Piercings and other things i wish I'd known

[PancaKe]

So yeah... I got two piercings the other day. Sorry, nothing too sexy or daring. Just two more in my right ear. Eventually I want to get a few more ; but for now just in my right earlobe was all I could afford. And I went to this random little place that promised to do it for $19.95 including jewlery. Which is nice and cheap and because I am cheap, I agreed.

The lady makes me sign this terms and conditions form; and I notice one of the clauses on the form is something like "I understand all the risks that have been explained to me by the staff"... and I'm like "You! Explain stuff to me now! You haven't explained to me the risks!" And she replies with "um... well you could get an infection if you don't use this spray... the spray is $15.95..." and I was like "eugh are you serious."

And now my ear is all sore and stuff cos I went through with it anyway even though she wasn't a professional and didn't know what she was doing. She used one of those piercing guns as well.

You know they use those guns to tag cows?
And if you use a gun on cartlidge that it can shatter the shape of your ear?

Wish I'd known those earlier.



So I guess you can either talk about piercings or other things you'd wish you'd known before you did them.

tl;dr - post a picture of an air conditioner. because it's still hot in australia.

[Dark Sage]

Don't fret about it, PK, doing your ears is pretty much tame compared to the other parts of the body that some people pierce these days.

You ever kiss someone with a lip stud? I'm not naming any names, but I almost needed stitches after that thankfully short relationship.

[Perfect Chaos]

I was thinking of getting one done on my ear but was too lazy to get around in actually trying to find a good piercing shop. I was thinking maybe its better to have a doctor do it for you or going to a shop in the mall or something

[Dark Sage]

I was thinking of getting one done on my ear but was too lazy to get around in actually trying to find a good piercing shop. I was thinking maybe its better to have a doctor do it for you or going to a shop in the mall or something

Doctors are the safest, PC. They know how to sterilize their equipment right. However, they're also the most expensive (don't expect medical insurance to cover it), and they likely will not pierce anything except ears.

[Blademaster]

I had an earring once. Years back. Now all I have to show for it is a scabby little hole in my left earlobe.

I think Razola said it best years back:

"I have difficulties spending money on things that cause pain. Especially if the benefit is minimum."

[PancaKe]

I don't think doctors pierce ears here in Australia. If they do, I've never heard of it.

We have dodgy places like chemists and jewlery shops, and then we have professional tattoo and piercing studios that are the safest and cleanest, depending on which ones you go to. =D

[Magmar]

I wish I knew how long it would be inconvenient when I got my tattoo, since my first was big and filled in all at once.

[shazza]

[RedStarWarrior]

I pierced and gauged my own ears. You should have done so with a simple heating and sterilized sewing needle.

[Drusilla]

I pierced and gauged my own ears. You should have done so with a simple heating and sterilized sewing needle.

I repierced my ears that way... but the second holes kept getting infected. Apparently, I'm allergic to stainless steel, and will have to invest in more gold studs before I try again. Talk about a pain in the ass...

As for tattoos, I wish I'd been more selective in who did mine. The coloring isn't quite solid, and I bled like a stuck pig because of how deep the guy went. You can never be too selective when it comes to body art.

[PancaKe]

Yeouh Dru, that sounds nasty. I'm way to scared of needles to actually get a tattoo; and I change my mind so much that I probably am best off just dying my hair random colors

[Katie]

Yeah it's generally a good idea to do a bit of research when you want someone to basically injure you. I don't know how it is in Australia, but here you need a license to cut people's hair but not stab needles through them, go figure. Well, I think the actual business needs to be health inspected or something, but personnel training? Pshh, how hard could it be???

If a "piercer" ever pulls out a piercing gun, even for earlobes, leave. They cannot be sterilized, and the microscopic blood spray in every piercing can pass along diseases to you. The only way to sterilize anything is using an autoclave - what your dentist/doctors use on their tools. There is literally no way to sterilize at home, you can "sanitize" but it's not the same. Ask your surgeon why he can't just use an alcohol wipe on his scalpel and see if he laughs. (If he doesn't, run). Guns also shatter cartilage, can get jammed (fucking OW), and are extremely inaccurate. Not to mention they use the earring itself to stab the hole, which is basically blunt forcing its way through. A piercing needle is hollow and essentially slices a tiny hole in your ear, kinda like a holepunch on paper versus stabbing a pencil through (the flap of paper hanging there : your flesh!). Also, a professional piercer will be trained in first aid if you faint or jerk away or something, while a mall employee would wring her hands wondering if she'll get fired.

