It’s been almost 5 months since I got the conchs done. It’s been an interesting experience and not entirely pleasant. I’ve spent most of the 5 months fighting pressure blisters. Until about two weeks ago they were on the back side of my ear. Then they just went away and things were pretty cool. I was sleeping on it some and it looked like they were going to heal. Then a few days ago I noticed that it was kind of red around the lower piercing in front. Now it’s blistered up some. Fuck.

I still have the barbells in and I’m going to keep it that way until I’m sure they’ve healed pretty well. I still think they’ll look bitchin’ when I get the CBRs in but I really don’t recommend a cartilege piercing for the faint of heart or those who aren’t up to constant maintenance for six months or so. I’m really glad I got both done at once because I honestly don’t think I’d have gotten the second one after the PITA of taking care of one.

There’s a post over on Wired about one of the finalists on the latest America’s Next Top Model and how she used to have picturescirculating on 4chan‘s /b/ board in 2005 where she was known as Creepy-chan then she went a little less goth and started being referred to as Cute-chan. Then the pictures stopped and she showed up on ANTM. She needs some piercings and tattoos but otherwise seems like she might be interesting.

I went by Warlock’s yesterday to see when Autumn thought I could change out the barbells for rings and she told me I have to wait at least another month and maybe 2. I have to be able to sleep on it before I can even think about swapping them. *pouts and looks dejected*

It’s been a month since I got the inner conchs done. In all honesty I can’t say I recommend getting 2 done at once for people with low tolerances for pain. I don’t know if mine are because of getting 2 done at once or because mine happens to be through the thickest part of the cartilage or what but my ear is still a little swollen along the outer rim and hurts like a motherfucker. I still can’t sleep directly on it at all and can only fake sleeping on that side for a little while.

I’m going to go by tomorrow and see if Autumn thinks it’s time to swap in the rings yet or if I should wait another couple of weeks. It’s definitely going to be totally sick when I get the rings in.

So it’s been almost a week since I got the conchs done. There was some swelling and it hurt like a bitch every time I banged on my ear or caught one of them with my finger. The barbell in the lower hole is pretty long so it doesn’t look completely goofy until I get the CBRs in but that means it gets knocked around more than if it was short. Last night was the first time I could even come close to sleeping on it. And today was the first day I could move the lower barbell without it feeling like I was getting it pierced again.

No pain no gain, right? It’ll all be worth it once I get the rings in but I’d definitely advise against getting inner conchs on both sides at the same time unless you can sleep on your back for a week or so though.

Fetch, don’t you think?

Last night I finally got around to getting my inner conches done. I got 2 done in my right ear with 14ga barbells for now. Johnson & Tasha came with me to take pictures and we rolled into Warlock’s about 9. There were 2 girls there getting navel rings (at least one was, I guess I’m not sure about the other one) and another girl getting a lobe piercing in front of me. I filled out the forms, ID, yada yada legal stuff. Autumn brought me in and we test fitted some rings then she put all the stuff in [the thing she still doesn't call an autoclave but I can never remember the name of]. I’m starting with barbells and will switch out to CBRs once the piercings are fully healed.

As usual, the actual piercings were pretty anti-climactic. Breath in, breath out,  needle through, jewelry in. She did the bottom first then the top. I will say that cartiledge is clearly tougher than  whatever earlobes are made out of. Autumn had to push pretty hard and where mine are is probably the thickest part of the conch.  As far as I know there wasn’t any blood. There definitely wasn’t any popping sound. There was pain but it was bearable — for the first I’d give it a 2/10 and the 2nd was probably a 2.5/10. As a comparison, I’d say the lobes piercings were 0.5/10 for the first 2 and maybe a 1/10 for the third one. There was a dull ache out of the top one for a while but nothing an ibuprofen didn’t take care of.

I went to bed a couple hours later and did sleep on my right side some during the night by putting the pillow above my ear. I did bang them a couple times during the night and that’ll wake you up. This morning there’s still a little ache from the top one but I can touch them (lightly) without it hurting. I cleaned them this morning and it didn’t make me cry like a little girl or anything.

Here are pictures. I’ll like them better once I get the rings in.

This is after she’d done the first one

And this is from this morning. Looking good so far…

Psych! I went down to get them yesterday but Autumn was out of 14ga barbells in 3/8″ & 1/2″. I didn’t think to ask about 12ga until after we left. I would totally have gone for 12s. She supposed to get some in Monday so maybe next weekend.

So, I stopped by Warlock’s to show Autumn how my fly new piercings were healing and we talked about swapping beads to hematites sometime. Then we talked about doing my inner conchs on my right ear. Sometime in January, I think. I want to make sure that I can sleep all night on my left side before I do it and the upper one on the left still hurts sometimes when I forget it’s there and bang on it or if it gets twisted while I’m sleeping.

Anyhow, here’s a pic I lifted from BMEzine of exactly what I have in mind.

So I got my ear pierced today…. 3 14ga CBRs in my left ear. They’re 1/2″, 3/8″ & 5/16″ ( I think – I’m sure about the 1/2″ and pretty sure about the 3/8, 3/16 sounds awful small). It was not really painful although I did comment that the third one (highest up) stung a little. Anyway, we’ll see what’s next.

I got my first piercing in 1975. My next door neighbor did it for me and my best with one of her mom’s sewing needles (same one for both of us without any cleaning in between as I recall – ah, the simplicity of life before AIDS). We went with pirate style hoops and it lasted for about 3 weeks. He got his torn out in a fight and I decided that I didn’t need to be a social revolutionary that bad.

I started out joking about getting a septum piercing just to screw with people about 3 months ago and then got interested in this girl with a lip piercing and thought WTF. So Tuesday I got off work early and went to Warlock’s Tattoo & Body Piercing in Raleigh where I get all my tats done. I asked if Autumn (the piercer) was in and was escorted back to her part of the shop. She asked what I wanted and I told her 3 in my left lobe. She took me out and explained everything in really thorough detail and had me sign forms and show my ID. Then she took me into the booth and showed me (the thing she called something else but was basically an autoclave) and put all the equipment and jewelry in to sterilize.

She picked out 3 14ga CBRs in 1/2″, 3/8″, & 5/16″ which was exactly the sort of look I had in mind. After all the setup, the actual piercing was pretty uneventful. She had me sit down in the chair, marked the spots and had me look at it in the mirror to make sure that’s where I wanted them. The first needle went through and she put the jewelry in. The second needle went through and she put the jewelry in that one. Honestly, I’ve had phantom pains that were worse than those 2. She kept asking if I felt faint or was going throw up and I felt a little robbed because obviously some people get to feel lighted headed or something and I didn’t feel anything.

When she put the third one in I said “That stung a little” and she said something about it getting into fatty tissue up that high and the trauma because of the 2 previous piercings. I got up and admired them in the mirror. We went out front again and she said to call if there were any problems and I paid and left.

The shitty picture picture  is from about 2 hours later. That night I rolled on my left side a couple times and woke up. Last night, I slept on my left side for at least a while and it didn’t really hurt it was just uncomfortable after a while. Today has been fine except for when I forget they’re there and catch them with my hand or something. As near as I can tell there hasn’t been any bleeding and if there was any swelling it’s gone.

The biggest problem is that the only people that tell me how good it looks are people who know it’s new. I think you should get a badge that says something like “Tell me how great my new piercing looks”

I’m really happy with it and recommend Autumn to anybody in the Raleigh area. Next up, 2 inner conchs in my right ear.