I used to hate the look of septum piercings. I only ever saw them on guys, and all they made me think of was a ring in a bull's nose, and I hated them.
At A Glance Author Keri Contact Keri@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Jay, I think - the only piercer there Studio Ace of Spades Location New Britain, CT It was only a little over a year ago that I started getting into body art. I left Bible College after realizing it wasn't the place for me, and started turning back into the person I was before I went there. A long time ago, when I was in elementary school, I saw a girl working in the cafeteria with her tragus pierced, and that was the first time I saw that piercing. I still remember the moment I saw her and how the diamond stud in her tragus stunned me and how beautiful I thought it was. So now that I was reclaiming my real, non-Bible College personality 15 years after seeing that beautiful and fascination piercing, I decided to finally get it for myself..... but that experience is a different story!
After my tragus piercing (I did only my right ear because I like asymmetry), I was hooked. While doing research online on the tragus piercing, a saw all different possibilities of piercing and knew I wanted more. I got (in this order) a rook piercing, a conch piercing, a tribal cross tattoo on my upper arm, two more lobe piercings, a triforce tattoo on my inside wrist (yes, I wear my nerd badge proudly), and my nipples pierced. And that brings me to about a month ago.....
During this period of teaching myself all about body art, I had softened up to the idea of the septum piercing, after seeing many pictures online of men and women that looked really good with it. Also, I worked with a girl, named Mish, who had many ear and facial piercings, including a septum. She's a petite girl and one of the most beautiful I have ever met, and it looked absolutely beautiful on her. So knowing Mish was probably the one thing that "converted" me after seeing all the pictures online.
I still have many plans for all the un-pierced territory on my ears, but after I got my nipples pierced, I really wanted to go for more non-ear piercings. My sister (inspired by me, maybe?) wants me to take her on her 18th birthday to get a nostril piercing, and I wanted to get that, too... but I am a supervisor at Borders and technically we are not allowed to wear facial piercing in our store. They are lenient with the booksellers and cashiers, but since I am a supervisor, I must follow the letter. I'm still pondering whether or not I should ask my boss, the general manager, if it would be alright to get it and switch to a retainer for work after it's healed..... but I really don't want to be switching the jewelry out twice a day; even if it is healed, that can't be good!
So I was itching for a new non-ear piercing SOON, and visible facial piercings were out though I REALLY wanted one, so what was left? I was talking to a girl at work, Aly (who has her eyebrow, tongue and nostril pierced plus snake fangs), and she mentioned she was planning on getting her septum pierced, so I decided that's what I would do. So I told her that and we decided to go together!
I called and talked to the guy I went to for all my other piercings, Sal at the Underworld in New Britain, CT (great guy, very professional and I recommend him to people in the area. He's the only guy I would trust to pierce my nipples!). I asked him if he had septum retainers to pierce with, but he had to order them and said he would call me when they came in. Well, Aly and I were so hyped up to get the piercing that we just wanted to do it NOW while our adrenaline was up. I had been itching for a new piercing for a while, so I didn't want to wait anymore.
We tried going to Ace of Spades, also in New Britain, CT, because that's where I had gotten my tattoos and I knew they had a piercer I had never met. Well, it was his day off, of course. The guy at the counter told us the piercer would be in tomorrow, but I told him I had already talked to Sal at Underworld about the retainers. So another guy behind the counter, who I hadn't met, started telling us that this piercer (I feel bad I forgot his name! I think it was Jay) had 7+ years experience and was one of maybe 2 or 3 in the state and maybe 5 in New England he would let work on him. Now this guy had huge stretched earlobes, I'm not sure of the gauge but they looked to be at least two or three inches in diameter. Plus he said he used to be a piercer himself before becoming a tattoo artist, so I figured he knew what he was talking about.
So by the next day, Sal hadn't called about the retainers, so we went back to the Underworld. We met the piercer (again, I forgot his name!!) and told him what we wanted and while we were filling out the paperwork and showing ID, he explained about the piercing. He said he would never pierce with a retainer because it might fall out. Instead, he would use a circular barbell so that we could still flip it up. He said it was a harder one because there's no "trick" to it like other piercings, you just need experience. He said it's hard to get perfectly straight because it's hard to see how the dots lined up. He told us not to worry but that he would take a while marking and making sure the dots lined up. He said other piercers might make excuses for not getting piercings straight, like to blame it on the person's anatomy, but that it was always possible to compensate and get it straight. He also told us that if he did the piercing and it was not perfectly straight (which he defined as being able to look at my profile and see only one ball, because they are perfectly lined up), he would take it out halfway, let it sit and heal for a few minutes, and then re-pierce half the hole to make sure it was straight. I was really impressed with his perfectionism!
Aly made me go first, which was fine with me because I wanted to get it over with first! She seemed more nervous than me, which I thought was strange because she already had so many facial piercings and this was my first!
Just like he said, he took a long time marking and making sure the dots were straight. He said he would have to put the needle through somewhat slow, to make sure to make the dot on the other side. So I leaned my head back, and he started putting it through... OUCH. It wasn't as painful as my cartilage piercings, but it lasted a few seconds longer. And my eyes really watered!! But when he was done, I hardly felt anything, it just felt like there was something on/in my nose... which there was!
After Aly and I were both done, he gave use hand sanitizer and showed us how to turn it up into our noses. He had us practice until we could do it on our own. It hurt a bit and bled a little on my finger, but I'm very grateful he made sure we could turn it, because I need to for work! He said with a little practice, we be flipping it like it's second-nature, and he was right.
I love my new piercing!!! He did a 16 gauge with a small diameter (not sure what it is) so it is tiny and feminine and cute. He even changed Aly's nostril CBR to match the smaller gauge for free, and only charged us $40 each!
I'm definitely going back to him for my next piercing, which I think will be an orbital in my left ear. I trust him to be a perfectionist about exact measurement and placement! Maybe next time I'll remember his name ;) Well, he's the only piercer there, so if you are in the area, visit Ace of Spades by CCSU in New Britain, CT (in the plaza with Dunkin' Donuts), and have your piercings and tattoos done there! I love those guys so much and I've heard many other people recommend them, too.