Piercings have been an interesting topic to me and an adventure of discovering which has both been frightening and exciting. As someone who had an intense fear of needles all her life to then gain 10 piercings in 4 years is certainly a perplexing fact.
Belonephobia riddled me for a fair while due to having multiple hospital visits as a child and being prodded and poked around for reasons of my illness. I was informed by my mum that my sisters and I were allowed to get our first lobes pierced when we were 10 if we wanted which I was adamant not to get done because I was terrified of having a piece of metal stabbed through my flesh. I kept by that stubborn mind-set when my tenth birthday rolled around and continued to repent the idea of any piercing until the age of 14 when the thought of a sparkly addition to my body didn’t really disgust me as much as it had done in past years.
The day of going to get my ears pierced was a time full of anxiety and fear of the unknown but I didn’t doubt the decision. All the paperwork was signed, my mum was there to chill me out and I was ready to be impaled. I was pierced at a time where I didn’t know much about the industry and this was an experience where I was pierced with a gun which was luckily not dreadful; if the device got stuck and freaked me out, the rest of this telling is likely to be quite different. The experience was at a beauty salon which meant that it was super laidback with a lovely calm technician so overall it was a great time. After years of hardly being able to even look at an image of a needle, I now had 2 delightful glittery studs in my lobes. This was the first moment where my admiration for piercings started to grow. Exactly a year after I went to got my seconds done at the same place and the experience was moderately the same which I was really happy with.
From that point I started deliberating what other piercings I could get as the internet allowed me to find many more places to get pierced which wasn’t on the ears. I began to notice that navel piercings were pretty trendy and it had never occurred to me that it was an area of your body where a piercing was possible. After thinking long and hard about it, along with many hours of searching YouTube and watching the process and stupidly the ‘piercing gone wrong’ videos I decided to get it done once I finished my GCSE exams. The time came in July whereby my mum called the piercing studio in my local town and booked an appointment for the middle of the day. Bear in mind, this call was made at 9 in the morning so I had a fair few hours to sit and mull in a pool of worry before the fateful time came around. This was the first ever time I had walked into a piercing and tattoo studio which installed even more fear as the new environment had the whirring sound of a tattoo gun, images of skulls on the wall and heavily pierced and tatted artists which triggered a significant amount of ‘oh my god, what the fuck am I doing’ thought patterns.
Nevertheless, I went and led down on the shiny black reclined chair and prepared myself. I’ll discuss pain ratings later on but to briefly outline a navel piercing, I would say that the clamp was the part of the process which hurt the most which was surprising for me as I was expecting it to be a lot worse. I was so happy to see my belly button shining for the whole world to see and to have a new addition to my body which was a little different and new. This was the first ‘abstract’ piercing that I got which my mum was happy with too as she had previously been a little wary of non-ear piercings (having her first and seconds done herself). I was quite pleased with this achievement and the healing process was a lot harder than my ears but after a year and a half it had completely healed and I now have a lovely assortment of bars which I love to interchange. I previously had a little disgust towards belly buttons as they seemed like weird craters in your skin that had no real purpose so to have something pretty sitting in it was quite cool. I felt pretty badass parading around that summer showing everyone this fancy bit of body jewellery and I continued to add to myself since.
The next set was in the summer of 2017 where I went to a new studio who had a guy called Mr.Stabs and is now, honestly one of the most professional and coolest people I have ever met (he has his tongue split I mean, come on what a lad amiright?!) On this trip I made what I thought was an edgy hardcore decision but in hindsight, it was pretty silly - I got my upper and lower auricle piercings done on my left ear. The amount of pain that these piercings caused, and not only in the moment of getting them done, was and has been extortionate. Along with the unfortunate event of hitting my ear on multiple occasions including a collision with my friends boob at high speed, the healing of the auricles extended a lot longer than average. My upper one is still a bit dodgy even now and part of the reason for this issue is because I didn’t go back to my piercer when I thought it needed some help, whoops sorry Stabsy!
