I wish I could say I actually HAVE two Industrials, but to me one is enough, and also Industrial Number 1 fell out a few years back and I was too lazy to put it back in right away (I needed to get another spikey end I think too because I lost it!) and then by the time I tried it had grown in.

Anyway, there were issues with the first Industrial piercing I had, like that it never really healed and also that it got a bump.  The bump went away when I took out the piercing, so my ear looks normal.  But I now realize there was something wrong with that piercing and I guess I should have gone back to the shop to get advice or different jewelry.

ANYWAY, I have been wanting another Industrial for ages.  I really wanted one the last few weeks.  I had promised myself I would get it done and then I had the money and I just started putting it off because truthfully, the last time I got an Industrial it hurt like a muthafucker and kept hurting for hours, it hurt so much I thought I was gonna faint.  And at the time I was a pothead so I was trying to use weed as a painkiller, bad idea!  Weed really isn’t very effective for that type of pain.  It just makes things slow down and still hurt. 

So today we were supposed to go to Manitou for the pool and bobbing around in salty salty healing waters, but instead Mum didn’t feel like going and said “You may as well get your ear done” because I had been talking about it for ages.  So we went and did a few errands and then we went to Tantrix to get my ear pierced.

I was so nervous.  We went up 108th Street and Tantrix is basically at the end of that on Central Ave, so I could see it from a distance and my heart was beating fast and my hands were sweaty.  On the way in we saw a woman dressed as the girl from Brave (never saw it so I don’t remember her name) and a couple other Disney Princesses going into the children’s store next door.  I don’t really have a reason for mentioning that other than finding it unusual. 

So I go up to the counter of Tantrix and the woman working there has me fill out a consent form and a little questionnaire about if I am of sound mind and do I have HIV and stuff.  And then we go into this room. 

And she gets the right sized bar and all her stuff lined up and then it’s time to do the piercing and she puts it through on the count of four and it stings and it has a burn to it that builds up after.  But then I hear what I did not want to hear.  “That is a bit shallow.  You’re going to hate me, but we have to do this again.”  OMG!  NOOOOOOO!  So she lets my ear cool down and then she pierces the bottom part again, and it stings a little more and I can feel blood running down my ear and then she says it’s STILL not quite right and she wants to do the top to make sure she’s got the right angle.  So she does the top, which was probably the WORST piercing of them all, and then a bit more of a sting as she gets the bar through it.  Then there is some wiggling and the bar comes out the bottom one and she repierces the bottom for the LAST time and it is finally just right.  And then some stingy again when she gets the jewelry through and then she screws on the balls and presses a lot of pieces of paper towel to my ear to stop all the bleeding from my poor little ear.

What surprised me though is that even though I basically got four cartilage piercings in the space of half an hour, it didn’t hurt nearly as much as I remember from the first time.  Also I took heavy duty Ibuprophen in the car on the way to the shop, which could have made a difference too.

She packs a little bit of paper towel under the bar against where those two empty pierced holes are seeping blood and then I pay and am on my way.  I’m achey, but surprisingly as the hours tick by my ear gets better and better, it’s not an unbearable pain like I remember from the first Industrial.  And my ear gets less and less red a lot faster than the first time too.

So I think my first Industrial was pierced at a slightly wrong angle and that it put pressure on my ear that caused the bump and also made it not heal.  Because even though it sucked today getting pierced four times, the aftermath is a lot easier to deal with than what I remembered.  And hopefully this heals well and I don’t get any weird bumps or anything. 

She told me they recommend using unscented soap to clean piercings, and nothing else.  No saline, no salt water soaks.  Just Dove once a day when I shower.  So that seems easy enough.  Also I can’t sleep on it the first while, which will be hard but not impossible.  I’ve read some people say they use travel pillows to sleep on, I am going to go buy one tomorrow.  I’ve only slightly bumped it a couple of times now, actually I didn’t even catch it when I took my shirt off, which is good.  It’s got a little dried blood on it right now, but that’s okay.  She had to use their super stainy marker on me to mark the placement, so I still have a little purple line on my ear.  But hopefully it gets washed off tomorrow morning. 

So yay! 😀  The only thing that would make it perfect is if it had spikey ends!  I am gonna wait a while and then go to another store and see if they have any.  The round balls are probably good for the initial healing though!