To know me is to know my piercings as well. All eight of them. While my eight piercings may not stand out on campus and can be considered relatively average amongst the Kenyon population, they are something I take great pride in. My love for piercings has come about only since the beginning of my freshman year of college. In my time on the hill, I have added five additional piercings to my body—all in the span of a year. When looking at my transformation from three piercings to eight, getting so many in such a short period of time, one might consider it quite a drastic change. I would include myself in that group since I simply cannot disregard the numerical proof in front of me. However, while the number of holes in my body would not give you the impression that this is a new form of self-expression, in actuality, the beginning of my piercing journey actually started quite late in comparison to my peers.
I got my first holes pierced in fifth grade after years of begging my mom. She had been hesitant to let me get my ears pierced, because of a dimple I was born with on my right ear. Her fear was that my piercing would not be cosmetically appealing as my ear grew. Which, in my opinion, was a legitimate concern. However, lucky enough for me, as my ears grew my piercings remained “cosmetically” appealing. During my early teenage years, the newest trend was to get your cartilage pierced. My mom, of course, was not a fan of additional ear piercings because, hey, why be in favor of something that every other parent was okay with at the time? As a result, this began my years of convincing her to sign for me in order to get my cartilage pierced. One day, after gradually wearing her out on the topic we made a deal that if I got recruited to play college field hockey then I could get my cartilage pierced. I ended up getting recruited and my mom was left with no other option, but to go with me and sign on the dotted line.After getting my cartilage pierced, I became more interested in piercings, but I had no real intention of getting more. However, come fall of my freshman year, my roommate who already had multiple piercings of her own encouraged me to “go for it” and get more piercings. I started off with just a tragus piercing and a nose piercing. Which caused my mom to be madder at me then she ever has been, and according to her, it was the first time I had ever disappointed her. From that point on, every time she saw my piercing she commented on her dislike of it. Despite her comments, I still got my forward helix pierced soon after. Which concluded the extent of my piercings of freshman year.
Two weeks ago, upon entering my sophomore year, I got my conch and belly button pierced. This has brought my total number of piercings up to eight. I am terrified, to say the least, and I have no good plan on how to tell my mom. As of now, I am living life on a prayer and hoping she will not see my belly button piercing until summer time. Additionally, I am going with the theory that she will be able to live with the conch piercing. Despite my current fears, I love all of my piercings. I feel that it makes me stand out and is an artistic way of expressing myself. Many people in my classes or who first meet me notice my piercings and stare in curiosity. I just respond with “want to see”. Often there is a fear of awkwardness toward asking me about my piercings. However, they are something I am proud of, and I love when people ask about them or tell me they are cool.
Getting a piercing is a lot of responsibility, between cleanings and the risk of infection, but they definitely are worth it. If you see me on campus feel free to ask me about them!
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