Once I made myself to return on multiple occasions and get him to check it out and clean it thoroughly the lower one sorted itself out which was a blessing. Lesson taught – as soon as there is some kind of concern, go back to your piercer and get it checked before the condition worsens.
2017 was a wild time of piercings actually, the next one was in October which was my third lobe piercing. My mum has always said to me growing up that her favourite part of me when I was born was my tiny, perfect ears so when I started getting more and more piercings in them she continued to urge me not to keep adding. I ignored this of course and despite contemplating whether to stick with 2 lobe piercings as I was concerned with overcrowding, I went ahead and got my thirds because they are just the quickest and practically painless piercings so I could hardly resist. The fun part I’ve found with getting body mods is waiting for my family to realise the new additions. This time round it was the first ones that I got without telling my family and funnily enough, it took a while for them to notice a difference which must have been down to the already sizable collection. It was my youngest sister, Alice, who pointed out the extra sparkly bits on my face to which my mum got a tad aggy about purely because I hadn’t told her I was getting it done. Luckily, they’re something people get used to quite quickly so there wasn’t too much annoyance towards it, also because they were a simple ‘non-offensive’ piercing.
Cut to a couple weeks later when my piercing urges were itching once more. This is the thing, a few years ago I could never understand what people meant by an addiction to piercings and tattoos but as I have added to my lovely collection I completely get it. Unfortunately for me now, the time in between getting or wanting them is becoming smaller and smaller, sorry mum! So by this point of my piercing adventures I was beginning to look into a few more ‘extreme’ options which veered away from ears. I turned to Pinterest for inspiration which was a wormhole of brilliant images of fully pierced ears and glittering facial additions all of which looked appealing to me. Along the way I discovered piercings which I didn’t even know were possible which is always exciting!
My friend had her septum pierced a few months prior and I loved the look of it, I thought she looked super edgy and hardcore with a slightly abnormal facial piercing so I bought myself a clip on one before returning to school in September to see if it suited me and see what people said. Of course, the judgement from my family was sizable – comments such as ‘you look like a bull’ circulated for several days to which I just tried my best to ignore and enjoyed having metal hanging from my face. This therefore led to me getting more and more used to it and decided that I would like to get the real deal for my 18th birthday. The friend mentioned previously suggested that she would pay for it as my present from her which was so cute of her! We went to get it done in the new year, with no mention of it to my mum, and I was bloody terrified…
This is where my piercing journey starts to get bumpy. This experience of getting my nose pierced was, in no exaggeration, horrendous. I was scared enough as it was but as I was instructed to lay down, the guy doing the piercing spent a while rummaging for the right clamp, told me a story of another girl getting it done, told me it is one of the worst piercings and wouldn’t get it himself (great thanks man) then proceeded to line up the needle from the left side of me so he would not be able to see if the needle was going straight across.
As a worrier, I just needed some support and guidance of exactly where the piercing was going to be as I researched and knew there was a sweet spot but was unaware of the exact location of that was in my nose. As stupid as it is to reflect, I was led there preparing myself and I considered backing out last minute because the whole thing just didn’t feel right. Looking back, I wish I had gone with my gut instinct and said I didn’t want to go forward with it because right at that moment the needle went through. Or at least, it went halfway through, paused, got re-angled then got shoved through the other side whereby a huge wave of pain and nausea rushed over me and a gush of warm liquid flooded down my lip and my eyes watered like they had never done in my life.
I was expecting some pain and a little eye watering but this was extreme. After some usual tugging from the jewellery being put through I asked if my nose was running or if it was blood – he answered ‘there is a little blood’. Oh honey, I knew it wasn’t a little I’ll tell you that now! I was led down for a good 2 minutes with him trying to stem the blood before attempting to sit up which I was really scared to do because I thought I would faint (I didn’t which I was quite surprised at). I was presented a mirror to have a look at it and what I saw nearly made me cry. I could see the entirety of the piercing so low down on my septum at such a wonky angle that the jewellery wouldn’t lay flat; it was stuck up slightly which wouldn’t fall down.
