Fan Submitted: “My First Piercing!”
April 5, 2012
By Cierra
My first piercing I was old enough to remember was my right second lobe piercing.
Before that? I had had both of my lobes pierced with a gun as an infant. So I can’t really recall that. While I was looking through a rack at Claire’s, waiting for Shrek to begin, my mom just blurted out, “you can get your second hole pierced.” I just stared at her in shock. I never thought she would cave in, but she did. It was my first piercing I’d get since I was a baby. Since this was back when Shrek was in theaters, the year was 2001: back in middle school when I was still ignorant to modifications and caring/receiving them properly. So eventually, my mom and I went back to Claire’s to get my right second lobe piercing which of course, was done with a gun.
I remember being so nervous. Of course, as a baby, I was too young to remember what gunned lobes felt like. So the woman sterilized my ear and took a ballpoint pen to dot my ear- letting me see the placement. My mom made sure it wasn’t too close to my first hole, because she feared my hole ripping. I sat down in the infamous tall chair next to their front window and waited for the employee to count down: “One… Two… Three…” CLICK! And it was over before I knew what happened. I was so thrilled and overwhelmed! My mom paid for it and I was given some of their cleaning solution. I remember walking through the mall with my mom, and when we were in the shoe section at Macy’s, I could feel the burning sensation which I worried about, but was assured it was normal. I cleaned the piercing with the Claire’s cleaning solution once to twice a day with a Q-tip. And back then- which was 11 years ago mind you- my mom would clean my piercings and earrings with rubbing alcohol. Fortunately, everything healed wonderfully.
Ever since that piercing, I went to a piercing shop because, luckily, when I was allowed to get my cartilage pierced (my next awaited piercing) I called Claire’s and they immediately told me they didn’t do gunned piercings on cartilage. So I researched, and found my first tattoo shop, and fell in love. I researched more about piercings and care when I received a booklet on piercing aftercare, what to use, and why. Since then, I went back to that shop for all of my piercings and my tattoo. The more I show up, the more talkative the workers are toward me. It feels nice, and I feel informed.