At A Glance
Author	Povallsky
Contact	Povallsky@bme.anon
IAM	Povallsky
When	Three months ago
Artist	Name not known
Studio	Skinvasion
Location	Manchester, England

Tuesday 3rd October 2006

It's Tuesday. Zero hour. I've got the day off work and I've set the date, today's the day I head Manchester way and get a hole poked in me. I realise that nobody's free, so I've gotta go on my own. Never mind though cause I'm man enough for this...

Right?

I got to Skinvasion in Afflecks Palace, Manchester, UK, after about an hour of travel and asked the man on the counter if I could have my hole. He said yes, I paid him for services rendered in advance and signed the little photocopied form. Once signed we went to the piercing room and I sat down on the bench. I was stupidly nervous, but as this was my first 'proper' piercing (needle) I was allowed to be. We went through positioning, what to put in, measured my ear, changed the balls on the 16mm bar as the default ones were MASSIVE and I lay down. Quick blast of freeze (not requested) and then he lined everything up. Next thing I know is that my ear hurts a little, then a lot, and he says something about it being interesting. I said that I'd had a look around and not many people knew you could have it done. He said "You just have felt that" and we were pierced. I was given time to get up slowly, let my heart rate normalise and discuss aftercare. I was given a slightly less than detailed sheet on aftercare (it says wash it in saltwater twice a day and he left the 'your piercing will take ..... weeks to heal' blank), and he had a guess at how long it would take for healing (about 3 months). He did suggest Ibuprofen for the swelling and Zinc supplements for boosting my immune system, and I took both. He also said that if it swells any more, which he made seem unlikely, the fact that the ball would be in my lobe a little wouldn't matter.

The whole experience was positive, I was made to feel at ease, given as much time as I needed to come to terms with the fact I was pierced, and he was 'gentle' with me. Positioning was important and he made sure I had it done where I wanted it. After I'd chosen the position he did smile and say that I'd chosen the easier place to piece, which was nice. He held the jewellery up to my ear in the few places you can position a vertical lobe, so I could see roughly where the barbell balls would show, and was free to choose one of those positions. Pain wise I felt less as we pierced the lobe and more as we pierced the cartilage, as you'd expect, although I expected it to hurt much more than it did. Although I have no personal point of reference, having seen videos and heard other stories, I can say that I thought it to be quite a long procedure. But for all the length, once the needle was in my ear the pain didn't increase at all.

Either side of the actual piercing my piercer was a tad business like, but this is his bread and butter so one can forgive that to a certain extent. I *would* go back to them again, although I am yet to get pieced at Holier Than Thou, so we'll have to see which studio wins my repeat custom.

It was still quite painful afterwards, and I could feel myself heading for shock, so I did as I'd planed and headed upstairs to the cafe on the 3rd floor. Dairy Milk and overly sugary tea did the trick, and a big thank you to BME for the 'getting pierced' guide and that particular tip. Took me an hour to get home, but as soon I got there I took a picture of my new hole. It turned a nice shade of purple the next day and swelled beautifully. The ball on the bottom did go into my lobe a little but it's caused absolutely no problems, it hasn't dented my lobe and it didn't hinder healing. I remember thinking straight after I'd had it pierced 'I'm absolutely loving it', I kept nipping to the mirror to look at it again. It was quite a talking point at work the day after as well, lots of comments on it's rarity and unusual look; mostly positive which was nice.

All in all, I'd certainly recommend this as an alternative to standard lobe piercings, and anyone looking at anti-tragus piercings (as it takes in the anti-tragus). It's a really nice looking piercing, especially if it runs up through a nice fat stretch. That said, it's quite nice being rare so don't all rush out and get one...