Nevertheless, I said thank you politely, paid and went on my not so merry way with my friend who, at the time, was giving words of encouragement saying it looked good which I was happy with as I finally went through with it after considering for so long. I got home, avoided my family and had a breakdown in my room. My whole nose and upper lip was in so much pain that I could hardly move the area when talking which I later found out from a more trusted piercer, was because the piercing had gone through the complete wrong place and stabbed a bunch of nerves in my nose which meant that it affected that location around the piercing. I must point out that this piercing was done at the same studio where I got my navel done which wasn’t exactly the perfect experience either as (looking at the healed piercing now, is wonky but there we go).
Once again I waited for my family to notice and yet again it was my youngest sister who informed everyone. I then tried to hold back the tears of pain as I explained that it was fine and looked cool when in my head I knew it wasn’t right. Later that week I went back to my trusted Mr. Stabs who advised me to go get it taken out and see if I could get my money back as the location of the piercing was so low that it couldn’t have been further away from the sweet spot. I took his professional advice and went to sort the monstrosity out. Luckily for me, it healed up fine and, after a massive payment issue of the fault of the studio, I got my money back which I was hugely grateful for. Of course I got a little backlash from my mum who emphasised that it was a bad idea and I shouldn’t get it done again even though I tried explaining it was because a tattoo artist pierced me, she still wasn’t too happy.
But of course, the little rebel I am went to Stabsy a few weeks later with my boyfriend and this time round it was a much more positive experience. I went second as Josh got his ear pierced (his first one, leading people astray I am) and I was shaking uncontrollably as I had the muscle memory of the last time it was done and my anxiety causes me to shake a lot. Luckily, the blessing he is, Mr.Stabs talked me through the whole process and even explained the choice of clamp which made me relax significantly more than last time. I was sat up for this one which meant that he could see exactly where the needle was going. And with a small amount of pressure from the clamp and a slight popping sensation as the needle went through I had a lovely curved barbell threaded through which was perfectly hidden in the tip of my nose. I was so pleased with it and since then I have just been so happy with the look of it and the healing process is the easiest of all the piercings I’ve had. I’ve been saying to friends that it looks like I have robot bogeys because the little balls only poke out momentarily if I scrunch my face or tilt it upwards.
For this time round, my family didn’t notice until I explicitly pointed it out and then had a rather interesting conversation with my parents about it and piercings in general. Overall, it was quite constructive and my mum expressed her likening for the jewellery being hidden rather than the horseshoe one I had before. So all in all, after the traumatic experience I had with it, I have to say that my septum piercing is my favourite body modification so far.
Pain scale
When being pierced: When healing:
First lobes – 1 First lobes – 4
Second lobes – 1 Second lobes – 2
Navel – 3 Navel – 5
Upper auricle – 8 Upper auricle – 10
Lower auricle – 7 Lower auricle – 9
Third lobes – 1 Third lobes – 1
First septum – 10 First septum – 5
Second septum – 2 Second septum – 0
The first lobes hurt more than the other because it was a new sensation which I wasn’t too fond of but since then I got used to it and the only pain experienced was when they were knocked.
The most painful part of the navel piercing was the clamp as she put it on quite tight and despite the needle going through a chunky section of flesh it didn’t necessarily hurt and overall it wasn’t actually painful just uncomfortable. The healing process took a while and as it is a surface piercing it did get knocked quite a bit as well as the fact that I wear high-waisted jeans which meant that it snagged a few times which caused a couple of issues but I just let it do its things whilst keeping it cleaned and it has healed perfectly now. Getting used to the feeling of the bar on my stomach and being in my belly button was pretty weird but since changing it to a smaller circumference gem it became so much more manageable.
The cartilage piercings were not an enjoyable set to get. If I got them done separately the pain and healing issues may have decreased but I was so excited to keep on adding that I thought, why not get 2 done at the same time?! The upper one hurt more because I got it done second and by the point of the lower one being done my adrenaline levels had decreased slightly so the pain was more noticeable and the pain did make me feel quite sick which I hadn’t experienced with my past piercings. The healing for them was horrible because they kept getting attached to my hair and I had several moments of them being hit quite hard which prolonged the healing process.
