When I was a few months old, my parents made the very common and very brave decision to have my ears pierced. Not only is piercing a baby dangerous because of infections or the risks of them tearing it out, but it was also done with a piercing gun. I ended up having multiple complications with the piercings. They got infected all of the time, it was hard to clean them, and the holes closed up very quickly after taking the earrings out. They eventually closed up for good, after leaving them out for the very short time period of only two or so days.

Around the age of six, my dad brought me to the most unholy place to ever get pierced: Walmart. When I tell you it hurt like the fiery wrath of Satan himself, I am in no way exaggerating. To make matters worse, I may or may not have jerked when she was going to do the second one and the earring went in crooked and continued to get infected on the regular for the next four years. Was it worth the My Little Pony that my dad bribed me with? No. It wasn’t. Following this botched piercing was many at-home ones carried out by my parents. This included a needle, many tears, and a lot of blood, all to prevent the hole in my ear from completely growing back up. When I was about ten, I made the decision to stop dealing with all of the pain and just take them out for good. It was probably the best decision I could’ve made at the time.

But now, six years later, I have become fascinated with piercings, there being quite a few that I want. I made the decision this past Sunday to get my ears repierced, the right way. After a day spent in Downtown Chattanooga, I went to a tattoo/piercing shop in Northshore called Eco Conscious Ink. I was really drawn to them because they use vegan/organic tattoo inks, and all of their piercing cleaners are organic as well and are infused with CBD oil. The lady that pierced me was incredibly sweet and patient and made sure to tell me everything that she was going to do before she did it. After marking my ear, she used clamps and a piercing needle to finish the job. She started on the left side, told me to take a deep breath in, and when I breathed out she put the needle through my ear. Me having an extremely low pain tolerance, I was expecting it to hurt, but to my surprise, I barely felt a pinch.

I’m more than excited about my new piercings, and to have finally gotten them done correctly is a bonus. Next, I’m looking at getting my industrial and my daith piercings done. You can probably call me obsessed now, as I plan to continue to get pierced in other areas, such as my nose when I get a bit older.