Don’t.
I never knew what danger I was placing myself in when I went to the Pagoda. I actually had it done there three times because the first two closed up when I pulled out too early in the process for various reasons. Once it was because I was hospitalized and was sent for MRI, and after that I was sick and didn’t replace the earrings before the closeup. Out of six shots in all, I got one infection (on the second try). Third time was the charm.
My next piercing will be nose and I know just the tattoo parlor for it – but will I choose right side or left? Decisions, decisions. In India they choose which nostril to pierce based on caste, geography, religion, etc., but I’m just a gringa so it doesn’t matter.
Find a professional.
Number 1. Alcohol is your friend. (not the kind you drink…) Caring for the piercing afterwards is just as, if not more, critical than the piercing itself.
Number 2. Position is also critical. No one wants one earring lower than the other or a crooked belly button stud.
Number 3. That rook piercing rocks! I want one!
I was on an aspirin related drug for arthritis for one piercing. DON’T do this. I bled, and bled, and bled. Worried my mother (she was a lab tech, and knew sterile technique and had access to sterile utensils) half to death. I am prone to skin infections, and my ears kept getting infected, despite a good clean piercing and meticulous aftercare, so I had to let them close up.
So I’d say to consider those two issues before you decide to get any piercings.