Ear piercing Experiences

I never liked my ears very much. I got them pierced with a gun at the mall on my first birthday, and never really thought much about my ears until I entered grade school and someone noticed a little bump I have on the top of my ear. That bump earned me the nickname "elfie" because it gave my ear a slightly pointed appearance. That was the start of my not liking my ears.Ear piercing encyclopedia

The nickname Elfie died out, thankfully. But I still never really liked that bump. On top of that, my ear lobes don't hang down like a little flap like everyone else has...Mine go straight into my head. Giving this appearance like I have no ear lobes. I wanted to change that.

Towards the end of elementary school, it became popular among the kids at school to have ear cartilage piercing. Visible piercings, other than ears, were not allowed by the school dress code, so cartilage piercings seemed like a reasonable choice. I hiked on over to the mall with ten bucks in hand, and left with a freshly gunned silver stud on the top of my left ear. It was my secret hope that maybe the silver stud will detract anyone's attention away from the little bump I had...rendering it invisible.

Now for those of you out there who are reading this story, nodding your heads and not noticing anything wrong in this picture, let me point something out to you. Piercing guns are horrible horrible horrible things. Take a look:

A good thing: getting a piercing by hand with a sharp hollow needle that'll cut a little hole through your flesh.

A bad thing: getting a piercing with a piercing gun that'll use brute force to push a dull object into your flesh. On top of that, piercing guns can't be sterilized properly. On top of that, piercing posts aren't long enough to allow for swelling.

I cleaned my cartilage piercing diligently, the way I was instructed. Twice a day, with rubbing alcohol. That, kids, is also a bad thing. You see, while it may kill any germs...it'll kill any new skin cells you might have had forming there, allowing the wound to stay open and allowing new germs to get in. And that's exactly what happened. By my first year of high school, the back of my ear resembled something of a green bubble. By this time I wizened up a little bit. I used a sterilized needle to poke a hole in the back of my ear so I could squeeze the infected pus out, and I opted to keep my jewelry in because I didn't want to lose my piercing and I didn't want to have a pus bubble on my head with no way to drain itself. For some reason or another, I switched to a 20-gauge loop earring and put my 18 gauge piercing post away. Miraculously, my cartilage piercing managed to heal. I think I switched because my ear was trying to eat my post. I woke up with the back of my ear sw ollen around the post of the earring, and it was bleeding and I had hair caught in the butterfly clip and my ear was all red...it was a HORRIBLE thing. So yeah. Hoops. Hoops good thing.

I never paid much attention to my ear lobes until my third year of high school when I saw a girl in one of my classes had stretched her ears to an 8 gauge and had acrylic spikes in her ears. That was the first time I had ever seen stretched ear lobe piercings, and it looked really neat to me. One day I decided I wanted stretched ear lobes too. I went over to a store and bought myself some purple acrylic tapers. They were about a 10 gauge. That night I used a lot of antibacterial cream as lubricant, and some ice to numb my ears...and in one sitting (I was fiddling with it for a few hours) managed to get a 10 gauge taper into a 20-gauge lobe without tearing or bleeding. I was PROUD.

The tapers didn't last long. I could find no place that sold o-rings so small; no hardware store in town had o-rings that tiny. The tapers didn't like to stay in, I kept losing them. I reluctantly stuck some "regular" (i.e.: mall) earrings in.Facial piercing encyclopedia

Eventually I bought myself a set of acrylic flesh tunnels for my ear lobes. I didn't know how big they were but I reckoned they were about 4 gauge each. One pink one, one blue one. I went on over to Sacred Flash, and saw the piercer Martini. He said to me "Those are a two gauge," and he wouldn't put them in my ears. I did, however, walk out that day with a shiny new 12 gauge CBR in each ear. They slid in easily. I was happy with them.

I ended up stretching my ear lobes some more later. I found that if I took a CBR out of one ear lobe piercing, I could stick it in my other ear lobe piercing...while still wearing a CBR in that ear. So a 20 gauge hoop went back into my right ear, and I had 2 12-gauge CBRs in the other ear.

I headed back to Sacred Flash. This time I think it was Tommy working there, he saw I had two CBRs in one ear and he was like "ah! Get those out of your ear!" I thought it was because the space between the two CBRs might harbor germs or something, and maybe that was why he told me to take them out. Turns out it was just because having multiple CBRs in one piercing could stretch it funny...like to an oval shape. I dunno. I ended up buying an 8 gauge red acrylic CBR off of him and it slid in easily. I popped the two 12 gauge CBR's into my right ear later, they slid in easily too.

