The trials and tribulations of piercing one’s ears

I recently got my ears pierced. Or perhaps not so recently– it’s been over a month now. After 18 years of plain, unembellished ears, I finally gave in to the pressure:

So, while in New York City with my sister and host sister, I got my ears pierced. My sister had made up her mind to get a second piercing and, I, the innocent bystander, was dragged along.

Somehow we found a Claire’s in the middle of the city. We entered, where the sassy manager proceeded to stick my ears with a metal pin.

They told me it wouldn’t hurt. Lies! All lies! Okay, so I’m just a huge pansy who has no tolerance for any sort of physical pain. I even close my eyes when I get my shots. Yeahhh. I’m a legal adult.

But that was over a month ago. Since then I’ve been cleaning my ears diligently, since I have a pathological fear of them getting infected. Swollen ears and freely flowing pus is not on my to-do list. I was especially afraid since I had purchased the stainless steel earrings instead of gold or silver ones (gold and silver are less likely to provoke allergic reactions) because I wasn’t willing to drop 60 bucks to get my earlobes poked through.

Well, I had a right to be paranoid. Because a couple days ago, my fears came true.

I called over my mom, who proceeded to freak out.

The back of my right ear, which at this point was swollen and dripping blood, was in fact infected. My mom, seeing her youngest daughter bleeding, went into that mode I can only call mother bear: 
My mother proceeded to whittle down the toothpick and then attempt to stick it through my ear, which only provoked more bleeding. I don’t doubt her trick works– it’s just that my ear was already too swollen to yield an entire toothpick. The bleeding was starting to slow down, though, thanks to copious amounts of ear cleaner and cotton balls. Suddenly my mom remembered something…
And she ran out to retrieve this: 
And that’s how ended up walking around with one metal stud and one gold hoop in my ears. In other words: I am now a pirate. 

25 thoughts on “The trials and tribulations of piercing one’s ears

  1. Oh no! When I saw this post come up on my reader I was seriously hoping you did not get it pierced at Claire’s because I recently saw something on Tumblr that said Claire’s piercings were really likely to get you infected. That toothpick trick sounds gruesome. I have no tolerance for pain as well. Hopefully everything works out alright with your piercing, though. I’ve been wanting to get a second hole but I’m too scared.

    • I’ve heard that other places are good for piercings– my friend recommended Piercing Pagoda, my cousin recommended tattoo shops. I think I just had bad back luck! And I went to Claire’s… bad idea. 😛

  2. awesome. never taking mine out now.

    although i stopped cleaning out my ears after the second week and theyre not swollen or oozing blood… MAYBE ITS JUST YOU LOL

  3. First, congrats on the piercings!

    BUT OMG. YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE HAD IT DONE AT CLAIRE’S. I do not know a SINGLE person who got theirs done at Claire’s and DIDN’T get an infection. They messed up my sister’s so bad that they SLIPPED and accidentally double-pierced her ears. Mine were swollen and bleeding for a freaking year, so tightly swollen that I actually couldn’t take the studs they used out for nearly 10 months! It was horrible. I still get infections if I wear earrings too often, so my advice to you is to only wear earrings (especially the long, decorative ones that aren’t gold-based) for a couple of hours at a time.

    And yayy, though, Pirate Vy!

  4. Oh boy. Doesn’t sound too good. xD
    I have never gotten my ears pierced and now I even more so probably will not.
    Actually…there are earrings that don’t even need piercing…

    But hurray, you are a pirate at last! I suppose there had to be some suffering before that.

  5. I got my ears pierced once. I had to get a stud for the initial piercing, and I got one with a deep red jewel in the middle. It was really cool.

    When they were doing it (“How old are you–” “Oh that’s nothing, my kids got theirs pierced when they were thirteen…”), the first one got stuck. I lifted my hand to it, thinking the first one was done, not even feeling any pain… but they made me stop that, and redid it. It wasn’t until sometime after that I heard what had happened, third party.

    My ear closed up when I stood the stud out a few weeks later. I planned to swap it for another earring, but I didn’t go straight to it (I was trying to figure out how to take it out first, and then my mom did it for me).

