After much consideration and internet search, I decided to get my navel pierced. Initially, I had been looking for information on tongue piercing, but after checking out this site, I decided that the naval piercing would be more to my taste. I am a mom and my 5 year old daughter thought I must have lost my mind. She recently got her ears pierced with a gun at the local Walmart and that had been a horrible experience for both of us. They had tried to do both ears at once and one of the salespeople was incredibly inept. Of course that is another story all together.
At A Glance Author Tonya Contact Tonya@bme.anon Artist Kelly Richards Studio Music Box Location Amarillo, Texas After deciding on a navel piercing, I checked all the posts related to this on BME. The information was wonderful and I learned quite a bit. So on Valentines Day I decided to go have it done. I told my husband and he said he thought it would be sexy and said he has been thinking of a tongue piercing. No one was really surprised that I wanted to do this. I have 3 tatooes now and can think of several more I would like to get in the future, so body piercing is not a stretch for me.
Initially my sister in law was going with me to have hers done, but her husband told her to pack her things and leave if she did, as he thought this was disgusting. He's one of those incredibly closed minded people you just want to slap. I look at it this way...this is my body and no one is going to tell me what to do with it. My mom had almost the same reaction, but as I am 28, what can she do?
So I call up another friend to go with me for support purposes. She doesn't want to have her navel done until she looses some weight, so she was basically along for the ride. Where I am in Texas, tatooing is a big deal, but body piercing is just starting to come into common place for the general masses. Until the last 5 years I would say, there was no place that advertised piercing whatsoever. So I was very limited in my selection of shops. I had a tat done about a year ago and decided to go back to the same place for my piercing. I knew they were very santitary and I liked the place.
I was one of the first there when they opened up at noon and only had one girl in front of me. She was getting her tongue done...which I got to watch and it didn't seem nearly as bad as I had pictured. Anyway...I'm getting off the subject. When I entered the shop, the girl at the front counter was really not what you would call an example of quality customer service, but as she would not be doing my piercing, I ignored her and filled out my paperwork. I'm not sure what crawled up her ass that day, but she was just pissed in general. She asked for my ID...which I had to laugh at...but anyway, and showed me my jewelry choices. Then she stood over my shoulder tapping her foot like I was really cutting into something important that she had to do. I just blew her off and the more impatient she got, the longer I stood there. I look at it this way...this is something that I have to have in my body for a number of months and I want to like it. I made my selection and she took it went to the back.
I can honestly say that I was not really nervous about the procedure at all. I had educated myself prior to my visit so I already knew what to expect for the most part. I have to say though, when I was reading all the tongue piercing stories, it made me have second thoughts. Not about the procedure itself, but about the aftermath. Not so with the navel piercing. The more I read, the more I knew this was what I wanted to do.
I didn't wait more than maybe 20 minutes and the piercer came out and got me. She led me back to a very clean and organized room with a really cool chair. It was a mix between a barber chair and a dentist chair. She had me lay back and fold my pants down. She told me I had the perfect belly button for the procedure and that there would be no problems. She then had me stand up so she could mark me. I laid back down and she put the clamps on. The whole time she is talking to me and making sure I am comfortable in every way. She asked if the clamp was hurting and I told her no that I couldn't really even feel it. She said that was the part that most people complained about. At this point, she tells me to take a deep breath and before I can even exhale, the needle is through and she is turning around to get my ring. I had heard that putting the jewelry in hurts sometimes, but I didn't even know when she did it. She put on my bead and the whole piercing was done. I can not say that there was any real pain. I would call it a sting...like when you put alcohol on a cut...but not that intense. From the time I walked in the room until I was pierced was probably less than 2 minutes. She asked me if I felt okay or if I had any questions. She went over the aftercare with me and I was ready to go.
Let me just say that Kelly at the Music Box was awesome. I would highly recommend her. As for the girl at the front counter...well, she had to move off the stool again to give me my aftercare sheet and I am sure that ruined her whole day, but all in all, I can say that this was a good experience.
I am now on the 5th day post piercing and I have had no problems. I started out using Dial antibacterial soap at least twice a day, but the piercing was getting really dry so I started soaking in sea salt once a day and then using the antibacterial soap once a day. I have had very little redness whatsover. The first day it was a little tender, but now, this is very minimal. I have been able to sleep on my stomach with no problems.
If you are thinking about getting any kind of piercing, I would say to just do your homework. Know what you are getting into. Also, as far as a navel piercing goes, know that it doesn't heal overnight. It is a long process and you have to be dedicated to the aftercare or you will get an infection. So far, I can say without a doubt that I love my belly button! I would recommend it highly, as I would Kelly at the Music Box.