Industrial

Let’s talk about my industrial piercing today. I first got my industrial in August 2012, so I’ve only had it for about several months. But within less than seven months my industrial has healed completely and feels like it’s not even there. I’ve been good to it, so it’s been good to me.

I thought I’d share what the experience was like and how I took care of it while it healed. Hopefully this will help out anyone who’s looking to get an industrial piercing and answer some questions you may have.

First off, when it comes to industrial piercings I think people should really think it through. Do your research and know what you’re getting into because honestly, having an industrial takes a lot of effort, patience and dedication. The healing time is a lot longer than most piercings, and you really have to take care of it if you want to keep it and enjoy having it.

So before anything, I did some research to see who’s had an industrial done and what it was like for them. More than half of the articles I read from people were not good… at all. People complained that it was painful, their ear was swollen and sore, or that it got infected, or they tried to change out the jewelry too soon and one of the holes closed up, or that their ear rejected it completely. Everything about this piercing sounded pretty bad, but I didn’t care. I wanted it anyway. And luckily for me, I didn’t have any problems. But thinking about their comments now that I’ve had mine done, almost all of those ‘problems’ they encountered were simply because they were impatient in the healing process and probably didn’t take well enough care for their new piercing. If you’re patient in letting your body naturally heal it and taking care of it, you’ll be fine.

So the day I got my industrial, I also got another lobe piercing. I decided to get them done at Ironhorse here in Las Vegas. Ironhorse is pretty awesome, the staff is cool and friendly and the place is super clean. (My piercer was a cool guy named Sasha if anyone wants to know.) I paid $90 all together. $60 for the industrial, because it goes through your ear twice, so $30 each hole, and jewelry is included. And then $30 for the simple lobe piercing.

The Experience:

The procedure was pretty simple and quick. Every piercer will perform it differently, but mine just had me sit up on the chair. (Some piercers will have you lie on your side.) He cleaned my ear, then marked and showed me where it would be on my ear. He did the lobe first, which was done in literally one minute. Then for the industrial, he gave me a three second countdown before he pierced. The pain will be different for everyone. I have a very high pain tolerance so I don’t feel that much when it comes to pain. I really didn’t feel any pain at all honestly. For me, it felt like a little pinch, and then my ear went numb. That’s it. I could definitely feel him piercing my ear but it wasn’t at all painful. And then he did it again, and there was another little pinch and numbness. There was really nothing to it. When he said we were done and the jewelry was in, I was like ‘Oh, really? Okay, thanks.’ lol

The day I got my industrial and second lobe piercing.

The Aftercare:

He gave me a little aftercare sheet of things to do and not to do. These included things like, don’t use rubbing alcohol or peroxide to clean it, don’t play with it, don’t pick off the dried crustys, don’t use that H2O ocean thing to clean it because it’s junk. Of course you should always clean your hands before touching any new piercing, and use warm water and Dial antibacterial soap with a Qtip to gently cleanse and remove the crustys, and twist the jewelry while cleaning. And the obvious, don’t sleep on the side you have your new industrial on. Results will not be pretty.

Follow these and you should be fine. However, it is possible that your ear will reject it and make it impossible for you to have an industrial. It happens. Unfortunate, but it happens.

Aftercare information can vary depending on where you get your piercings done. Some places will tell you different aftercare but it doesn’t mean that any of them are wrong. It’s just simply different information that all works in the same way.

I personally like to use a sea salt solution to clean my piercings. If you do this please use SEA SALT, not table salt. I feel the need to say that because some people don’t know. I just get a cup, fill it with warm or hot water, (whatever you can handle), and then stir in some sea salt. Taste it, it should taste no saltier than a potato chip. Then I just take a Qtip, dip it in, and gently clean my piercings. I’d twist it around and move it back and forth. But before you do this, make sure all the dried crustiness around the entry and exit holes are removed. You don’t want to twist your jewelry and pull it back and forth and get a little piece of crust in there. I cleaned my industrial with sea salt twice a day everyday. It’s also very important that you DON’T OVER CLEAN it. Yes, it’s possible to over clean. If you over clean your piercing, it basically won’t heal. You wanna clean it enough so that it won’t get infected, but not to where it won’t heal at all. For me, it took about two weeks before I didn’t have anymore crustiness going on and I could freely move the jewelry without it hurting my ear. My ear was still a little red and swollen but that’s normal when you have a foreign object in your body. Of course for the first couple months I couldn’t sleep on my right side, but after about three and a half months, I started sleeping on that side with no problem or pain. I think my industrial healed pretty fast actually since my piercer told me it would take around a year to be completely healed. I’m glad that I didn’t have any problems with my industrial piercing because I really do love and enjoy having it.

It’s been about seven months and my industrial piercing is perfect. No pain, no crust, no problems. It’s perfect and super awesome in every way. However, I’m not able to sleep on my right side at the moment because on January 4th of this year I decided to get a double helix, and they’re still healing. Crustiness is gone, but I still feel a little bit of uncomfortable pressure when I lay my head on that side. But all’s going well, a couple more weeks and I can probably sleep on that side again. I do plan on getting three or four more piercings on this ear, and then start on my left ear once the other has healed completely and able to be slept on.

Hope this helped anyone looking to get or recently got an industrial piercing. Good luck!(: