I was eighteen years old and had recently aquired two tatoos and one beautiful lotus flower carving on my ankle. I got a whim on day to go and have my navel pierced. I wasn't quite sure where to go...several of my friends had gone to a local shack, I mean shop to get their navels pierced. So I called for a price $45 and that was with jewelry. So I told my boyfriend what I wanted to go do and he warned me that I should wait and go somewhere else, and logic told me I should wait too. BUT I wanted to do it that day, so without further ado we loaded up in the car and drove to the shop.
At A Glance Author Jennifer Contact Jennifer@bme.anon Artist The Village Idiot Studio Big Fish Tatoo Location Belton, Texas When we got to the shop I was nervous, yet I joyfully anticipated the pain. The shop didn't look too bad, it was clean and the guys were friendly. I told one guy I wanted to get my navel pierced, he said he would get the piercer for me. The piercer told me it would be $45 and I paid him. He then got out what I still think was a tackle box with jewelry in it...the jewelry was not in a plastic bags and so I believed it was not sterile. Since I had never had a piercing I was trusting this guy to do me a professional service. But what I got was a whole different story...READ ON.
The CBR he picked out was 14G and that was cool but the ring itself looked a little too large to me for my little navel. But he assured me that it would work and said I could come back and have him put in a different one in a week or so. Looking back, the guy just wanted to make a sale and didn't give a fuck about me and my experience.
Off to the piercing room...the needle WAS in a steril package. The guy had me undo my pants, he marked my navel for exit and entry holes and then put the clamp on. He took the needle counting...one...two..THREE! There went the needle through my skin. I felt no real pain, just a prick and some pressure from the needle going through my skin. He put the CBR in and told me to clean it with soap and hydrogen peroxid. WONDERFUL AFTERCARE AND PLEASE NEVER, EVER USE PEROXID!
And it couldn't have ended more perfectly then it begain because within two days I had a infection. The ring as I mentioned was not steril (one reason I think this happened) and the ring was too large and rubbed all the time against my clothes. Within a few days time I had a major infection...my navel was oozing a green-yellow substance, it smelled really funny and hurt like hell. The skin around it was all red and the actually hole the ring was through had turned purple. At least I knew better then to take the ring out.
I went to another piercing shop and had the woman piercer look at it. She grabed me by my hand as soon as I showed her and took me to the piercing room. She selected another ring for me, a much, much smaller one. Then she removed the old jewelry and cleaned the wound. She told me the peroxid I had been using had caused a chemical burn. It ate the good skin cells and allowed the infection to grow. She too felt that the piercer who had done this was not a professional, just the village idiot pretending to be a piercer.
Well the infection cleared right up...so I thought. Next on this journey of pain was to be a skin reaction to the metal of my new CBR. My skin continued to turn colors around the jewelry and itched really bad. This time I travelled about sixty miles south of my home town to Austin, Texas. I went to a shop a friend suggested (don't remember the name). The piercer told me that a titanium piece would clear that right up and he also suggested a curved barbell...BECAUSE my piercing was crooked, he felt that the barbell would help it from leaning to one side and continuing to heal crooked. Also I noticed for the first time that my piercing wasn't very deep. I could run my finger accross the top of the skin and feel the jewelry laying barely underneath. The piercer told me he could redo it for me after I let it heal over if I wanted.
I have had this piercing for three years now...the barbell is about to migrate out of the skin and I feel like I will take it out to heal and then have it repierced this winter. Except that I don't look forward to the healing time it takes which is 2 to 6 months.
I WILL go to the guy who did my vertical hood piercing to do my navel. His name is John @ Forbidden Fruit in Austin, Texas. He is wonderful and VERY professional. I am looking forward to letting him pierce my flesh again.
I love decorating my body as many people do and I would like to suggest to ANYONE thinking of ANY piercing to not do it on a whim. Think it out, find a clean professional piercing studio and a confident piercer WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING. Modification is a personal, spiritual experience that should be safe and exciting as your are guided step by step from your piercer.
Happy piercing!