Piercing Piercing Experiences Ears Conch Piercing

So, I've had a few piercings before (eyebrow, navel, rook, daith, and tragus in order), but what I'm writing about tonight is my conch. Most of my other piercings weren't so bad - my rook hurt quite a bit as I'm told they tend to do - so, hey, what's one more?

This is why I got my conch pierced. My eyebrow is pierced on my right side, my rook on my left. When I went to get my daith pierced, Rob - my piercer - had a plan. He thought that it would be great to pierce my helix, rook, daith, and tragus, and then put one piece of jewelry through all of them. I said, "Sure, go for it." and so I got my daith and tragus done within two days of each other to make the process quicker with healing and all. These were both done on my right side - making my face uneven. So, four days later I went to get my left side pierced.

Not knowing what to get, but knowing it had to be in my ear for work purposes (working for a large coffee company that doesn't allow facial piercings - I have to take my eyebrow ring out every day - and only allows 2 pieces of jewelry in each ear - no names mentioned (Starbucks)) I sort of left it up to Rob to decide where to pierce. I never thought that I would get my conch pierced - it was a little too large and gaudy at the time - I was expecting him to say something like, "How about your tragus again?" or "What about your anti-tragus?" Nothing big. Instead he looked at me and said, "Your conch. Let's go."

Putting full trust in Rob, I followed him into the back and sat down on his dentist chair. As always, I watched him clean everything, and get my jewelry ready. I asked him for a colorful bead to match the rest of my piercings. Not caring what color (but preferring dark blue) he called the other girl in to go look for a bead. When she asked what size he was piercing with, he told her 14g and I freaked out. All my others were 16g and I didn't really want anything bigger. Bigger meant more pain. Rob assured me that it would look much better being 14g instead of 16g, and wouldn't hurt more than the others, so again, I trusted Rob.

Then it started. I got really nervous and started shaking - as usual - and was blabbering on about how much it was going to hurt, and how I couldn't believe how I was letting Rob massacre my body like this - again. So, as usual, Rob stopped and said that we didn't have to go through with this and could do it another day. He said maybe I had a "piercing overload" and shouldn't do a third one in one week. I assured him that I could handle it - not really believing that myself - and told him just to do it.

Rob showed me the mark that he had made, and asked if it was okay. I said sure, not really knowing, but thinking it looked all right. He told me to lie down and put my head towards him. He explained that I would feel a little poke while he was lining it up; then take a deep breath in while the needle went through, and then it would magically feel better. I asked how much it would hurt compared to my other piercings, and he said that it wouldn't hurt much, but would probably just burn more.

He lined it up and asked if I felt the poke. Before I could answer yes, I was pierced. Literally that quickly. The jewelry was in. He put the bead in (which ended up being dark blue - not pink like she had said she would get me) and cleaned up the little blood that there was. He sat me up and looked at me. "Cool," was the first word that came out of his mouth. "That looks so good." I just looked at him and said, "That's it? You're really done?" "That's it. Done. How's it feel?" He said. I told him he was right, it did burn more than the others, but didn't really hurt. I was amazed. I've been pierced five other times before this, and have seen a few other people being pierced, but have never experienced something so quick and easy. It was great. All I could say was "I can't believe that was so fast!"

So, that was my conch piercing. I didn't know if I'd like it, but as soon as he showed it to me in the mirror, I loved it. My family hates it, of course, but what does that matter. I can't wait to go back and get it done again. I had it pierced two weeks ago today, and it looks incredible. I've had no problems with it, and it feels fine. I couldn't sleep on it for about a week, and I still can't talk on the phone very well, but that's the price you have to pay.

I would definitely tell everyone to get their conch pierced. It went so well for me, but that may have had something to do with the guy who pierced me. Thanks Rob.
-Bryna