I was pretty happy with myself. I really wanted to wear my 2 gauge flesh tunnels, but I was pretty proud of my little stretching.

I got creative one night, thinking of a way I could stretch up my ear lobes without having to cough up more money for CBRs. I ended up getting some polymer clay and making tapers out of it. Yes, it's hard clay, kids. It's not like I was sticking playdoh in my ears, you have to bake this stuff before it hardens. So yeah, it was white coloured and I made the taper shaped like a claw, so it really did look like I had a carved bone through my left ear. I ended up sticking the 8 gauge CBR in my right ear, replacing the two 12 gauge CBRs, and the taper went into my left ear. I dunno how big it was but I wore it for about a week, pushing it in a little more every day. Finally I went to a store and bought myself a 2 gauge CBR, and with a little pushing and a lot of lubricant, I managed to get it into my left ear lobe. Success!

I still, however, had a right ear lobe that now had an 8 gauge CBR and a 12 gauge CBR in it at the same time. I wanted to get my ears to match.

One day I took the 2 gauge CBR out of my left ear lobe, and managed to push the 2-gauge flesh tunnel into my ear. I was so happy; I finally reached my goal for that ear. I was still having trouble with my right ear though; by this point I had lost the taper and the 2 gauge CBR would NOT go through. I made myself a smaller taper, and it fit easily. I managed to get a drinking straw through my ear. I think the drinking straw was around a 4 gauge.

Drinking straws have sharp edges. I scratched the inside of my ear. It hurt, but I didn't think much of it. Until I decided to get my ear tapered so I could get the CBR in. I had wanted to go to Sacred Flash to get my ear tapered, but it was closed that day, so I headed over to the other local piercing place, Artistic Impressions, and had a piercer there taper my ears. For me, it was all or nothing...I finally had my ear -almost- big enough for a 2-gauge ring. I either had to get the 2-gauge ring in...or put a CBR in and let it shrink down. It was already scratched so I didn't figure I could do any more damage in stretching it. So yeah, I got my ears tapered and the 2-gauge ring put in. It irritated the heck out of the scratch though, especially afterwards to sleep on it. (At random points throughout the day, I would let out a random scream. Not that it made the throbbing in my ear lobe feel any better, but it still felt good.) I woke up a few times with it bleeding, and that' s when I decided that it would probably be best to switch to the ear plug so I couldn't catch it on anything in my sleep. So I lubed up my 2-gauge plug...it slid right in. I had FINALLY reached my goal of being able to wear my plugs. I was so awfully gosh darn proud. The scratch healed up in no time, my ears are fine, and I'm happy with them. In a while I might stretch up to a 0 gauge...but in the meantime, I'm finally happy with my ear lobes.

I still had this one little matter to deal with though, and that would be my cartilage piercing. I had this little loop hanging in it, about a 20 gauge. Knowing full well how easily that would rip out when caught on anything, I decided to stretch up to a 12 gauge, just to be safe. This time I didn't care if I cut my ear. The 12 gauge CBR I had wouldn't slid in, no matter how lubed, so I stuck two 20-gauge loops in and pulled them in opposite directions just enough to slice the hole open a little wider. The 12-gauge loop popped in with no problem and a minimal amount of pain or bleeding. It healed up just fine, although I do still have a small keloid that formed when my cartilage got infected, way back in the day. I actually kind of like the little bump of scar tissue though. It's a souvenir.

So do I finally like my ears? Almost :)

To start this wonderful adventure one must first find that I have 7 standard piercings, all done with guns. Being the young and na%u043Fve girl I was, I had no idea that guns were that bad up until about 5 months ago. And come to find out they are even worse on cartilage, yet I already had 3 cartilage piercings. I have 2 on my left ear, both of which are now stretched (with no effort or pain), to a 14g; Then there was the latest edition of my right cartilage. My right cartilage was pierced about 6 months ago and it has hurt ever since. I had my fair share of keloiding and whatnot and it eventually went down and I put in an 18g CBR. And not to forget my lobes all four holes (lobes) are stretched to 14g.

