New Piercings!

Hi all! I just thought that I would post this for those that are thinking of getting an ear piercing. Even more specifically, for those that are thinking of getting a cartilage piercing. The other day (being yesterday) I got my helix and forward helix pierced. I was thinking of getting an industrial... but it was not meant to be. *Sigh* In any case, here's a picture!

I already have my lobe pierced, as you can see. It's day two with the new piercings, and I decided to tell you guys what it's like. So I went in to get my ear pierced at Hemp 2000 in Cranbrook. What a wonderful place! No, seriously, everybody there was really friendly even though my mom was a little bit freaked out at the idea of me getting my ear pierced like this. But eventually, she agreed to let me go through with the process. Here's how it went...

So first off the piercer, Dan, cleaned the area. Then he positioned the rings to see if I liked where they were. And then came the actual piercing, which is what I was a bit nervous for. I didn't really know how much it would hurt, so here's my first hand account:

When he did the first piercing, I felt a small sort of pinch and a huge rush of heat, which was actually the blood rushing to my ear. It didn't hurt so much as it felt really, really weird. Then he put the first hoop in and clamped it together and voila! One done, one to go! The second one felt pretty much the same. After the area was sprayed down with some water and I took an ibuprofen and I was great :) my ear felt really hot for a little while and it was red, but the redness went away pretty quickly.

Now, the tough part with these piercings is that if anything touches them it hurts. That includes t-shirts, fingers, or face clothes. It's important to be super careful to not let anything touch them so they can heal properly. Also, don't you dare think of sleeping on them! Ouch!

Bleeding with them is pretty minimal. I woke up this morning (day 2) with a little bit of blood near the helix piercing, but other than that I've had no trouble with them. How awesome is that?

So for anybody wanting to get a cartilage piercing, here's my advice to you: think it through. These take a lot longer to heal than regular piercings (minimum three months) and will leave scarring behind. If you're sure that you want to get one, be ready for lots of upkeep and start developing a way to get shirts over your head so that they don't touch your ear (that's the tricky part!)

Have fun and see you later!