AWFUL MODS

My ears have a terrible history.

When I was 10 y/o, my mother and father took me to get my ears pierced for Christmas at Walmart (and I know, right off the bat, you know it’s going to be shit). The two girls who worked there in the department pierced both lobes with a gun. My left ear was first, and it went in just fine. The right ear, however, was a whole other story. The earring only went halfway in. One of the girls had a panic attack right in front of my family, and started retching and stuff. The other one physically pushed the earring through the rest of my lobe with her not-gloved, unwashed, hands. I couldn’t feel a thing, but my mother looked like she was going to pass out.

As you can imagine, this right ear was subject to serious infections over the next year or so, one of them even requiring a doctor’s visit. (Thank goodness my pediatrician knew what she was doing and didn’t have me take them out.)

Four years later, I was still an idiot who knew nothing about safety and piercing correctly, and had my friend Ally pierce the second holes with a safety pin at a sleepover. We iced the lobe, heated and sanitized the needle with a lighter, and used a washcloth to prevent sticking when the needle went through. The holes were not completely even, unfortunately, but I guess that’s what you get.

I don’t condone what I did at all, but I think it’s interesting to note, however, that I had less infections with a pin that was slowly introduced to the lobe than with a gun.