Introduction
I got my left earlobe pierced.
I thought writing down my impressions might help anyone thinking of getting pierced, so here they are.
Rather than doing it myself with a piercing gun, I went to a clinic and had it done there.
I went to Clinic Bizaria, near Sakae Station in Nagoya.
Website
They have what’s called a Piercing Center, and it comes up as a candidate almost every time you search for a place to get pierced in Nagoya.
What stands out is how cheap it is: one earlobe piercing, first earring included, came to 1,600 yen.
A piercing gun at Don Quijote runs about 1,000 yen, so for roughly 600 yen more you get to consult someone and have them do it for you — a remarkable deal.
You can also choose from a range of first earrings, so you can have something stylish in your ear right from the start.
That said, when I looked up reviews of the Piercing Center, there were both good and bad ones, and the service seems to vary quite a bit depending on the day and the staff member.
Putting the piercing in is basically handled assembly-line style, so there isn’t much service to speak of either way, but it might matter if you want to discuss where exactly to place the piercing.
Getting it done
From walking into the Piercing Center to walking out pierced took about 20 minutes in total.
I checked in, chose an earring, and got a brief explanation.
I knew my earlobes were on the thick side, but it’s surprisingly hard to know how thick they are compared with other people’s.
That matters because people with thick earlobes have to watch the size when using an over-the-counter piercing gun.
This Piercing Center stocks long-type first earrings for people with thick earlobes, which is reassuring.
Sure enough, mine were on the thick side, so I ended up with a long-type earring.
Once I’d picked an earring, they handed me a marker and told me to look in the mirror and mark where I wanted the hole.
Marking the spot yourself in a mirror is surprisingly hard, and mine ended up pretty rough.
Your ear is floppy, and the angle means you’re drawing with your arm bent, so your hand isn’t steady at all. How does everyone else manage this?
Rough as it was, apparently it was good enough: they disinfected the spot and, on 3, 2, 1, punched it through.
No numbing or cooling, just straight to it.
It felt like being on a bungee platform, where things move along briskly so you don’t have time to get scared — though I couldn’t tell whether that’s the point or whether it’s just efficient.
After the piercing, they checked the placement, and once it was fine I was free to go.
It really was quick and painless, procedurally speaking.
So how much does a piercing actually hurt?
For the record, the moment of piercing hurt quite a lot, and I could feel the needle passing through my earlobe.
Who was it that said getting pierced doesn’t hurt?
It kept hurting moderately for about two hours afterward, and after that there was a lingering odd sensation.
People used to wearing earrings might not mind that part, but as someone who almost never wears them, it bothered me a fair bit.
The pain is a dull ache, entirely bearable.
Touching the earring doesn’t hurt, and water doesn’t sting in the bath, which is a relief.
The reason the actual piercing hurt as much as it did in my case is probably the thickness of my earlobes.
So if your earlobes are thin, it really might not hurt.
Anyway, it only hurts in that moment, and it’s easy to put up with when you think about the accessories you’ll get to enjoy afterward. The instant it’s done, you just think, “Oh! It’s through!” — and all the anxiety you had beforehand simply evaporates.
I’m looking forward to thinking about which earrings to wear next.
I want to take proper care of it so it doesn’t get infected.