I was fourteen when my piercing obsession first started. I was at the airport when I saw a woman who had an eyebrow piercing. I was so intrigued by the little stud above her eyebrow. I decided then and there that I was going to grow up to be a badass biker babe with an even more badass eyebrow piercing. Fourteen year old me’s words, not mine. The eyebrow piercing obsession soon (somehow) managed to turn into an ear piercing obsession. Every time I was bored in class, I found myself making an approximate count of all the ear piercings I could get. My sister got a second lobe piercing when she was a sophomore. I asked my mom about the same and I was told I could get one my sophomore year, too. It was only fair, apparently.
Last summer, I convinced my mom to let me get a nose piercing. She immediately agreed, but it was probably because nose piercings are a South Asian tradition. Being the impulsive girl that I am, I went in the day after my mom said yes and got my nose pierced. I did not know anything about piercings. Or even noses, really. TL;DR: My nose ended up getting infected and I naively decided to inflict more pain upon myself by changing my stud to a ring within the first week.
Cut to Spring 2016, I convince my mom to let me get ear piercings at college. “I’m earning money,” I told her. “I can afford to get it done at a cool place in Boston.” She said yes, because she assumed I was going to get a second lobe piercing like my sister did. I, obviously, had other things on my mind. A double helix on my left and an industrial on my right. Now those of you who know a thing or two about ear piercings are probably thinking two things right now. “That must have cost her a bomb!” and “She can’t sleep on either of her sides now.” And let me tell you that you are absolutely right. I spent two checks (almost 200 dollars) on my piercings. I got them done at Stingray, which is one of the best piercing and tattoo places in and around Boston. I spent 50 dollars on each ear, then paid extra for the jewelry and also tipped the woman who put holes in my ears. Since I decided to do things smartly this time around, I checked in with Stingray beforehand and thus knew how much money I had to save up for this. And this is the absolute most important and first thing you need to know about piercings. They are very costly. The lower the cost, the worse the quality of your piercing. And if you’re going to get your cartilage pierced, it’s better to pay 200 dollars and still keep your ears, than to pay 20 bucks and pull a Van Gogh.
Once I selected my jewelry and they checked to make sure that I had enough cartilage in my ears to actually pierce them, I was led into a room. If the room was badly lit, I would’ve naturally assumed that I was part of the X-Men and they were going to run tests on me. But since it was very well lit and smelled sterile, I sat my non-mutant self on the chair. Christina, the woman who pierced my ears, introduced herself to me. She cleaned my ears and marked the spots to pierce. It was like she was in my head, because she was spot on with the placement of my piercings without me even saying anything. She explained the process to me, and told me to take deep breaths throughout. Basically, she poked a needle through the spots she’d marked and then put my earring in. It was very simple, and on a scale from one to ten (with ten being the most painful), it was a two for the industrial, which apparently hurts a lot more than the helix. Think being poked with a safety pin, but harder. Christina then gave me instructions on taking care of my piercings and sent me off to give up most of my hard earned money (which was totally worth it, by the way).
How hard can it be to clean two piercings, you ask? Well, if you’re as lazy as I am, very hard. The best way to take care of your piercings is by soaking your ear in a warm sea salt solution. Stingray very generously gave me a lot of “free” sea salt packets for this purpose. Soaking my ear and then cleaning my piercings with Q-tips takes at least ten minutes, which throws off my entire schedule because I wake up at the latest minute possible to make it to places on time. Christina recommended that I don’t touch my fresh piercings for a long time to come, but I have zero impulse control so now I just wash my hands every thirty minutes. The Internet also told me that cold temperatures aren’t very good for healing piercings so I spent the first three days bundled up under my hooded winter coat, because Boston welcomed spring this year with some snow.
Thankfully, I haven’t had any infections, or even signs of one, but my piercings did bleed and form “crusties” like I was told would happen. What I wasn’t ready for, however, was the amount of pain that zaps through my ear every time I accidentally hit one of them. While I figured I can’t sleep on my sides, I didn’t realize that I also wouldn’t be able to just pull my hair up absent-mindedly and have all the baby hairs that somehow managed to tangle into my industrial tug at it. As an additional bonus, I also can’t hug my (taller) friends properly anymore because my ears only see it as punishment. Despite these cons (especially for a cuddly monster like me), I would recommend every one of you who wants a piercing to get one. And no, its not only because I have an obsession with them. Okay, maybe it is. I love piercings, guys. If you do too, and you also want one (or fourteen) just go ahead and do it. College is the time to do things like this. And guess what? If you look at yourself in the mirror three months later and hate the stud shining in your ear or the ring in your nose, just remove it and the hole will close up soon! The only con of closing your piercings is that I probably wouldn’t talk to you ever again.