Hey all! I am linking up with Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness for Friday 5 2.0!
The Friday 5 format has changed a bit. We can still list "5 Things" on a certain topic, or we can write a short blog post that takes 5 minutes or less to read.
Today, we're talking PIERCINGS!
When I was 7, I got my ears pierced. My mom took me to the jewelry store in our hometown called Leitzel's Jewelry and they were pierced with a piercing gun. I wear earrings all the time and I have fun with all different styles.
When I was 13, I got my cartilage pierced. I got it done at Claire's, which is a jewelry store in the mall. It was done with a piercing gun, which apparently was a bad idea. My ear ended up growing around the earring and I got a big bump on the back of my ear. My dad ended up having to use pliers to get the earring out. Eventually, the bump went away.
When I was 22, I got my navel pierced. I was visiting my friend Sherrie, who lived near Philly, and we decided to get our piercings at the same shop Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie got their's pierced at. (The Simple Life was a popular television show at the time.)
I went first and it hurt A LOT!!!! You had to lay on your back, which meant your stomach was a taut as possible. (I was pretty thin back then and had like zero belly fat so that made it worse.) Then they used some sort of clamp to PULL MY BELLY BUTTON SKIN UP! OWWWW! That hurt more than the needle, but the needle hurt too. I was glad I went first. Sherrie ended up going through with it too, but I know she was scared after my reaction!
I remember my belly button ring getting a little pus-y once or twice, but that's it. It doesn't rub on my clothes because I don't wear high waisted pants.
One interesting fact is that I did not change my belly button ring until I was 31 and had to take it our for an MRI! Then I put in a new ring I got at Spencer's. Last week, I changed the ring again. So in 14 years, I have only ever had three different rings! I get nervous changing the ring because I'm scared I won't get the new one in. I'm also scared it will hurt, which of course it doesn't. I use water and soap to get it to slide in.
I will tell you, that after having a ring in for so long, my stomach looks REALLY WEIRD for the couple minutes I have it out while changing the ring. I don't like it one bit. Which means I will prob have a navel ring even when I'm an old lady.
When I was 29, I got my cartilage pierced again. I remember I was feeling old (BWAHAHAHA!!!) and I thought getting something pierced would make me feel younger. This time, I did my research and I went to a "real" piercing place that would do it with a needle. It didn't hurt much during the actual piercing, but sleeping was a little tricky after. It took some time to heal but once it was healed, I didn't have any problems with it. Needles are the way to go- not piercing guns! I don't change my cartilage earring much at all. In fact, I think the earring I have in now is the only one I ever had in besides the hoop I got when it was done initially!
And that was my last piercing... until last week!
I got my ears pierced again! I have wanted to get second holes in my ear lobes for several years. On Wednesday, I finally made it happen! I went to 717 Tattoo in Mechanicsburg, which is a highly recommended place in the area for tattoos and piercings.
I was so anxious leading up to it. I was scared it was going to hurt really bad. It ended up not hurting at all. They could have pierced my ears for an hour straight and I wouldn't even have flinched. I researched it, and apparently needles hurt a lot less than piercing guns as far as ear lobes are concerned.
That's ink at the piercing of my second hole, not bruising.
I need to keep these hoops in for 3 months before I change them. If I want them changed before that, I can go back to the shop in 4 weeks and pay the piercer to change them. I'm not going to do it, I'll just ride it out for the three months.
They haven't hurt at all since I got them pierced- not even right after, which is so surprising! Sleeping doesn't hurt them or anything. I have been keeping them clean with a special spray they gave me. But other than that, it's been smooth sailing!
Do you have any piercings?
Which hurt the worst?
Any horror stories!?
Which hurt the worst?
Any horror stories!?
I have three piercings in each lobe. I wanted a cartilage piercing as a kid but my parents didn't like them so I couldn't. My first hole closed up 3 times or more and often got infected so I had it re-pierced a lot. The second and third holes I got at the same time. I have only just started really wearing earrings in them recently - for years I kept them empty! I don't know why. I like having 3 but on one ear they're really close together so sometimes it's hard to find earrings that look good.
ReplyDeleteI wanted a navel ring as a teen but my parents scared me out of it with stories of blood poisoning! Their rule was "as many holes in your LOBE as you want" so I got as many as I could fit to toe the line haha.
You showed them! Yeah I have some earrings that I wear in my first holes that will not allow me room for my second holes. I wonder why your first hole closed up a lot and got infected?
DeleteI don't know if my mom would have let me get my bellybutton pierced as a teen. Probably not. But I had no desire. I never wore belly tops or even bikinis so I guess I was just a little more modest.
I really have no desire to get more piercings -- I have just one in both ears, and as it is, half the time I don't wear earrings & then have to force them through the holes again.
ReplyDeleteI have never wanted a navel piercing and now after reading this I REALLY don't want one! You're brave.
Does it hurt when you force the earrings through the holes? Once in awhile one of mine is stubborn, which is weird because I DO wear earrings often.
