Yeah, that totally didn’t happen. Instead, we pierced each other.

Sam gave me another conch piercing (in the middle of the flat part of the top of the ear) and I gave Sam a helix piercing (around the rim of the ear).
We were very drunk at the time but – I loved it and it’s made me realise just how much I would totally love to become a piercer. :/

Both piercings are healing nicely and we’re still planning on “getting” Kerry.

This is my 27th piercing.

I had my left nipple done.

I thought it was going to be REALLY painful but it really wasn’t very bad. The needle didn’t hurt going in but it hurt coming back out. Having the jewellery inserted was the worst bit. I can’t wait to get the other one done!

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On getting it done: it was painful. I have had more painful ones done in the past; my anti-tragus was MUCH more painful, but this one was still quite *omg ow*. I’ve had a look at Tribal Voice’s (the place where I get all of my piercings) FAQ’s^{^} and they say that the septum is one of the most painful piercings they perform. This isn’t to put anyone off, mind – if you want it done so badly, you’ll get it done regardless of the pain factor. You’ll also feel really good about yourself (like I did) if you come out of the piercing studio after only saying “ooh, hurt” and not crying like a baby.

On how it looks: one of my favourite things about this particular piercing is the fact that it is very easy to hide. My mother is VERY anti-piercings and to be totally honest, she would have a heart attack if she knew I had this piercing. She tolerates most of the piercings I have but loathes my lip and finger piercings but the septum piercing is one of those ones she particularly despises. I know I’m 24 but I live at home and have to respect (or at least pretend) her opinions. Also, Myke hasn’t said so but I don’t think he liked the piercing very much, so I’m having to keep the piercing “flipped up” pretty much all of the time. This honestly just makes the piercing THAT MUCH COOLER because I now have a SECRET piercing.
When the piercing IS “flipped down”, it just looks like I have little balls stuck under my nose. It’s kinda cute:

On the pain afterwards: it’s not painful after it’s been pierced. It’s a slight annoyance in that I can definitely FEEL it but it doesn’t hurt. The worst thing so far is that my nose has produced a lot more…gunk and I now have a major urge to pick my nose (not something I usually do, to be honest) but it was the same when I got my nostril piercing.
Cleaning my makeup off my nose isn’t particularly pleasant but it’s something I’ve been able to cope with, providing I’m not TOO heavy handed. Pushing right on the tip of my nose just feels odd but not painful.

On cleaning it: as this is a piercing, it’s something I need to be cleaning twice a day with a saline (or “salt water”) solution. This is a HORRIBLE feeling for me because I really can’t stand having water up my nose. But it’s quite easy to clean – it’s pretty much soaking a cotton bud in the saline solution, shoving it up where the piercing is and gently turning the cotton bud.
PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON’T USE A FREAKING ALCOHOL SOLUTION. It will only dry out the area and make it much more painful than it needs to be!
When I need to blow my nose (which I’ve been doing a lot more recently), I flip the piercing down, blow my nose and wipe off as much gunk as I can, dampening some clean tissue and gently wiping around the area before flipping the piercing back up. (Sounds gross but it’s normal for most people who get a nose piercing.) Obviously, this needs to be done with clean hands.

If anyone who reads this is interested in getting this piercing done – I would TOTALLY recommend it; it’s quickly becoming one of my favourite piercings.

We arranged to meet up this afternoon and have lunch at a place called “Buffet City”, which is a Chinese restaurant…but an “all you can eat” buffet.
We both managed two small plates before we decided we were full and left.

We started wandering around the city centre, not sure what to do but just chatting while we walked along.
And the subject turned to piercings…and I think you probably have a good idea where this is going…

I wanted to go into my usual piercing place to get a new lip ring and so off we went. As we walked in, Sam’s all “Hmm, I REALLY want a new piercing. Do you know if they have any piercings for £20 or less?”. I didn’t, so we went to the counter. Sam looked down the list and found the piercing she had really wanted for a few months and it was in her price range. I was innocently enquiring about some of the piercings I was kinda interested in getting at some point.

Well, between Sam and the person on the counter, I got talked into getting a piercing I’ve wanted for about…two years?

Long story short: I am now the proud owner of a septum piercing^{^}.

After we got pierced, most of the shops in the city centre had closed, so we decided to go home.

The jewellery I’m wearing in my new piercing is a horseshoe ring and it’s flipped up, so no one can see it. It’s a ninja piercing.
I’ll put photos up when the piercing is healed enough for me to be happy pulling the jewellery down.

Anyway.

I was tidying my bedroom up earlier and managed to jam the dermal anchor on the middle finger of my right hand in one of my drawers. There was pain, yelling, swearing and blood but I got over it. Kinda.