This is a good website if you want to let the fuckup heal and repierce in few months:
http://safepiercing.org/

This isn't directed at anyone, just an opinion:
I believe that with the internet and the explosive popularity of forums, there is no excuse to basically not know something. Want a good dog food? There's a forum for that. Want to go skiing? There's a forum for that. I lurked a piercing forum for a weekend and walked out knowing what to look for in a piercer. If you're lazy, post a thread "I want my ears pierced, tell me about it" and let the information flow in.


P.S. You don't need to buy any sprays. Table (or sea) salt and warm water (google "sea salt soaks"), and a dye-less, frangrance free soap will do it all.

[PancaKe]

Yeah it's generally a good idea to do a bit of research when you want someone to basically injure you. I don't know how it is in Australia, but here you need a license to cut people's hair but not stab needles through them, go figure. Well, I think the actual business needs to be health inspected or something, but personnel training? Pshh, how hard could it be???

Yeah - same in Australia I think. There are professional piercers; then the stupid idiots in chemists and shopping centers who are like "Haisup pierce your ears here for like $20!!!1!!!11one" . Idiots.

So I guess although it costs more, professionals here I come

Guns are a turnoff. they use those things to tag cows man.

[midnightangel]

I have two piercings in each ear lobe which didn't hurt as much as I expected, and they turned out great.

I also have another piercing in my upper left ear in the cartilage that didn't hurt when they put it in--but then the whole ear on top swelled and hurt like a b---h for three days and I couldn't sleep on that ear at all.
Then the swelling went down and I had no more problems with it.

I want another in my right ear and two more in my ear lobes

[Arnen]

I've had both my lobes pierced since I was... eight? Had 'em done in Walmart, I think with a piercing gun. I was screaming and my mom was freaking out, and one of the holes is crooked so when I wear earrings they stick out at an angle. :/

I've been thinking about getting my eyebrow pierced, too, and I might start looking for places to get it done once I get a job.

[mr_pikachu]

Personally, I don't much see the point of piercings. As Blade cited from Razola, there's no big gain and a fair bit of pain. I actually don't even find it attractive, myself - I wouldn't find it weird if, say, my girlfriend had the standard earlobe piercings, but if someone I knew was way into eyebrow holes, bellybutton stabbing, and so forth, I'd kind of have to ask, "Why?" It just looks freaky to me.

...

*looks around at all the pierced people*

*runs*

[asui]

I've got 2 piercings in each ear. I did them myself a few years ago when my mother refused to take me to get them done professionally. All it took was a sanitized sewing needle, an ice cube, and an apple slice. ^^;;; Needless to say, when I wanted to get my first tattoo, she took me to a professional. She told me it was a guy she knew from work (she's a nurse at a prison) and I was pretty freaked out for about ten minutes because I thought she was taking me to some former inmate she'd taken care of (as it turns out, it's illegal for her to associate with the inmates if she ever sees them outside of work.). But actually, it was her nurse friend's older brother. I was relieved. XD

He did kinda look like an inmate, though. But he was really very nice! ^^ And very cleanly; he made sure to open everything from a sterile package right in front of me, and washed his hands up to the elbows and changed gloves twice. I was definitely glad we found him.

[Blademaster]

I've got 2 piercings in each ear. I did them myself a few years ago when my mother refused to take me to get them done professionally. All it took was a sanitized sewing needle, an ice cube, and an apple slice. ^^;;;

...What?

[Crystal Mew]

I want another hole in my ears, but I won't get them done at claires or w/e with a gun. forget that! I just don't have the money to get them done at a nice place I also want my bellybutton done, then I may be done with peircings for awhile.

my brother pierced his own snakebites, crazy kid.

[asui]

...What?

It works a LOT better if you have something hard-ish to stab into when you're piercing your own ears. (it goes between your earlobe and your head) Otherwise you gotta hold the earlobe out and it just doesn't work well. Apples are perfect - nice and crisp!

Though seriously, people shouldn't do it themselves if they can help it. I could've gotten infected or something.

my brother pierced his own snakebites, crazy kid.

