As a great lover of body modifications, I am still saddened by the fact that my mum does not quite see them in the same light. My mum is rather old fashioned and hates them with a vengeance, my older sister was kicked out of the house when she got her lobes pierced at 16.
At A Glance Author daz Contact daz@bme.anon When A month ago Artist carl Studio sneaky peanut Location Truro uk So when I put the question forward of getting an industrial, I didn't hold out much hope and on cue came the shouting and she reminded me of how after 2 days of having my lobes pierced I took out the studs and began to stretch them. (yes I know that was dumb, but I was 12!) She threw every piece of ammo about my immaturity she could find, how I couldn't look after the fish, how it was probably my fault our dog had died, how I couldn't even keep my bed room tidy, the list went on and on and on...
Well I promised it wouldn't happen again and then explained it was an ear piercing, not a facial one, she began to calm down and eventually to my surprise agreed with a little help from my step dad who used to have lots of piercings but has since taken them out. My mum said I could have it done for my 15th birthday. However I did neglect a small detail, I didn't explain what an industrial was. My mum thought it was just a cartilage piercing, like my step dad had.
So after a few weeks of nagging my mum finally took me to the studio, unfortunately whilst we were in there there was another woman leaving, after having an industrial pierced, I had vaguely explained on the walk over what an industrial was but I hadn't thought she was listening but she must have picked up on something because she saw the woman turned round to me and said "There is no way in hell you are getting that done!" The woman turned round and seeing my complete despair began talking to my mum, saying how I could wear rings or studs in it for a while and how because she had just had it done and it was swollen that it looked worse than it was. I started with the usual whining kid thing I complained how she was ruining my birthday and all that jazz, eventually she caved and said I could have it on one condition that for now I only had two studs in the cartilage for the benefit of my school and then in the holidays I could switch it around with the bar, I agreed.
My mum signed the paperwork and I had to wait half an hour for the piercer to finish doing a tattoo first. That was the longest half hour of my life! A lot of people who had industrials had talked of how painful it was, but after the hell I'd gone through to convince my mum there was no way that I could back out now.
Eventually the piercer called me through, I sat in a big office chair type thing whilst he sterilised the area on my ear and marked it up. Of course I only thought he was marking it up suddenly I felt the discomfort and realised he'd put the clamps on. That made me stop and think, most of my friends had had their ear numbed. I just thought OK well maybe it wont hurt that bad. God I have never been in so much pain in my life, I was literally paralysed with it, the piercer remarked on how well I was handling it, I just sat there gripping the arms of the chair, trying to remember to breathe! Just when I'd got over the first bout of pain he pierced the second hole I handled that a bit better, I refused to cry so i just gritted my teeth tensed up and put up with it.
The pain lasted about a couple of hours and it soon stopped bleeding, although a little too late, I bleed alot and my new white hoodie I was wearing started to soak up blood. When your walking through the town about to meet up with your friends looking like someone's attempted to rip off your ear, well, its not attractive lets put it like that. I couldn't sleep on that side for almost three weeks and it still twinges if I don't position it properly at night.
Its almost healed now, my friends think I was mad not asking for the numbing stuff and looking back I think I must've been pretty mad too, I probably should have asked! But its nearly all healed up and soon I will be able to switch the studs for a bar. The pain was definitely worth it, the piercing looks awesome and I'm thinking about getting another industrial in a few months time when I'm 16. But I warn you now, if you don't have a high pain threshold and you want somethng numbed, ask! I wish I had because the procedure was alot more painful than it might have been!