‘Cept now, my finger has swollen to TWICE its size and it’s very painful to bend, even though I’ve “had a few” (*wink wink*) drinks.
Anyway, the jewellery looks like it’s sinking into my finger (and YES I’ve cleaned it) and I’m not sure if I want to go to sleep ’cause I’ll probably end up waking up with a VERY swollen finger and no sign of my dermal anchor.

But I’m SO tired…I guess Killer will have to keep watch for me…

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On Friday, work decided they didn’t like it and they wanted me to remove it.
Long story short, I’ve been “hiding” my labret piercing by wearing a clear retainer but without screwing on the ball (until home time when, basically, I’ll do whatever the hell I please).

Earlier, I had my lunch and was sat in the staff room picking at my teeth with my tongue. I went to play with the back of the piercing, like I’ve been doing for over three weeks now, and…well, I couldn’t find the stud.

I must have swallowed it.

As much time and effort I put into that entry, I’ve noticed that a lot of questions probably aren’t answered as well as they could have been. Some of these aren’t exactly questions but I feel they’re worth discussing.

List of questions answered

• Dry skin around piercing
• How to make a sea salt solution for your ear
• How soon can you change a new ear piercing?
• Turning new ear piercing
• Can an ear piercing seal up in an hour?
• How to clean an infection from ear piercing
• How to clean newly pierced helix? / How to clean newly pierced ear?
• Can you use contact solution on ear piercings?
• How long should you clean a new piercing for?
• How many times do I clean newly pierced ears?
• What to do – ear piercing not healing?

Dry skin around piercing

This is usually caused by either cleaning the new ear piercing with the wrong solution, by over-cleaning or not removing the excess solution from the site of the piercing.

Don’t use alcohol-based products to clean your new ear piercing, as it will dry out the surrounding skin and make it uncomfortable (itchy!) and unsightly. There’s a very good reason why using stuff like Surgical Spirit hurts – it’s not supposed to be used!

Don’t clean the new ear piercing more than twice a day, unless you have some pussing going on, or if the new ear piercing regularly comes into contact with something dirty (hands / fingers, hair, etc) – if any of these are the case, then clean the piercing up to three times a day.

Always remove excess solution from the site of the piercing – not doing this can eventually cause the area to become dry. You can do this the same way you clean the piercing but DON’T rub the area.

How to make a sea salt solution for your ear

Fill the kettle up and start boiling. While you’re waiting, get a large CLEAN measuring jug, a CLEAN teaspoon and some sea salt (NOT rock salt or table salt or any other type of salt!).
Measure out about ¼ of a teaspoon of the salt and pour it into the jug.
When the kettle has boiled, pour out about 300ml / half a pint of the water into the jug.

Sit and wait for it to cool down – I like my water to be warm, so I wait around half an hour. My sister likes her water cool, so she waits for about an hour.

How soon can you change a new ear piercing?

This depends on the placement of the piercing – a lobe piercing can be changed after around 2 ½ months but a helix piercing (“top of the ear” piercing) needs to have at least 3-4 months to heal.

The first time you want to change the jewellery in your ear piercing, you should go back to the piercer; it costs very little (it costs around £2 here) and they make sure the jewellery is clean before they insert it.

It’s really best to wait for as long as you can stand the jewellery.

Turning new ear piercing

Don’t twist or turn the jewellery in your new ear piercing! Doing this is kind of like picking your scabs; as the piercing is healing, there are going to be tiny new scabs inside the wound, where you can’t see or feel them. These tiny scabs will “stick” to the jewellery. By twisting the jewellery, you are effectively picking at all those tiny scabs and then rubbing them into all of the newly opened wounds; you’re increasing the chance of your new piercing becoming infected.

Your jewellery will not get “stuck” into one position if you don’t twist or turn the jewellery – all of those tiny scabs I mentioned will eventually be removed by your body.
You’re not “helping the hole form” or “helping the healing process along” by twisting or turning the jewellery – by twisting or turning the jewellery in your new ear piercing, you’re hindering the healing process and making it go on for much longer than it needs to.

Also, it’s really gross.

Can an ear piercing seal up in an hour?

Depends on how old the piercing is and if it has an infection.

An unhealed piercing can – and will – heal up very quickly. This is why you should wait for as long as you can before changing the jewellery.
When I was eleven and had just had my first helix piercing, I decided that I was bored with the jewellery already and wanted to change it, despite the piercing only being a week old at the time. In the time it took me to take out the original “stud” and try to put the new one in, the hole had partially closed up. My mum had to help me force the new “stud” into the hole and I ended up with a lovely infection as a result.