This guy I know once pierced some girl's snakebites for her in the cafeteria during lunch at high school. They almost couldn't do the second one because her lip swelled up so badly after the first piercing. (also, the guidance counselor was making a beeline for our table.)

[Drago]

My body is pure and boring - no piercings, tats or even hair colour change in all my life. To each their own, but frankly jamming pieces of shiny metal into one's body for display sounds like a concept from a grungy 80s movie about the near future.
One of the things I find most disgusting is when toddlers have their ears pierced - not only does it look scummy and tragic, but seriously, wait until the kid is old enough to make that choice. Happens mostly in teenage pregnancies.

My gf has a fair few piercings in her ear and two in her belly button - I never heard the term rook used outside of chess before her - and the first chick I ever kissed had three tongue rings. She also had a tongue like a cow though, so it wasn't exactly a nice experience.

[Roses are Red]

Just reading Katie's post, I'm never piercing my ears. Ever. My mother is still sad she didn't do it when I was a baby. Then again, it would've taken like four people to hold me down to do it.

I'm also terrified of needles coming at me so...no piercings or tattoos.

[Drusilla]

I'm also terrified of needles coming at me so...no piercings or tattoos.

Funny, so am I... yet I have both. Just don't look and you'll be fine. Tattoos kind of tickle, actually...

[PancaKe]

I'm terrified of tattoos. But I'd like a cross on my wrist... or a charmander or something. Yeah mang, pokemon tattoo. That's hardcore.

[Chris 2.1]

I got a tattoo 3 weeks ago onmy back, sorta where my shoulderblade is. I'm so pleased with it. It's about the length of an avarage mobile phone; its a kinda tribal design. Theyre generally percieved as common and 'ooh everyone has one' but I designed it myself, so I think not :p

I paid a bit more than I would at a normal place cos I want to an uuber professional place. The outline hurt a bit, but flling it in was fine. Like having a toothbrush brushing your skin sorta :s

[Andrew]

Oh Chris, you commoner!

Show us a pic of it!

I personally wouldn't get a piercing. I would get a tattoo on my hip. But only of something I really believed in. I'm yet to find that something. But, tongue piercing I made out with a few people with them. It just makes me worried I will break their tongue when we make out.

[MToolen]

I don't personally feel the need to get either piercings or tattoo. I'd hate to have something like that affect how I'm perceived by my intended clientele (high school musicians and, more importantly, their parents). That and yes, I too am afraid of needles. And getting my wrists slit. And zombies. And getting shocked to death. But those are all different stories.

Oh, and stinging insects.

[Jeff]

Personally, I never understood the appeal of poking metal into one's body or stabbing it with needles to create a mark that will remain there even at the age of 85.

As desperate as I am, I would never date a girl who has tattoos or anything pierced except her ears. Whatever happened to tattoos being something reserved for bikers and guys in prison anyway?

[Katie]

Personally, I never understood the appeal of poking metal into one's body or stabbing it with needles to create a mark that will remain there even at the age of 85.

As desperate as I am, I would never date a girl who has tattoos or anything pierced except her ears. Whatever happened to tattoos being something reserved for bikers and guys in prison anyway?

Why are ears okay but everything else not?

[PancaKe]

Katie; clearly because ears are normal. Duh. *rolls eyes*

Actually; I don't see why anything else is that bad. My boyfriend is the same - nothing but the ears please - and i think he's getting a little weirded out at the idea of me getting several holes in my ears and stretching them, and then putting eyebrow rings and tongue rings in the holes as well.

Fun times.

Why is it that people are grossed out by facial piercings and the like?

[Jeff]

Girls who pierce their nose/belly button/tounge/eyebrow/lip or whatever else they can think of are generally not my type. Ear piercings on the other hand are more traditional and just about any type of girl has them.

[Katie]

Piercings haven't been just for bikers/punks/[other stereotype] for a long time. You go right ahead dismissing anyone with something so insignificant though, I love the idea of some guy getting intimate with a girl and then flipping shit when he sees she has a navel ring :')

[Crystal Mew]

I don't know, I think some people can pull off piercings better than others. I'd date a guy with a couple piercings, why not? lol. I don't consider that a deal breaker. Plus it makes some guys sexier

Where I draw the line though is where they get out of hand. Its not necessary to pierce your whole face, that just starts looking ridiculous