Well, I was all grown up and totally ready for another piercing. But how boring and painful would another cartilage or another lobe be? Too boring for a girl like me. So one night, about 2 months ago, in a desperate search for something new I stumbled upon BME. I quickly found out this would be the place for me. So, on with the adventure. I looked at everything in curiosity and finally came across ear piercings. "Wow," I thought to myself, "I didn't know about ANY of this stuff!" I immediately began learning all the names and placements and risks for all different piercings.

Then, there it was, sitting right in front of me. Intimate body piercing encyclopedia. It was something I never had seen before. I knew I had to have it. The industrial piercing was one of the most beautiful mods I had ever seen. Plus, I thought, if it sucks or I don't like it, I can always take it out. In a frenzy, I then read up on risks and procedures. Seeing as how I've always had my piercings done with guns I had no idea about the hollow needles. I thought to myself, "I'm in for it." Then I figured, this is too cool and I can take any pain so long as I get myself that piercing. It was mine and I was going to go through any pain to get it.

The next step was convincing the parental units. Seeing as how I'm only 17 I couldn't get any body mods done for another 4 months when I turn 18. I couldn't wait that long. Well, thank god I'm close to my parents. It took a little extra convincing for good old Dad, but finally he came around to it. That and the fact that he had no idea what an industrial was.

I was still quite curious about my newfound piercing so I went to the best local piercing parlor around, Retroactive. I knew a friend that worked there so I went to go ask her. Of course, she wasn't working that day, but I couldn't wait any longer. That day I met my soon-to-be piercer, Jason. He asked me what I wanted and hesitantly I said I wanted an industrial. "No shit?! That's awesome, we don't get too many of those but I'm the most experienced here when it comes to industrials. When can we get started? Want to do it now?" Well the latter question really surprised me. I'm only 17 but I'm so small I look like I'm about 14.

I really wanted to take him up on the offer and jump right in and do it that day, but I was super-nervous and I had not looked at all the risks, so I finally broke it to him that I was only 17. Well, he measured my ear with a 1 %u0405" BB. With my small ears that would be too big, for our liking it would have been way too much post sticking out. And with my long curly hair, that would have been a problem. Next came the measuring of my ear and a 1" BB. Now, too short. Aggravated, I then asked what would happen now. He told me that he would have to special order a 1 %u0458" BB and that would be perfect; a small bit of post at each end.

We set the appointment for Monday. I sat at home all weekend looking up risks and getting an adrenaline rush just thinking about that huge 14g, hollow needle piece of sheet metal running through my ear; twice just for my wonderful industrial. I also thought about how cool it was because no one around here has those and the ones I have seen are done very well and look incredible.

Monday comes and the BB hasn't come in yet, I then find out that since there is nothing to put in my ear once pierced, I psyched myself up for nothing. My Mom had met me up there to give them approval. So, in advance, they took my ID and my mothers as well and copied it. They said that if I didn't want to bring my mom on Saturday, then I didn't have to. Good plan.

They sent me home with a long face and an appointment for Saturday. That was it, if they couldn't do it I was not going to go there. Come Saturday I was ready. I took a friend along with me, not to hold my hand, but to tell me everything that was going on and to keep me sane because of my huge fear of needles. Even if you are not afraid of needles, I highly recommend taking a friend with you, it kind of opens their eyes and it helps keep you sane.

Driving to Retroactive was a nightmare. Seeing as how it's basically a straight shot a mile down the road it wouldn't have been a problem if I weren't so shaky and nervous. My friend tells me to calm down and tells me it will be perfectly fine. We go in and Jason is sitting on the couch waiting for me. I paid my $60 and turned to Jason. He then asks me if I'm ready and I say something to the effect of "Hell yes, its going to hurt like hell." He then starts to joke around with me. It helped a lot because I had talked to Jason for about 2 months before I got my piercing, it made it quite calm and relaxed but he was good in a professional way as well.

"THWAP!" Gotta love the sound of new gloves being put on. It was totally sanitary and my BB had been in the autoclave being sterilized for two days before I got the piercing. He showed me all the supplies and proceeded to tell me, and my curious friend, how the procedure would be. And then the ever-so-wonderful marking pen was brought out and the two dots placed upon my ear. He asked me how I liked it, for the first time it was perfect. But before letting him go, I asked if it would end up being too shallow and further leading to keloiding. Nope, not at all. I trusted him seeing as how he was the piercer and he's done this for many years now.