How to clean an infection from ear piercing

Bump the cleaning up to three times a day, using a sea salt solution and make sure you keep your hair up!
If the infection is still present after a week, go back to the piercer, as they can tell you what to do and where to go next. Unless the piercer (and no one else!) says otherwise, do not remove the jewellery! You need to keep the jewellery in, otherwise the wound will close up and keep the pus inside your ear. If the pus has no where to go, it will then rot and will create an even bigger infection.

If your ear seems fine and then suddendly swells or “puffs up”, go straight to the hospital, as this could be a very serious infection. If you’ve knocked it and it suddenly swells or “puffs up”, you don’t need to go to the hospital, but you do need to be more careful.

How to clean newly pierced helix? / How to clean newly pierced ear?

Make up a sea salt solution and use clean cotton buds / q-tips.

You dip the cotton bud into the solution and let any excess drips … er, drip. Then place the cotton bud against the site of the piercing and roll it gently towards the end of the jewellery, while keeping it in place. Do this all around each side of the piercing (you should have two sides – front and back) and use a clean cotton bud each time.
Once you’ve cleaned, use a clean and DRY cotton bud to remove the excess solution from your piercing. If you leave it on, the salt in the solution can cause dryness.

Can you use contact solution on ear piercings?

NO.

How long should you clean a new piercing for?

For as long as it takes but make sure you clean the piercing for at least the recommended amount of time. You can get that information from your piercer – just phone them up or go into the shop.

How many times do I clean newly pierced ears?

Twice a day for at least the recommended amount of time. This depends on the placement of the piercing and you should really ask your piercer for this information.

What to do – ear piercing not healing?

Most piercers will offer free “check-ups” on the piercing you have had done with them. If you feel that your piercing is taking too long to heal or doesn’t seem to be healing at all, you should go back and see them.

I don’t have any degrees or qualifications on the subject of body piercing but I’ve put myself through it enough times to know what you should do to get those piercings healed up nice and quickly.

What NOT to clean with and why

A lot of the aforementioned articles will tell you to use some sort of alcohol-based solution, such as surgical spirits. NEVER use these as they can dry out the surrounding skin, causing it to become sore and dry.
Alcohol-based solutions actually damage the skin cells it comes into contact with, killing them off and making it easy for an infection to get in.

You also shouldn’t use tea tree oil to clean piercings with. Although it has anti-bacterial properties, it’s a *bit* harsh to be putting on your skin twice a day, every day; when I did this, my piercing started looking like I’d put a cigarette out on it; the tea tree oil had burnt the skin surrounding the piercing!

It’s a good idea to not put any type of oil on a new piercing, as it can create a sort of seal around it, stopping the air from getting to it, stopping the solution you SHOULD use from getting to it and stopping the gunk from getting out.
Not having gunk come out of the piercing may sound nice but what do you think that gunk’s going to do, if it can’t drain out of the piercing? It’ll start to rot. Not so nice, is it?

What you SHOULD clean with

Instead of using any fancy lotions and potions that could actually cause more damage to your piercing, you should use a sea salt solution.
Some piercers will send you out with a sea salt solution but others will just give you a slip which will tell you how to make your own.

A sea salt solution can be made at home and costs next to nothing. The best part is that you can adjust the amount of salt you use, so if your ears start to look a little dry, you just add less salt.

How to make the sea salt solution

What you will need:

• A kettle
• A jug – with measurements written on it
• A tea spoon
• Sea salt (which can be bought from health food shops and supermarkets and is very cheap)

Fill up your kettle and turn it on. While you’re waiting, grab your jug, a tea spoon and your sea salt. Measure out a quarter of a tea spoon of your sea salt and pour it in the jug.
When the kettle’s boiled, pour about half a pint / 300ml / 30cl of the boiling water in the jug.

You need to wait for the water to cool down; you don’t want to scald the new piercings. I like the water to still be quite warm, so I usually wait about 35-40 minutes before I clean my piercings. My sister likes it cold, so she waits at least an hour.

How to clean the piercing

You should use a cotton bud / q-tip (you know, those things people stick in their ear holes to “clean them”) to clean the piercings with. I buy the ones meant for babies, as the cotton is wound one more tightly and doesn’t look like it’ll fall apart when I get it wet.

Dip the cotton bud in the solution you’ve just made up, making sure NOT to touch the end that will come into contact with the piercing. Tap the stick part against the rim of the jug, to get rid of any drips and excess water.
Place the cotton bud against the jewelry and gently, softly roll the cotton bud around the edge of the piercing.
For every piercing, you will have an entrance and an exit. Make sure you use a NEW, CLEAN, UNUSED cotton bud for each. If you drop a cotton bud or accidentally touch it, discard it and get another one.