DeleteI wasn't brave, I was 22! :) ;)
I have my ears pierced twice, but one of the second holes has healed up, because I hardly ever wear 2 sets of earrings, so I now have 3 holes in 2 ears. Oh, well, that's kind of a Bohemian look, right?
ReplyDeleteHey...you must live near me - I live in Lancaster County. Mechanicsburg is less than an hour away. Maybe we do some of the same races!
Yeah, I think it would look cool to wear two in one ear and one in the other. Rock it! I have heard of a lot of people's second holes closing up. I will have to be mindful that after the novelty of having two holes goes away that I still regularly wear earrings.
DeleteYes we do live near each other. Remember, I ran the Buck Ridge Burn! Although I didn't find your blog until after the race and I read your race recap. These Friday 5s can really connect people! I am running Bird in Hand in Sept, how about you? I'm not looking forward to a road race lol.
I love it! I only have my ears pierced and generally don't like needles, but in the last 6 months of being injured, I've gotten very used to needles (lol) and could get something else pierced. I'm weird about people or things touching my belly button though so not there.
ReplyDeleteYeah I do not like ANYONE touching my belly. I don't even like changing the ring the very few times I have done it. This belly aversion happened much after my navel was pierced though. If I had to do it today, I definitely wouldn't!
DeleteYeah maybe now is the time for you to get some piercings! The needle in my lobes truly did not hurt. I've had sports massage type stuff that has hurt worse!
I have two piercings in my ear lobes, and that's it. I was 9 when I got my first piercings, and then 18 with my second. I played two sports in middle school and high school, and I never had time to let the 6-weeks go, and then 6 months with earrings in. After high school seemed the perfect time, and I was 18. I was able to go by myself.
ReplyDeleteDid you feel very grown up when you went alone?
DeleteI think I would be too afraid to get my ears pierced again now at my age!
ReplyDeleteI was scared too! Then I felt silly because it truly did not hurt.
Delete
ReplyDeleteI got my ears pierced for the very first Time when I was 5. It was for my birthday and we lived in Texas then. I remember my friend did it like a week before me and told me it did not hurt. I don't remember if it hurt or not. Of course sometime between then and middle school the holes closed and I had to get them done again and I do remember that hurting. No more piercings for me. I have a low tolerance for pain!
However, I did go with my college roommate to get her navel pierced and I held her hand the entire time!
Oh and I wanted to tell you about the cartilage thing. Apparently that is common for you to get bumps like that. I was watching the TV show dr pimple popper last week and there was a girl on there that had HUGE bumps growing on her ears that formed after her cartilage was pierced. It can be a problem.
I feel like I am okay with pain, it is the build up and the anxiety to me that is worse!
DeleteAwwww you are a good friend! Did your roomie think it hurt?
I'm going to google the cartilage bumps! I bet it happens more with piercing guns. Just a gut feeling. :)
No piercings for me! They sound like they hurt, especially the belly button
ReplyDeleteYeah that really did hurt! So you're not a piercing type of guy? Hehe. Paul had his eyebrow pierced in hs!
DeleteI have three in my left ear, two in my right and my naval. I am like you -- kept the original ring in there until I had to take it out. So, since 1997, I have only had 2 rings. Also, like you, I love my ring and don't plan to take it out so we'll be old ladies rocking the naval rings together!
ReplyDeletenavel. sorry for the mis spell :)
DeleteI really am starting to like the idea of 3 in one and 2 in the other. Is that in style right now? I think it would look cool! Do you just wear studs in the top two?
DeleteI have no idea if it's in style -- it's been that way since junior high. I do wear studs in the top 3 and then change up the bottom two.
DeleteI got my ears pierced on my 10th birthday...and so far, that's it. I have thought of getting my cartilage pierced, though. I always take earrings out at night, though. I can't stand feeling the earrings against my ears/face if I'm sleeping on my side LOL
ReplyDeleteI take them out too EXCEPT the cartilage! I just leave it in there. I truly can't feel it. But my first holes in my lobes I ALWAYS take out. Sometimes I can feel the second holes in when I sleep but no choice for now!
DeleteI got my ears pierced when I was 16. No other piercings since then. My 17 yr old daughter got her second ear pierce last summer. It looks cute.
ReplyDeleteOh I bet it looks great! I think the lobes are a very safe place to get it done and if they close they don't really leave scars, so a good place to experiment if you're young!
DeleteI have two pierces in one ear and three in the other - and I only wear earrings in the bottom set. I've been wearing the same set of small diamond studs since my husband gave them to me 24 years ago. (I do very occasionally wear another pair and occasionally I clean them, but yeah, pretty much never do anything with them.)
ReplyDeleteDid your other holes ever close shut since you don't wear earrings in them?
DeleteI used to have double piercings but I've only worn one set of earrings for so long, I think the second holes have closed over. 3 months sounds like a long time to have to wait -- I don't remember it being that long.
ReplyDeleteIt does sound long! And I'm not a huge fan of the earrings that are in now BUT it will be worth it. 3 months will fly.
DeleteI only have one helix piercing in my right ear (I wear a little star)... I don't have my lobes or any other part of my body pierced).
ReplyDelete