Then comes the good part: Jason throws away the gloves that he marked me and cleaned my ear with. Puts on a new pair and puts a little A+D ointment on a part of the glove. Out comes the needle. He tells me to take a deep breath in and expect some pain. The hot, sharp pain came through, I knew he had definitely gone through my cartilage. Then I blacked out. Turns out I almost kicked my friend and she had to hold my feet down. Back to consciousness I remember saying "OH GOD! Here comes the hard part!"

Both Jason and my friend looked at me with astounded looks on their faces and at the same time they both said, "Uh, Jenn, it's done!" I was so amazed, only a quick and very temporary time of hot pain. That was it. Jason then gave me the mirror to look at it. I couldn't stop looking! It was wonderful and he did such a good job on it. He then cleaned my ear of all the blood and sent me on my way with aftercare instructions. Happy as a clam I couldn't stop thanking him and gave him his well deserved tip. Don't forget to tip your piercer! (I can't stress this enough.)

My piercer highly recommended Bactine for the aftercare of my piercing. Trusting his advice I went ahead and decided that would be my aftercare plan. I didn't want to do the Dial soap thing just because the thought of goo in my ears wasn't something I wanted. I also figured that if I used Bactine I could just spray it on or I could easily spray some on a Q-Tip and take care of the little spaces. Bactine turned out to be the best thing I could have done for my industrial. I cleaned it religiously for the first week I had it done, but it was almost fully healed by the third day.

Jenn's tips and hints: Don't use that stuff that Claire's gives you. It does nothing for your piercings except dry it out and its basically just water. I recommend getting to know your piercer a little bit because it will help you more than you think. Also, know where these people are coming from and know the prices and the procedure and things before you get it done; In other words, total impulse modifications are a no-no. Use Bactine! The only bad thing it did was give me a little dry skin on my bottom hole, but its fine after you moisturize it just with water when you take a shower. Like I said before, also, don't forget to tip your piercer.

And of course, take care of your dang piercing. Number one, no one wants to look at a dirty piercing. It may disturb people enough if you even have it, but if it's dirty and not clean it will really bother people. Plus, if you plan on having it a while, why wouldn't you want to take car of it? Yuck.

And last but certainly not least, if you get a mod, especially something like an industrial, which can easily be seen, expect many questions, daily. If you can't take the heat, don't get a mod. Of course it's annoying and stupid, but there are curious people out there and you can't help that, so just go on. That's my advice and I really hope it helps. Happy Piercing!