Third lobes hardly hurt at all. I guess because I had such an intense piercing done the last time that I had quite an extreme comparison to make.
As described previously, the first septum piercing was the most painful piercing I have ever received. It was miles more painful than the second time of getting it done because it went through the septum cartilage instead of the skin near the tip of the nose. It is quite saddening to see the comparison on the pain scale for the septum piercings as if I was less impatient I could have waited to go to the more trusted studio and escaped the traumatic time from the first round.
I of course want to get more piercings in the future but I am going to try and space them out a little better from now on as I am also going to get some tattoos and my funds for body mods are depleting vastly!
The next one which I am considering is the smiley which is placed through the little connection of skin under your tip lip which joins to your gum. I have seen many photos of this cute piercing which can only be seen when you smile which I think is bloody adorable! It is an oral piercing though which worries me as I am concerned about tooth enamel erosion but along with a horseshoe jewellery in my septum I think it will be a lovely match.
Along with this I considered getting my marley done which is placed under the tongue through the webbing. I am not as convinced with this one as the process of getting it done seems quite tricky but it is one that I am considering.
The other non-ear piercings which I am debating to get in the future is; a nostril piercing to compliment the septum (although I am unsure whether it will crowd my small face too much) and nipples (a couple of my friends have theirs done and I think they are just such a cool piercing to get but I am not set on getting them soon).
My list continues for the right ear: lower auricle, rook, industrial and conch or orbital. After my previous cartilage piercings I am a little dubious of getting more done and also because my upper auricle is still having troubles healing but personally, I look past the pain bit and look forward to having the addition of jewellery to my body. My ears are also quite small so I am unsure if an industrial will work as it could look quite heavy along with the other ones but I haven’t ruled it out.
On my left ear I would consider getting the: tragus, daith, forward helix. One of my close friends got her rook done and seeing that on her made me fall in love with them even more. They look like an awkward piercing to get but I just adore the appearance of them. Furthermore, I love the jewellery you can get for the daith particularly the little heart shape pieces.
The tragus may be the next one I go for or a rook because I feel as if the outside parts of my ears are looking fruitful right now and in internal one could balance the aesthetic out. I am an avid earphone wearer though so the thought of a healing tragus and prolonged music listening sessions during the studying period could be problematic. My auntie has hers done which I noticed as a child before really being interested in piercings and thought how discrete and attractive they were.
To further this already lengthy post, I wish to discuss the piercing/ body mod community. Like most communities, there is a supportive and cooperative nature to it which is appreciated when advice is needed but there is a slightly toxic side to it whereby some individuals feel like you have to have a certain amount of body mods to be legible for the group which is clearly not carrying the morals of a community. Overall though, it is an interesting group to be part of and I love hearing about people’s experiences and the choice of body modifications they have. I find the more extreme mods such as tongue splitting and elf ears quite interesting as it is something many people may not even consider possible but they exist and people look great with them!
Some individuals, say like my mum, have a kind of prejudice against people who are heavily pierced or tattooed. I want to emphasise the fact that despite using my mum as a subject of distaste to some of my choices she is supportive of getting things added to your body (she has sizable tattoos and some piercings herself), she just wishes for me to inform her of what I am getting before I do it. Other people however are wholly against ‘mutilating’ your body which, to some extent, is understandable – it is all about personal opinion and getting a body mod is objective so of course it isn’t going to be for everyone’s taste but for someone to be discriminated against because of their differences is unacceptable.
Especially in our modern society we should be more understanding on the variation among people especially when you learn about the origin of piercings, tattoos and other forms of body modifications which would inform you that some cultures used these alterations as symbolism of wealth or power as well as the idea that, tattoos especially, can have a deep meaning to them which is significant to its owner. Essentially, I think that it is amazing for piercings to exist as it is an expression of self and decorating your body in a way which you may never have thought was possible. It creates diversity and, in my opinion, is a form of art.
No one has a body which is the same as someone else and this variation applies to the positioning and choice of piercing as no two people will have the same piercing – it is all individual and I love that!