I'm not sure if any of you have noticed but I have ridiculously small (attached) earlobes so I was always a bit nervous to get them done! (Believe it or not the piercer even commented on how tiny they are!)
So, on Friday afternoon I headed to the tattoo/piercing shop with a mix of excitement and anxiousness. Everyone who was working was super friendly and welcoming; certainly not the stereotypical shady tattoo place you see in the movies. I had the choice of starter studs or starter hoops, I went with the hoops. The piercer was really good about making sure I was happy with the placement of the piercings before he actually did it. I was thrilled to find out that they don't use a piercing gun! All of their piercings are done with a hallow needle. I leaned back slightly as he applied the clamp (which you've probably heard is more uncomfortable than the piercing itself and that's true!) He told me to focus on my breathing as he positioned the needle and then told me to take a sharp breath in and that's when he stuck the needle through. It seriously didn't hurt near as bad as I thought it would. The only indication that he was piercing the ear was the fact that he told me to take a sharp breath in. I probably wouldn't have even noticed otherwise as it really didn't hurt at all. To be honest, the teeth impressions my orthodontist did for my spacer molds hurt way more than getting my ears pierced.
When I got home the rest of my night was fine. They were tender to touch and I was a little afraid of sleeping since I can only ever sleep on my sides and they were pretty sensitive. I managed to make it through the night and the following day was fine. The next night my left ear started to bleed through the back but there was no pain or swelling. Since I'm wearing hoops they tend to move around a bit when you move your head so the earring probably shifted a bit and caused the wound to open up again or something. It wasn't bleeding anymore by morning but the hoop had moved slightly and I guess the blood dried in that position so my earring was all funky until I soaked it in warm water and it moved back to normal position but started bleeding again. Trying my best not to touch it or play with it until it closes up again.
Despite a little bit of the blood on one ear, the piercing itself went smooth and I'm very happy I finally got it done. If you have the choice between hoops or studs for your starter earrings I would recommend getting studs. Because:
A)Hoops move around far too much, they irritate and can re-open the wound causing it to bleed like mine did!
B) It really sucks sleeping with hoops because for the first night or two it stings when you lie down since the hoops move around.
C) It's way easier to accidently snag your earring (in my case with my hair!) when you're wearing hoops as apposed to wearing studs
D) You hit them a lot more when you have hoops in!
So all in all I would definitely recommend getting starter studs instead of hoops. Unfortunately there is no going back for me! Can't wait until these finally heal. :)