Well to start off, i've already summitted an experience about the first part
of my ear stretching 'odyssey' , but I'll just recap a little for others
that will only read this one.
First off (like so many other people) I'd
like to congradulate Shannon on having one of the best body mod websites out
there!! This place is practically my home, and has been for about a year now,
so thank you very much Shannon!
I first started thinking about stretching
my lobes when i started looking at various pics on BME, and it suddenly
started to fascinate me. The more i looked / researched on it, the more i
wanted to start doing it. The only problem was that i didn't have either of my
lobes pierced. So i went to one of the local hair salons (i know how horrible
it is, i didn't have absolutely any money at the time) and got them pierced at
the standard (for hair salons or malls) 18g. I ended up waiting about a week
and a half (because of course i was eager to go bigger), and proceeded to go
down to tattoo art to get them stretched to 10g. When i went to get them to
10g, the only problem was they wouldn't go through! So i ended up just getting
them to 12g (more specifics of the experience in the first "stretching
odyssey"), which i wasn't entirey pleased with.
After about three weeks
or so after that i went to get them to 10g, but this time i knew it would be
easier because i had been weighting my lobes as well. So i went in to get them
done to 10g, and ended up getting them to 8g, because i couldn't feel the 10g
taper at all!! So i waited another two weeks after that and went to get them
to 6g. Now this is where the first experience leaves off for all reading this
one.Surface body piercing encyclopedia
When i went to get them to 6g i talked to george, and he said he
normally does them in steps of 2 for people if they want / if their lobes look
ready enough for it. I even asked george if he could possibly try the 6g taper
first, and if that wasn't too bad then i'd try the 4g taper. But he said that
it would cost more because he'd be having to use 2 seperate tapers. So i just
decided to bite the bullet and go for the 4g instead. This hurt pretty bad,
and when i walked outside even the wind on my lobes made them sting. I kept my
4g blue acrylic plugs in for around three weeks or so, then my girlfriend (who
had taken an intrest in stretching her lobes aswell by this time) went down to
tattoo art to get my lobes to a 2g, and hers to a 10g. I decided not to skip
2g because my friend (who at the time had his at 1/2") skipped it and went
from 4g to 0g, and he said the pain was unbearable. So we went in and i went
first. When the taper went through there was a little bit of heat from the
friction, but nothing bad whatsoever!! By the time i walked out of the room
they weren't even hurting anymore. This was somewhat of a dissapointment to me
because when there is lot's of pain, in my mind that means that i went as far
as my pain threashold would allow me at that point. I was wearing really
awsome 2g amber plugs, and kept them like that for another two
weeks.
After waiting that, i went back down (once again) to get them
stretched to 0g. I ended up picking out two chinese tercqoise plugs which i
got a discount on because they weren't selling very well, which was a definate
bonus seeing as i was saving for college. We went back into the room and
george prepared everything as usual. Then he started to slide that taper
through, and it was fairly intense pain to say the least. It wasn't anything
unbearable or anything, but it certainly hurt a lot!! My ears were swollen for
a couple days or so, then everything was good. about 5 month's earlier i had
asked a friend of mine while she was in new york at a jewerly wholesale show
thing, to try and grab some 0g black plugs for me. She ended up getting them
for me for the unbelievable price of $1 each!!!!!!!! Now the interesting (if
you could say that) part came when i went back to get them stretched to 00g. I
went in and picked out these grey acrylic tunnels (without any flares) for her
to put in. So we went into the back and mellissa (his neace / my friend) got
the 00g taper out. She did all of the normal stuff (cleaning the jewerly,
opening all of the packages, so on and so on) and prepared to slide the taper
through. This is when the problem started. The taper went through fine and i
was suprised that it barely hurt at all (which i thought was odd). She then
proceeded to slide the jewerly through after the taper, but the jewelry was
about 2mm (give or take) bigger then the taper!! Now being foolish (and the
reason that i never went back there again) she decided it would be a good idea
to just try and cram it in my already raw stretched hole!!! This is when all
of the blood started to come out and when i started to get somewhat angry. She
ended up getting george and he checked other jewelry aswell, and noticed that
his 00g tapers were about 2mm or so smaller then 00g!!! They bassically told
me that they'd order proper ones in, and for me to come back in a week!! I was
so pissed off it was rediculous, and decided never to go back there again!!!
The only reason that i ended up going back there was to pick up the REAL 00g
amber plugs (that have a fly in one, and ant in the other) about 2 weeks
later.
After letting my right lobe heal for about three weeks or so i
decided to go to tora tattoo to see if they could stretch them to 00g for me.
They said they could, so i made an appointment for about four days later. I
went in on a tuesday to get them stretched with my 00g amber plugs in hand.
Shelly took me back into their room and got everything ready. Now the only
reason that i disliked this experience was because (i know she's just doing
her job) she slid the taper through sooooooo slow that it seemed like it
almost made it more painful!! But either way i got them to 00g like i
wanted!!!
I had originally planned to stay somewhat close to 00g, maybe
7/16" or at possibly most 1/2", but hrm...well i'll go on. So i stayed at 00g
for probably around two month's at least (in this time i bought some 00g
flanges which i still love) until i suddenly had the urge to go bigger. The
only catch is that i'm now in college and am fairly poor, so i waited a little
longer, and ended up trying to find stuff that i had that i could stretch
bigger with. I ended up finding this pen lid (i know it sounds rediculous)
that started perfectly at 00g and worked its way up to about 1mm short of
5/8". So one night i finally decided to go for it. Now i know that that is an
extremely large jump to do at once, but at the time i wasn't thinking clearly
and was very impatient. so i got this cleaning product i had gotten from
tattoo art and used that as lube for the 'taper'. i took my flange out of my
right ear and started pushing. the pain wasn't too bad until it reached what
was almost like hump to the next level of it. So i pushed and pushed (by this
time my face was soooooo read it was rediculous)and finally it just popped
over the hump!! This is when blood just started flowing from my ear like
crazy. It was even on part of the side of my face, it was crazy. I decided to
stop there (obviously), the only problem was that i didn't have anything to
put in my ear that was about 2mm or so bigger then 7/16". I searched around
like crazy, until i realized i had nothing that would fit in my ear, so i
grabbed an o-ring from one of my 00g amber plugs and shuved it up the taper
next to my ear lobe. i ended up buying some fimo (thus i'm poor) to make some
7/16" plugs to put in my ear / soon to be left ear. i kept this stupid pen cap
in my ear for about two days until that night i was finishing up a paper for
one of my classes when i started to fiddle around with the back of the 'taper'
/ pen cap. i (not realizing it) gently pushed on it and it just slid right to
the end like nothing, with bearly any pain!!!!! I was sooooooo pleased it was
crazy. I got my roomate and other friends to come to my room to start making
the fimo plugs so that i could start of my other ear right away (i like things
proportioned and this has been driving me nutz). I ended up getting some green
5/8" plugs and 5/8" wooden plugs from a new friend at college and ended up
putting one of the green plugs in my right ear. With the fimo we also ended up
making little tapers that went from 00g to a little over 7/16" for my left ear
(which i have in now).
All in all i can honestly say that i never planned
on going to 5/8". If you had asked me i would have said there was no possible
way of that happening. But i love them now!!! I can't wait to get my left lobe
up to that size...and actually it may already be by the time you are reading
this seeing as it took me 3 days to go from 00g to 5/8". In conclusion (i know
its been rediculously long!) for all those wanting to stretch their ears just
make sure that you know it's exactly what you want...so until next time