    Speaking of pain thresholds, it reminds me of when I had to get shots at school. I was afraid it was going to hurt, but it didn’t. I felt the stuff go into my arm, which was weird, but it didn’t hurt. I must be good with that stuff. 😛

    • Good for you! I wish I was better at getting shots. I gave my parents so much grief when I was younger. I wouldn’t open my mouth at the dentist’s, let the doctor near me for shots… even when I had mono, I wouldn’t let the nurse inject me so I could get a CAT scan. Needless to say, there were a lot of wasted visits and lost money because of me. 😛

  6. You look so cute with that bear! And now you can be a pirate!! Although, the only Straw Hat that only has one ear pierced is Zoro and he has three piercings on his ear (resembling his three-sword style of course), I should know, I am his captain.

    “Oh, that’s right. It’s Question Corner! With Eiichiro Oda! Any words Oda-sensei,”
    “Question Corner is a copyright of”-
    “Okay, since you’re in a sour mood I’ll just say it myself, what is your favorite Devil Fruit, and if you could have a Devil Fruit, what would it be?
    Note: you won’t lose your ability to swim so it is a win-win. For me, it would be Ace’s Devil Fruit and Smoker’s Devil Fruit, respectively.”
    “Oda-sensei, what about you?”
    “My favorite, would be Buggy’s Bara Bara no Mi and Robin’s Hana Hana no Mi, respectively. Because I want to be able to write manga 20 times as fast! And my favorite character is Buggy!
    “…… You are aware of the fact that Buggy is weird right?”
    “Yes. BUT SERIOUSLY, YOU CAN’T LEGALLY JUST BRING ME HEAR AND FORCE ME TO ANSWER YOUR STUPID QUESTIONS!! AND QUESTION CORNER IS A COPYRIGHT OF-”
    “And that’s all the time we have folks. Hope you enjoyed “QUESTION CORNER” and Goodnight!

    Note: These are not fake, these really are Eiichiro Oda’s and “whoever I am’s” picks.
    Warning: Consuming Devil Fruit WILL remove your swimming abilities, but that does not concern the nature of this question.

    Note: Did you get an email from me? And if you didn’t, another great show to watch is Gravity Falls! It is a Disney cartoon, but unlike all of the other Disney cartoons (this only concerns their TV shows), besides Phineas and Ferb, this show is AMAZING!!! It is a horror for ‘kids’, if that makes any sense. Find it and watch it. And one ‘last’ question. What website do you use to watch One Piece?

    • HAHAHA THAT SOUNDS LIKE EIICHIRO ODA! I remember reading that his favorite character was Buggy, to my total confusion. And his reason for wanting Robin’s power is hysterical! I can completely relate.

      I did get your e-mail! I just replied to it. 😀

      Hmmm… the website I used when I first watched through One Piece (which was, shockingly, like 5 years ago) has been taken down. The fansubbing group was Kaizoku Fansubs, though! Since then I’ve just been using Hulu to keep up with the episodes. I tend to read the manga more, though!

      • I is got skills writing bad. I meant what are YOUR choices for Devil Fruits: favorite in One Piece and most-wanted for youself.

        • Hmm… my favorite Devil Fruit in One Piece has got to be the Bomu Bomu no Mi, used by Mr. 5. Because it’s just so disgustingly hilarious. I mean, explosive boogers? Hysterical. (My sense of humor is on par with a 5 year old’s– don’t mind me!)
          I have to agree with Oda on what Devil Fruit I want– I want the Hana Hana no Mi! I mean, with extra arms I could draw ALL the things! I could be so much more productive! Oooh… or the Horo Horo no Mi used by Ivankov. The scientific implications of such an ability are astounding!

          • So, I’m currently in Water 7. I just saw Luffy go into Gear 2nd for the first time (so cool!) And I am about to watch the “I WANT TO LIVE” episode (so great!). But I did not know exactly who Ivankov was, so I look her up and see her Devil Fruit has the ability to change “her” into an actual feminine body. I mean, she usually has her shirt open and everything, so the woman part is weird, but I am pretty sure that her Devil Fruit ability is a dream of most women (and some men (very weird men, or just gay men)). Watch Gravity Falls, it’s fantastic!

  7. It’s weird how everyone says how claires is a bad place to get ears pierced :0 I had no trouble with mine!!:) I just guess it depends on your piercer and your own ears :/ I feel bad for those who have very sensitive ears 😦 Bit other than that I love my piercings and I recommend any one to get them 🙂 BMW hope your ears heal !!!!:)

    • Haha thank you! They’ve healed up– I’ll just have to get better earrings next time I pierce them 😉 A lot of people I know have gotten their ears pierced at Claire’s with no problem. I think I just have sensitive skin, so no more stainless steel for me! 🙂

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