Septum story
At A Glance Author xfalsehopex Contact xfalsehopex@aol.com Artist Dominick Studio Alter Ego Location belleville nj
Ever since the summer of 2000, I have wanted my septum pierced. There were just two things holding me back. My mom who does not like piercings and the law. Being that I was just 17 at the time, I could have done it myself and gotten an infection or go to some guy on the streets of NYC who does not ask for ID and get HIV or some other scary disease. I thought to myself "hey, I'm a patient guy who fears disease, I can wait a few more months." So that's exactly what I did.
Well, the big day was here, January 30th, 2001. I was finally 18. The week before, I checked out a reputable shop and got a price of $50 for the piercing. Not bad I thought. So I got in my car then picked up some friends, actually, not just friends, my fellow band mates of The Oval Portrait, and drove to the place. I get there and tell the guy what I want only to find out the piercer isn't there. That put a damper in my night. Good thing I knew of another very reputable place. So my friends and I got back in the car and drove to the next place a few towns over. Turns out they were $10 cheaper and the piercer was there.
So I told the piercer, Dominick, what I wanted done. Next he asked what gauge I wanted. I put a lot of thought into that. I think a 16 would been too small, but not painful. 12 would be big and might hurt a lot more. I then thought about 14, that's a nice number so I went with that. Then he told me the price, and that he only does them with retainers, which was a plus for me because I didn't want my mom to see it. (Earlier that day she told me if I got anything pierced, not to come home, but like any other 18-year-old kid, what mom doesn't know won't kill me; needless to say she now knows and doesn't care).
Back to our story....
Dom took me in the back where he pierces. I saw the retainer sitting in alcohol and he put his gloves on, explained everything he was going to do. Then he cleaned out my nose and rubbed it with alcohol, then changed his gloves. Next thing I was laying down on the table and he was poking around in my nose with the blunt end of the needle to find a good spot. He then said he pierces up high because it looks better that way with the ring in (which is true I now have a ring it and it look's rockin'). Then he also explained how he pierces with a gauge bigger than the jewlery. So I was going to get pierced with a 12 gauge needle. I cringed a little at that then he said if he did it with a 14 gauge needle, it would feel as if I got punched in the face, and that isn't a good feeling. So I figured I would grit my teeth and deal with it. Then he tells me he is going to pierce it and that my eyes are going to tear a little. A little was a large understatement. My eyes teared so much I could not even open my eyes. There was no real pain, just a lot of pressure, in a weird sick way it felt great. There was little blood, which I was happy about because I've heard horror stories from friends but that didn't scare me. So, I sat up, looked at it with the retainer in, liked it, tipped the guy and was off on my merry way.
He said to wait about 3-4 weeks before putting a ring in because if it moves a lot, the hole will stretch and open to infection. So I waited those weeks, those long weeks, then went out and got myself a 14 gauge circular barbell. It was pretty east to put in, but putting the retainer back in was a bitch. Screwing the little ball in was a pain too because I have big fingers. I must have dropped it at least a dozen times. Good thing it didn't fall down the drain.
This thing is a lot of fun to play with and gets in the way when I pick my nose....not that I do that or anything..... The good thing is my mom hasn't killed me after seeing it. She's a weird one. She let's me get tattoos but not piercings, go figure.
I don't know about future piercings, I'm partial to the septum, but who knows. I'm thinking maybe a labret ring or just the side my lip, possibly a freenum depending on how extreme I wanna go.