Hello! Here's a bit of background for you so you can see how little old me came to get such a rare piercing. I'm Juliet and I currently have my ear lobes pierced twice and both my rooks pierced. I did at one time have my ear lobes pierced 3 times, but I unfortunately had to let them heal because of constant infections and even after trying to let them heal for a year they were still bleeding. I had my first holes punched when I was 3 months old with no problems, and then I asked to have my second holes done when I was in the sixth grade. My mom said "no" and that if I waited until I was 12 that she might consider it, so I asked again when I was 12 and she let me get them gun punched at our local Claire's for Christmas when I was in seventh grade. So that sufficed since I had promised that I'd get to my third holes and be done, since my 2nd holes had only been a mere pinch. After many months of begging and pleading and even taking magnetic earrings and saying "Look mommy! Wouldn't third holes look great!" she gave in and let my fourteenth birthday present be my third ear lobe piercings which were also done at Claire's with a piercing gun unfortunately. I don't know if I neglected my piercings or if it was the piercing gun or if it was because I got them done at a dirty place like Claire's or even if it's because I had tried to pierce my third holes myself with a sewing needle.

The self piercing never explained why both ears were infected because I only got the needle through one earlobe and all that happened was it bleed a lot and healed very quickly because I couldn't get the earring in. But I finally let one hole heal during ninth grade and within a couple of weeks or so I let the other side heal up too. To this day, I still have the regretful scars and my second holes are deformed and are at odd angles and have these giant bumps behind them from the infection. I figured that it was best since they had been constantly bleeding and made my ears very sensitive to any kind of touch. I guess it's also because my mom scared me so bad when she said that when she was a girl a couple of her friends had such bad infections that their earlobes turned black and fell off because their earlobes died. That struck me hard because the holes had actually developed black circles right around the piercing, so I wasn't going to risk it. I laid off the piercing for a while but I still couldn't fight the urge. The piercing bug has bitten me bad.

I'd asked to get my nostril pierced since I was 13 or 14 years old, so after many answers of "no" I decided to look into other piercings. Navel piercings looked intriguing and after all my years of saying "I'll never get my cartilage pierced because it's too dangerous" I was considering a cartilage piercing. I had watched a "Real World" marathon on MTV and came across "The Real World: Hawaii" and a girl named Amaya had a piercing I had never even seen before. It was totally unforgettable too. I would later find upon research of ear piercings that the piece of cartilage she had pierced was called the rook. I was in love.Unusual body piercing encyclopedia

Now I originally had only considered the mainstream piercings and had only gotten them because everyone else was and because I thought it was a status symbol. But when I found the rook I found piercing salvation. It opened up a whole new world of piercing. Shoving pieces of metal into your body became a medical procedure involving needles, certificates of professionalism, and a more hospital environment. After I learned the anatomy of the ear and the names of each type of piercing and even how it was supposed to be performed I was ready to go under a new instrument of piercing: the needle. If you don't already know, the needle is the safest, cleanest way of piercing. I soon learned that there are two very important piercing rules: never get anything done with a piercing gun and never get anything done at Claire's or a mall setting. I had broken both those rules and learned my lesson.