When you’ve cleaned the piercing, you will have a little wet patch surrounding each piercing. You will want to get rid of the little wet patches, as they contain salt (dry skin anyone?). Dry off the same way you would clean the piercing but make sure that the cotton bud is dry.

If the area surrounding the piercing starts to look a little dry or flaky, then reduce the amount of salt you add to the solution. For example, I actually use a little more than half the amount that’s recommended, because I started having some dryness and flakyness going on around my piercings.

You should clean your piercing twice a day, every day for the healing period. If you’re not sure what the healing period is, ask your piercer.
If you develop an infection, clean your ears three times a day but NO MORE than that, otherwise your piercing may become dry and sore.

What you should and should NOT do with your new piercing

• DO NOT turn or twist the jewelry. The jewelry WILL NOT get “stuck” if you don’t and your ear WILL NOT “eat” the jewelry (unless you get it so infected it swells up to gigantic proportions). By twisting or turning it, all you’re doing is pissing off your ear even further, causing new tears to open up in the piercing and reopening old ones.
• DO leave the starter jewelry in the piercing for as long as possible, unless it’s causing irritation (IF this happens, go back to the piercer and have THEM change the jewelry). For the first jewelry change, go back to the piercer and get them to do it for you.
• DO find out the gauge you’ve gotten pierced at and try and only buy jewelry at that gauge; you were pierced at that size for a reason.
• DO keep your hair away from your ears for as long as possible after getting a new piercing. Just like fingernails, it doesn’t matter how often you clean your hair, it will still contain dirt. You don’t want ANY dirt in your new piercing.
• DON’T cover the piercing with a plaster; air needs to be able to get to it.
• DON’T touch the jewelry unless you’re cleaning it. Even then, make sure you’ve JUST washed your hands with anti-bacterial soap.
• DON’T pick off the crusties or try to force them off while cleaning. I know it’s gross having to walk around with your hair tied up and having these nasty little scab-like things on your new holes but you’ll only risk damaging the piercing or causing an infection if you push too hard. If anyone mentions it or makes a big deal out of it, tell them to “get lost” (using your own choice words ).
• DO NOT remove the jewelry if you develop an infection. When there’s an infection, there will be pus. Your jewelry gives the pus a way out of the piercing, preventing the infection from worsening.

Look after your new piercing and you should have no problems.

I made the helix part bleed a little on Monday because I was too heavy handed with my cleaning but I’ve learnt my lesson and have started to be a little more gentle when cleaning them.

On Monday, it was freezing outside but I didn’t feel it on the ear but it made my ear puff up quite a bit and it kind of felt like I’d had something clipped on the rim of my ear; the barbell I have in my helix piercing isn’t long enough to accommodate super-puffed ears.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night I couldn’t sleep well because I kept rolling over onto my left hand side, which would wake me up (they tend to hurt when you squash them!) and keep me from sleeping properly afterwards because I’d worry about doing it again. My body appears to have gotten used to not rolling over in my sleep because I’m sleeping properly again.

Other than those little problems, the new holes are settling down nicely and feel fine. I have to keep my hair up most of the time though because I keep snagging the piercings and I worry that my hair might have a bit of dirt that will transfer to the new holes and give me an infection…

I think my mum has probably noticed them by now but she hasn’t mentioned it yet!

(I apologise for it being such a dark photograph but it was the best of the bunch. I will take another one when it’s a bit lighter! )

I got an orbital in my left ear to mirror the one I had done in my right ear (in October 2007) – see my “New Piercings” photograph on Flickr^{^} for a reference.
That’s a grand total of 16 piercings on my ears!

I’ve been trying to get it done since July 2008 but various things came up which prevented me from being able to do it. I finally managed to get it done on Saturday!

It was unusually painful and the piercer and myself ended up playing a kind of tug-o-war game over my ear while I was getting the conch part done, which is probably the reason why my ear is so swollen and bruised looking now.
I think they’re healing okay but they’re pretty swollen and bruised, so I can’t see them very well and I can barely clean the helix piercing because of the swelling!

They don’t hurt at all, which is REALLY WEIRD; normally, you can feel new piercings for a few days but the only time they feel sore is when I clean them or catch them. (Which is why I take an ibuprofen about quarter of an hour before cleaning them – by the time I’ve finished torturing my new holes, the ibuprofen starts to kick in and rids me of the pain and some of the swelling that arises.)

At work today, I kept getting the dreaded question; “Did it hurt?”.
Hmm, let’s see. I had a needle poked through my ear. Twice. Could that POSSIBLY have been a bit on the “ow” side?!