inserting the 18 gauge, 5/8" curved barbell, he took a bit longer to clean up before putting the ball on the end. Even after that, he was still swabbing it to make sure I looked perfectly clean before heading back out into the world. I tipped him a measly $5 because I'm a very poor college student, but Ryan deserved more than that for his very laid back demeanor, and his professional attitude. I mean, this guy has been piercing for nine years, he knows his stuff pretty damn well!
It's been a couple days since then, and I suppose my ear is on its way to a good healing process. At first there was a slight throb in my ear, and some crusty blood that gathered around the balls, but other than that, there was little/no pain. The second day was fabulous, no pain at all, only a little blood. Today was a little bit different though. My body must have finally gone into "heal" mode, because it's been having a dull throb all day, and I can't really touch the area without getting that discomfort that we all know and love. I didn't have too many bloody crusties today, or regular crusties at all. I'm expecting them to show up at some point, but I'm content without them for now. As for healing methods, I did salt soaks twice a day for the first two days, then I finally bought some Dial soap to try to clean the area near my rook. It's a bit difficult to grab a hold of the barbell and move it up and down to get some suds in there, because either my rook is a bit swollen, or the barbell is snug (not too snug though, just not enough room to get a good grasp on the jewelry). Plus, even touching the jewelry gives me a shiver of pain, so I might just LITHA for a few days, and just do some soaks. I try not to sleep on that side, since it's quite tender, and so far I've been pretty successful in not bumping it around too much.
To all those who want to get a cartilage piercing, but are scared of the pain, be reassured that there will be some discomfort, but the pain is not as sharp or quick as a genital piercing, or as dull and quick as a lobe piercing. The pain will vary for every individual, but to all of you with a high pain threshold, this is no big deal. Even my roommate made it through the process, and she thought it was the most painful thing ever! It's all over in a second, so don't miss out on a good thing because of fear. Good luck with your piercing ventures, and if you're in the Amherst/Northampton, MA area, give Lucky's a go...it is undeniably a studio worth visiting.