When I was five years old my parents took me to one of those kiosks in the mall to get my ears pierced. I chose these little blue diamond flower earrings and I cried when they shot them through my ears, typical five year old. It wasn't until eight years later that I decided I wanted to get my second hole pierced, and from there on out a monster was born. I've gotten plenty of piercing experience with a total of twelve piercings, having experienced ups and downs along the way. Hopefully, if you're looking to get pierced my story can help you make good decisions for you.

(Just a little ole diagram for your reference)

My Lobes

So like I said my first piercing was obviously a lobe piercing. I got it done with a piercing gun, which is frowned upon by basically all piercing professionals. I then went on at thirteen to get my second hole pierced, and then at sixteen my third hole, which are all considered lobe piercings. All of my lobe piercings were done with a piercing gun which in my opinion I think is totally fine to do for your lobes. (This is just my opinion, seriously do your research because everyones bodies react differently!) I never had any issue with the piercing gun up to this point and all my lobe piercings healed 100% fine, no issue. Lobes are a very easy piercing to get, they really don't hurt to get pierced and they heal easily.

My First Cartilage

With a lot of convincing, I was allowed to get my left ear cartilage piercing (helix) done at the age of fourteen. I ended up getting it done at a mall kiosk with a piercing gun, which a lot of people would say is a mistake to do especially with cartilage, but at this point in my life my mom wasn't keen on me going into a tattoo parlor to get it done so I was stuck with one option or no option. The piercing itself doesn't hurt like you would think it did considering cartilage is hard and a bone like tissues, its really just a pinch. It hurts more while it's healing, but to be honest mine only was sore for like two days and then it was fine. An important thing with any piercing is to make sure you clean it, this is how you guarantee it will heal good. Also another big thing, especially with a piercing that isn't a lobe piercing, you have to make sure you don't change the earring until you're allowed to. Typically for cartilage it takes around 6-8 months to heal. Mine healed totally fine and I later ended up going to a 14 Gauge earring in this ear (18 Gauge is the size of a normal earring).

My Mid

I want to say I was around sixteen when I got my mid helix piercing on my right ear, which is a weird spot to get pierced. On my ear it was an area with like half lobe, half cartilage. I got it done again at kiosk with a piercing gun, and all went well. Except for the fact that because it's kind of between cartilage and lobe, it would hit against the cartilage and that made it super sore sometimes, it's fine now though.

My Second Cartilage

So I went again to get a second cartilage piercing on my left ear to accompany the one I already had around seventeen, and when I went to get it done this is when I found out that whoever had pierced my first cartilage had pierced it at the wrong angle. So here I was once again at a kiosk, which at this point I was beginning to realize wasn't exactly the best option, and the guy told me that he would pierce my second cartilage in the right direction. So now both of my cartilage piercings are angled in different directions, oh well. The moral of this piercing was that I was pretty much done with kiosk piercings.

My Forward Helix

Finally with this piercing I went to a piercing parlor which I will tell you was Pleasurable Piercings in Hawthorne, NJ and I adore it there. I wanted to find a place that was super sterile and had people who knew what they were doing and Pleasurable Piercings 100% has both of those things. If you plan on getting pierced in the New Jersey area you should totally check them out. Any who, I got this piercing on my eighteenth birthday, I could finally sign for myself and I didn't need a parent to be there, even though my family was with me anyway. This was my first piercing with a needle rather than a gun, which is the suggested way to get pierced, and it honestly wasn't different as far as the pain factor. It felt pretty much the same as my past cartilage piercings. As far as the forward helix placement, it again doesn't really hurt much and I think it's a super adorable piercing. The only thing is the earring is a total pain to change because it's a tight spot and has a flat backing, so I just don't really change it. With this piercing I decided that my left ear was complete and I was done piercing it. Here it is below, sorry for the old as dirt second hole earring.

Silly old me, my friend and I decided we were in the mall this past November and would get our cartilage pierced. So against my better judgement, I once again ended up at a kiosk with a piercing gun. They pierced my cartilage on my right ear and this is the only piercing I have ever truly had an issue with. It hurt a lot after and it pretty much never stopped hurting. If I touch it the wrong way to this day it still hurts and I'm 98% sure it developed a keloid. So seriously, for anything other than your lobes just stay away from piercing guns and mall kiosks, and gosh never Claires. I still plan on getting one more piercing on my right ear once I have the money, but I'm not gonna disclose what it's going to be. So for now my right ear is on hiatus, here it is.

My Belly Button

My twelfth piercing happened to be my first and only piercing that isn't on my ears. I'd been toying with the idea since early in my teens, but my mom didn't really go for it until one day when I asked her at nineteen and she was like sure. I went back this past July to the same place I got my forward helix. Obviously your belly button is a fleshy area so I figured it wouldn't hurt much, but I was wrong. My belly button piercing was the most painful piercing I have ever gotten, way more painful than my cartilage piercings. A lot of people will tell you it isn't bad, but it was painful I'm not going to lie, obviously I survived though so I mean you will too. The first two days after it was so sore too, like it hurt to bend over. It was very very sore, but after a couple days passed it was okay. Another thing about belly button piercings is that the healing process is like a hard one. You have to clean it, but not too much because you don't want to over clean and irritate the area. Also it develops crust and it can get red and infected if you're not careful. They also tell you not to swim after getting it pierced for month, which I didn't do because it was July, so I suggest not getting it done in the Summer like I did. It just makes it all the more harder to heal. The wait time to change your belly ring is also really long, you have to wait 6-9 months to change it, the piercer will probably tell you they prefer you wait the full nine. I only waited six because I'm impatient and I was fine, but if you try to change is early than six months you WILL get irritated trust me I tried. Otherwise today my belly button is totally healed and I love it, so it was worth everything. Here's a fun picture of me getting it pierced, I love grossing people out with this so if you're squeamish scroll fast.

So that's my journey with piercings, I hope if you're looking to get pierced you got some helpful information from my story. Totally check out Pleasurable Piercings, they're so awesome and I totally recommend them to everyone! Check out all the different types of piercings, find whats right for you, and rock it. Happy piercing!