Jester's Faux Snug
I have been wanting a snug piercing for three years, if not longer, now. I was put off by continual reports of pain, lack of healing and eventual removal from most of the experiences I found online (although the one snug I saw in real life, the owner reported zero problems apparently). So I didn't get it and didn't get it and started work on other parts of my body (navel, nipple).
Last month I discovered the 'faux snug', or, a helix piercing and a conch piercing either side of the snug ridge to give the appearance of a snug, without any of the playing up and super long healing times. I did some research and I was in love. It's been years since I'd done any work to my ears and my poor right ear looked rather... Unshiney. I knew my next piercing had to be my right ear and I knew it had to be a faux snug.
I decided to treat myself to a new piercing as I've been working really quite hard at university (since Christmas I have had a request to publish my work, presented a paper on hate crime at another university's conference, asked to contribute to the school blog as well as getting firsts in all my assignments that had been graded). I'd won £50 from presenting my paper, so figured as this was a reward from uni, it could pay for my treat. I had wanted to wait until summer so it was more of a graduation present but summer is re-ancting season (tents, no running water, woodsmoke, etc.; not the best environment for a new piercing or two) and in October my brother is getting married, and I am a bridesmaid. I didn't think the bride would appreciate a nicely swollen, bleeding ear in her photos (she may very well ask me to take it out for the photos anyway, which I wouldn't have been able to do if it was only a month or two old).
I'd only ever had one piercing in Essex before, despite having lived here for seventeen years. That piercer was long gone and my regular piercer was, oddly, on the Isle of Wight. I'm not opposed to travelling, but that really is just a bit too far (we used to have one of our last re-enactments of the year over there followed by visiting friends for a week, so it became a tradition to end the holiday with a new piercing). My mum asked some of her friends and they recommended a place in Braintree but I was a little put off by the fact my good friend's helix got infected after going there and the fact it was, primarily, a beauty salon. Anyway, I sort of accidentally came across Skin Inc Tattoos because mum thought that's where her friend was recommending. So I looked them up on Facebook and really tried to find fault but I could not. They seemed professional, their piercings looked good and, what I thought was pretty good, they had a note on their Facebook page saying what to do/not do when picking a piercing studio (e.g., do ask if they use sterile equiptment, don't go if you don't feel comfortable, etc.). Thought I'd give 'em a go.
I sent them a message over Facebook asking if they would do a faux snug, what jewellery would be used, etc. and they got back to me really quickly. After answering my questions I got myself booked in for midday on Thursday (today) as I've been at a spa with my mum Monday-Wednesday and knew chloriney water and a fresh piercing was a bad idea. Mum took me in to Braintree but left to go shop (she doesn't like watching me get pierced) and I met up with my good friend and her boyfriend. We went into the studio, where we sat down had a chat and I explain to my friend what it was I wanted.
After about five minutes the piercer (Ellie) came through. She gave me a form and asked to check my anatomy to see if I was suitable. She said I had quite a pronounced ridge and would have been suitable for a regular snug piercing (not that she was trying to change my mind, she was just observing) but agreed that the faux snug would be easier to heal as her own snug took over two years to heal. After filling in the form and paying she left to set up the room and called me through a few minutes later. I asked if my friends could watch and she said that wasn't a problem.
I sat down on the chair and she sterilised my ear while we discussed the sort of placement I wanted. I told her that I wanted it horizontal, rather than diagonal, and wanted it to sort of mirror my helix piercings on my left ear (they're at a right angle to each other and I wanted my faux snug to be at a right angle to my rook). She marked it up for me and gave me a mirror to check it out. I thought it looked okay but asked my friend to double check for me (difficult to see your own ear!) and she said the placement was right for mirroring. Ellie explained that she would be using 1.2mm microbars, 10mm for the conch and 9mm for the helix; quite long to accomodate healing. She said she normally would pierce a conch at 1.6mm but as I was having the helix at 1.2mm it made sense to pierce them both this size to get the correct effect.
After this she changed gloves (she must have changed gloves three or four times throughout the entire process, which was nice to see) she set the needles out. I'd been chatting with my friends at this time, mainly about my previous piercing experiences and why this was only my second piercing in Essex. I was asked which piercing I wanted first; I said to do the conch as it would be more painful and would be more out of the way for piercing the helix, too which she agreed. I was asked to take a deep breath and breathe out at which point she pushed the needle through. Did it hurt? Yeah. But my rook still has top place for most painful ear piercing (and second place for all my piercings). To be honest, it really wasn't that bad at all; burnt for a little bit as she put the jewellery through but otherwise fine. She then asked me to take another deep breath and, on the exhale, pierced my helix. I'd forgotten just how painless helix piercings were.
Afterward putting the jewellery in, I was given a mirror to check the piercings. They looked good; my friend said they looked fantastic and placement was perfect. Ellie put on a new set of gloves and told me she was just going to give my ear a second clean. While she was doing that, I mentioned that I had a possible granuloma on my navel piercing (I started a thread about it yesterday). She had a quick look and concured and gave me some advice.
After all that she gave me some cleaning tips on a bit of paper (although she said it sounded like I knew what I was doing and was pretty knowlegable on my own piercings by now), told me a date to come in for a bar change. I asked if I could bring in my own jewellery as I wanted to switch to Blackline at a later date or if I had to use their jewellery. She said she would rather use their own (easier to guarantee its sterility, etc.) but it would be possible to order some PVD coated titanium in for me.
I said my thank yous had my friend take a picture and got my emergency cherry Chupachup out of my bag for the sugars (I always give myself a big sugar hit after a piercing) and we left. Met up with my mum about ten minutes later and she also thought it looked nice.
Over all, cost me £36 (£20 each, but a 10% student discount). I was really impressed with the service I got and would happily go again. ^_^ My ear is burning a little right now and feels swollen but is otherwise fine. I usually have a bit of an adrenaline rush after a piercing/tattoo but didn't feel it when I walked out of the piercers (by which point my ear was practically painless again). My friend seems to think that after ripping out my nipple piercing and four hours in one sitting of ink on my ribcage has made my body not even notice something as 'minor' as a conch/helix piercing. =P
Oh, and here are some photos for you all to oggle at. I really like it!
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