After my mom caught me looking up piercing websites on my laptop she asked me what I was looking at now and I said "Okay I am not looking at nose piercings. I am looking at an ear piercing right here (I pointed to the part of my ear that I wanted pierced). It's called a rook piercing and I was thinking about getting it done for my sixteenth birthday." My mom didn't seem thrilled but agreed to let me if I paid, of course I said "yes" happily. After telling all my family about it and asking her friend Rhonda about where to go (since her kids have a few holes in their bodies) and saying to my grandma "I hope it hurts so bad that she'll never want to get anything done again" she showed me a packet of matches with the name of my future piercing parlor: Pleasure Points. To this day I'd recommend it to anyone and I will definitely go there for any future piercings.

I was still inexperienced and I was scared because I had only ever been pierced with a gun and only on the earlobes.

So we had arranged to go on a Friday but were unfortunately faced with paperwork that had to be notarized. So after the weekend my mom stamped the papers (she's a notary for the hospital), we had all our driver's licenses, (I had only my permit but it was still identification) and we decided to go on Monday. Again a delay when my dad was too sick to go. So my mom, dad, and I all went to Pleasure Points on Tuesday, October 26, 2004...and we got lost.

But we found the place and found my piercer-to-be Nikki. She was really nice and knew a lot about piercing. She took my money, my dad's license, my permit, and all the paperwork and took them to office in the back to make copies. While we waited we looked at the tattoo designs and after a few minutes we were led in the back. It was very clean and sterile and my parents and I watched as Nikki washed the worktable she would use, the doctor's bench I would lay on, and her hands. She asked what kind of jewelry I wanted (not the stupid stud earrings like at Claire's) since the choices were a curved barbell or a captive bead ring I chose a curved barbell. It just looks cuter in the rook. She pulled out clamps and a brand new needle. My mom had a million questions to ask and Nikki gladly answered them all (correctly I might add) and I didn't put in anything because I already had found all that out.

She had me lay down on the doctor's bench and laid all her new materials out. She then changed her latex gloves. She placed the dots on my ears of where I was getting pierced and showed me with a mirror. I thought they looked good. So onto piercing. I was so nervous but determined. She pierced my right ear first and it wasn't all that bad, just a lot of pressure. Then she had me turn my head and she rolled the worktable to the other side and began to pierce the left ear. Holy crap! That hurt worse than the first one but it still wasn't so bad. Just a few seconds. They were sore and very red when I checked them in the mirror, but I was in love.

I cleaned them with the H2Ocean salt water for a couple of weeks. Now they are currently healing well.

I would definitely do it 10 more times if there were that much room on my rooks to pierce. So I really, truly do recommend this to anyone!

All the piercing was was Nikki saying, "Okay now take a breath in...and let it out." and on my exhale she pierced with the needle. Well getting the jewelry in was kind of a bitch but I didn't even flinch. Nikki kept saying, "Kick ass! You are doing great!" So I had a very positive experience. All the hype about it was all just a bunch of people with a low pain threshold. This would definitely not be the piercing for someone with a low threshold for pain. Even when my parents walked out in the middle of the piercing I was still unflinching. It was also great to prove my mom wrong! ^_^

Now all the doors are open. I am planning on getting my rooks pierced again now that I've got a place to go to I am definitely looking forward to those piercings. Whatever I get done I know that I'm going to love it and have no regrets. I can't wait for my seventeenth birthday in September, I'm going to break it to my mom that I want to get my rooks pierced...again.

I love piercings! I don't know what it is that is so alluring. I feel more confident and prettier when I get one and I can't resist the idea of a new exciting one coming along. I always like to be a trendsetter when it comes to piercings because they are meant to bring out the prettiest things on your body. Because when I came into school the next day I got a lot of "Oh my God! That's a piercing?" and lots of compliments. I'm still getting them and loving all of them, even when people say I'm crazy for getting it. When you get your rooks pierced you'd be amazed at how many people ask if it hurt. I always tell them "No, it's just a lot of pressure." ^_^

Hope I gave you some helpful advice! When I get my next piercing I'll make sure to let you know!