It was my fifteenth birthday, and I was ready for my first real piercing. I had researched industrials for months, shown my parents all the facts, everything, and finally got my parents to agree to it.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When Six months ago Studio Moonflower Location Manchester, Connecticut I hopped in the car with my mom to take a trip down to moonflower in Manchester, Connecticut. I had been there once before, the first time I tried to get my industrial pierced. My mom had brought me down and we were all set to go, but I didn't have my id on me.
Anyways, we got there, and the woman who owned the place had my mom fill out paperwork, asking if I was allergic to anything,when the last time I had eaten was, etc. we were finally taken into a back room with a clean setup and all the equipment in sight. I was given an aftercare sheet, and explained to how to take care of it, along with stuff to clean the piercing.
She wiped down the area and used a stick to mark the spots on my ear. I responded that it was good, but remembered that I had glasses. I told her, and she asked me to put them on, and she remarked the spots (She told me if she had pierced it in the place that she was going to before then my glasses arms might get in the way of the piercings, and make for a very uncomfortable healing, and may even cause problems with the piercing placement later on). I took another look in the mirror, and she asked again if I liked the angle that it was on, and yes, i did. i think it may have been even better placement than the first angle she had picked. I gave her the thumbs up, and she told me that she was ready to go.
I was asked if I was ready, and when I responded yes, I was told to breathe in, and breathe out. When I did as I was instructed, though I was very nervous. I breathed in, and on the breath out, she popped the needle through it was a very quick procedure, and for my first cartilage piercing, it was pretty painless (I later learned how much a cartilage piercing CAN hurt). I was then told to breathe in, and out again, and she pierced the bottom hole with a second needle. I have to admit, the second one hole hurt more than the first one, but the woman who was piercing me told me that that was a normal reaction, having something to do from the blood rush from the first hole. she then put the bar through, and cleaned the piercing again. There was no blood at all, and the pain went away extremely quickly. I took a look in her little hand mirror, and I was astonished, it was perfect! I loved the way it looked on me, so much! The woman who pierced me looked happy that I was pleased, a nd went over the way I was supposed to clean my new beauty one more time. We went back to the main part of the shop, and I also picked out another shorter, purple bar, for when I was allowed to change it in a few months. My mom paid, and i squealed, overcome with joy, the whole way home.
aftercare was pretty easy, although I will admit, I did forget to do it a lot. It was easy while I had the packets that I was given from my piercer to clean it with, but after I ran out of those ( I was only given the packets for about a weeks worth, or so ) I wasn't very good on cleaning it. Truthfully, I only got to it about three times a week, filling a cup with lukewarm water and mixing epsom salts into it, and pressing it to my ear swishing it around for about three minutes. I got one infection in the bottom hole, with a little bubble of puss, but that subsided in about three days. It was easy to sleep on from the first night, and it never really gave me much discomfort at all.
It's just about to be my birthday again this year, meaning its almost a year old, and I still havent had any major problems with it. The top is completely healed, and feels fine. I don
t have any troubles when I happen to get hit in the ear, brush my hair, or anything like that. The bottom still gives me a little bit of grief from time to time, but there has been no huge problem.
My industrial is my favorite piercing to date (out of my gauges, smiley, frowny, and bellybutton) and I'd recomend it to anyone who's thinking about it. Its not much pain at all, and it's totally worth the money and time to get it.