Need Help...
 

Well, I mean, neither one of them is going to look that great on you when you're older, so there's one con. Belly rings don't look good on sixty year olds, but that's not going to be hard to fix. At worst, you're going to end up with a scar when you take out your belly ring for good. On the other hand, the heart tattoo will sag, and you're going to need to take into account that you'll have to get it touched up every once in awhile (all tattoos are like that). With the tattoo, you can also be safe in knowing it's in a place that no one will ever see unless you want them to. So even if it does look like shit later in life, who's going to care? Tats are supposed to look good when you're young.

A pro of a piercing is also that you can change it. If you get sick of a red stone? Get a blue one. Can't do that with a tat. Honestly, I'd just consider what the meaning of this heart tat is to you. If it's got a meaning, go for it. If it doesn't have one at all, why the heck do you want it anyway?

Only thing I know about are piercings. Make sure you go to a good clean sterile place. and keep it clean after you get it done. if not, you risk nasty infections that can be hard to get rid of.

i worked at walmart for a little while and the girls talked me into getting another set of piercing on my ears, so i agreed. I wish i never had, i'm fighting a nasty boil on my left ear that goes away and comes back. i've been doing this since 2007! i may have to just take it out, as much as i'd hate to after it finally heals up.

Will this be your first piercing and your first tat no matter which you choose, Drex?

If it is, get yourself a piercing first, so you can decide if you like the field of body modification before you get into unfixable stuff.

I would get a tattoo before getting my cartilage pierced.
A lot of people end up with the things Ilonka has. I also get boils and cysts around my ears anyway, so I mayyy be a little biased against it cos it sounds like a pain..
Do lots of research though for either, and get it done in a clean place. A friend once told me, go to the place, get a consultation, and then go use their restroom. If it's very dirty, go somewhere else.

Honestly, I have both.
In your case though, I wouldn't recommend doing either. It sounds like you haven't exactly put a lot of thought into either idea, and if you're not 100% certain you want something done, just wait. Wait until you've actually decided, don't just go get it because right this second you feel like you want it.
If you're intent on doing something, I'd suggest a piercing. It's not permanent, and if you realize it's all not for you at least you can do something about it.
And like everyone has said, make sure you go to a clean place, where they show you all the equipment before they use it.


Also, llonka: May I ask, when you got your piercing done how far up was it? And what it done with a needle or a gun?

Amelia: um it's about in the middle of my ear, right at the edge of my cartilage. and they did with a gun. which aren't clean at all, all they do is wipe it with an alcohol towelette and call it good. they use the gun over and over again. working there, doing piercings myself, i should have known better to not do it, but i did it on a whim, which is a BAD IDEA! :lol:

llonka: Have you ever gotten in checked out?
It might not be an infected boil.

A big problem with the guns isn't that they aren't clean, since it's not the gun that's exactly piercing you, so long as you clean it after it should be fine.
What tends to happen is the guns are more likely to "shatter" the cartilage in your ear, (and if you got it right under there's a chance you could have) and when it does the broken cartilage will build up and create those bubbles of sorts behind your ear which get mistaken for boils a lot.

nope, haven't been to a doctor for it. i know i should, but with no insurance it costs a lot. i have to go to the dentist, prolly more than twice in the next couple weeks so hubby wouldn't let me go for that. i don't think it's cartilage, there is still plenty of fleshy ear between the earring and my cartilage...

ok let me tell you how it all happened, i got it pierced, then when i was ready to take the earring out, it was stuck. so i asked hubby for help and i think he kind of ripped my ear a little. the earring was still stuck and i finally got his grandma to take it out for me. i thought i kept it clean enough, but then i started to get a knot and it swelled up. i got it pop and it got really small. for a while it'd only swell up when i bothered it but i could pop it and get all the puss out. but since this fall, i was wearing a hoodie and it caught on my earring and tugged it, making the boil swell and it never has popped or gone completely down again. so i got some drawing salve from Walgreens yesterday hoping that will burst it.

Anyways I kind of point the blame on Walmart too, because you know those things aren't sterile and the girls just have to take a test on the computer to be able to pierce your ears, there is no real training at all. That's why i said she needs to go to a special piercing place that has a good clean sterile shop.

With navel (belly) piercings they can reject and grow out and you can end up with scar tissue especially if you catch it alot and they don't recomend having a ring in while the piercing is still healing and also that you stick to either gold or titanium while the healing proccess is going on.

If you're going to have a tattoo you need to do research on where's best to get it a quick Google search of the names of tattoo parlours in your area can tell you alot.
Tattoos can get infected, so you have to be really careful about aftercare of them.
Tattoos will mostly fade to green because of the base colour of the dye is green and if it goes wrong that's it you're stuck with it. Plus if you pass out then you're stuck with half a tattoo because they can't carry on without your consent.

llonka: Then it honestly just sounds like you're irritating the heck out of it. xD
It doesn't seem to be an infection since it comes back every time something happens to it.

I had something like that happen with my industrial & my ex once. We'll just say we had an accident, but my ear got slammed and I had a bump on the back of the second hole for about a month because of how irritated it got.

I'd honestly suggest to stop popping/rubbing/scratching and whatever you're doing to it. xD
It's tougher for it to heal when it's constantly being picked at. Just clean it with some antibacterial soap once in awhile, and leave it alone for the most part. Try to let the soap dry it out on it's own and give it some time to rest and heal properly.

Amelia- you think i should stop putting the drawing salve on it? :XP it's pretty big and yucky right now. it drained a little last night.

haha sorry for keep talking about it in this thread... i hope we aren't scaring her from getting pierced...

llonka: Does it have any fragrances in it? Definitely stop if it does...
Otherwise, I guess you could try using that for a few days and see how it feels.
Once/if it gets smaller I'd switch to plain anti-bacterial soap and let that do the rest of the work. Don't clean it a million times a day though, cause then all you're doing it is causing a bunch of friction and continuing to irritate it!

I apologize too if we got off track a bit. At least now the have some insight as to what can happen? xD

haha ok! will do. no its stinky like tar. :P

yeah! :)

same here bucket, i'd hate to take it out forever. :(

llonka: Okay good, cause anything with a fragrance in it is only going to irritate it more. xD

I'm glad out of everything I've done, I've never had anything get infected, especially any piercings on my face. I don't think I could deal with having to walk around with that. ._.

that would be embarrassing! ive thought about a nose ring, but scared of infections.

That's why I tend to boil any new earrings/bars before putting them in any piercings I haven't had for too long or that are still healing because you don't know where they've been stored or who's had their hands on them.

Hypoallergenic are the only one I let cool down after dunking it in boiling water before putting it in mainly because I'm not as good hitting the holes with hypoallergenic without the use of a mirror.

llonka: I've had my nose for five years, and it's never gotten infected. I would say "I wouldn't worry too much," but just like Bucket I have a few friends that have problems with theirs. ]:

I don't boil my piercings, but whenever I get new jewelry I always clean them off thoroughly before putting them in. xD