Since I just did a word count and this experience is nearly 800 words and I haven't even gotten to the actual piercing yet, feel free to skip to Part Three if you're not interested in the whole big story that comes before the actual piercing. I wouldn't want anyone to miss out on hearing about how cool Scott Jania is simply because of my verbosity. There also is a brief healing diary at the end.
At A Glance Author amY Contact amY@bme.anon Artist Scott Jania Studio Progressive Piercing Location Chicago, IL Part One: Finding the Piercer
Since the lovely and talented Derek Lowe moved to Cleveland to work at Bodywork Productions, I have had to travel great distances for my piercings. Sure, I live in a city (at least by Midwest standards), and there are shops in Madison. But I wouldn't be comfortable getting pierced at any of them. I'll leave it at that to avoid a libel suit... Milwaukee and Chicago were no better. No decent piercers as far as I knew.
So I was very interested when I heard that there was an excellent piercer working in Chicago. Everyone who talked to him seemed to be really impressed with his knowledge and skill. That was very encouraging, but I am really picky about who I'll go to for piercings. I've always been pretty friendly with piercers before getting stuck by them and even if someone is a master piercing ninja... if they've got that condescending attitude, I'm not interested. But when I finally got to meet this new Chicago piercer (albeit briefly), Scott seemed really nice and fun, so I decided next time I was in Chicago I'd get something done by him.
Part Two: Getting the Jewelry
I had decided that I wanted to get a great big navel piercing. (Or navel pierce, if you prefer.) I figured I would start at 6ga or so and stretch as soon as it was healed up. I could've just gotten it scalpelled nice and big initially, but that's no fun. So when I finally was going to be back in Chicago (over spring break... I was visiting Naperville!), I called and made an appointment. It was Scott's day off, but he came in anyway for my appointment. What a guy...
When I got there (after eating some delightful vegetable rolls at Shiroi Hana... every piercing studio should have sushi nearby), I explained to his counter superstar, Ian, what I was looking for and made it clear that I did NOT want something with a gem on the end! Then I went in to talk to Scott. Long story short, he didn't have the exactly right jewelry for what I wanted, so we decided to wait and do it with the right jewelry at the size I wanted. But it was very fun anyway! Scott measured the heck out of my navel and marked it up and figured out the exactly perfect size jewelry for it. We talked lots about sterility and healing methods and good posture. I felt sort of bad about him having come in for a navel of all things (I hear piercers do lots of them...), and then not even doing it, but just poking around at my stomach... Scott was really enthusiastic and cheery, though, and it was great to be able to get to know him before getting pierced. So he said he'd order the jewelry and it would be there for me next time I was in Chicago...
Part Three: Piercing the Navel
...which ended up being months later! It was beginning to seem like this piercing was just not meant to happen. But finally! Last weekend! I was going to be in Chicago visiting friends. So I checked with Ian (counterboy extraordinaire) and it looked like everything would work. I got to the Alley (it's odd that the best piercing place in this whole area is inside a store... usually that's a sure sign of bad piercing... very interesting...) and let Ian know I was there. He said it would be about 45 minutes, so I looked at stupid t-shirts in the Alley with my friends for a bit and then we went to the comic store. I have no sense of time and didn't have a watch, so after 5 or 30 minutes, I went back to Progressive Piercing and filled out paperwork.
I got up on the squishy massage table and rolled my shirt up (remember how people used to 'peg' their pants? It was sorta like that...). Scott did all his magic prep stuff (he explained it all to me, but I'm not going to type it all out). Jim and LaRisa showed up pretty soon after I got in there, so that was good. We got to hear about the magic of TechniCare and my stomach was the cleanest it's ever been. Then Scott made a line down my stomach using a ruler with gentian violet on it. That was neat. It was a bit wobbly, so he redid it. This time it was delightfully straight.
Then I lay down on the cushy table and Scott marked away. We talked about Starbucks and other stuff. I got to look at the markings in the mirror while lying down and when standing. When everything was perfectly perfect, we were ready to pierce. Okay, Scott was ready to pierce and I was ready to lie there. I asked him about the counting/breathing thing because if I get pierced on the third breath or whatever I get really nervous during the first two. So we worked out a breathing method (I would take one deep breath and he would pierce on the exhale. Yay no counting!). Scott had decided that it would be best to pierce with an 8ga needle and stretch. I decided that sounded good since he was the professional and all. I tried to resist asking if it was going to hurt, but I think I gave in. Maybe I only asked about the stretching since I'd never had that done...
Scott put on sterile gloves and put a piece of dressing with a square cut out of it over my navel. Sort of like a surgical drape. If that's what it's called... Then he got everything set up and clamped and I took a deep breath and I let it out and he pushed the needle through. And boy was that a run-on sentence! I was really surprised at how much it didn't hurt. I had a hand to hold (if there are hands around, I like to have one, especially if I don't know what I'm in for...), and had warned Scott of my potty-mouth during piercings, but I don't think I said anything worse than "damn". It felt kinda burn-y and there was pressure, but it hurt less than any of my other piercings. Less than my earlobes, even and those were only 10ga. Then we stretched it. I was nervous about this part, but it wasn't too bad. It did feel pretty much like doing the piercing over again. . Still, both were more annoying than painful. More like "dammit, stop that!" than "ouch!"
The needle looked really cool sticking out of my stomach. We got a picture of that, and of the jewelry and taper, and of the jewelry in (thanks, Scott!). It looked damn cool. Will be fun to put a big honkin' ring in once it's healed... The tissue was all scrunched together from being clamped, so Scott stretched it out some. That hurt much more than the piercing or stretching. The four of us talked for a bit more and then I got my satin soap and headed out.
The next day I stopped by the shop to get some honey (and to bring Scott a tip, which in my post-piercing haze I had forgotten... Piercers need to start having tip jars or something visible, so that people won't forget due to endorphins. Or maybe I'm the only one who has this problem?). Anyway, Scott had talked about the healing properties of organic honey and I was really interested in trying it. I love experiments. Since the honey needs to be special and organic and unheated, it's a little harder to get than just grabbing a honey bear of Sue Bee off the grocery store shelf. Hence, picking up honey to bring home with me. When I got there Ian handed me this massive mason jar of honey. That will go bad in six months. Good thing I like honey!
So when I got home I put a little bit of it into a separate clean container and am eating the rest. It's possibly the best tasting honey I've ever had. Yum! And it feels nice too. Heh. I'm using it on a scar from a skin biopsy as well as on the piercing. It will be interesting to see how it goes. Anyway, the night after I got it done (Saturday) my navel was fairly sore. I couldn't sleep on my stomach, so I didn't sleep that much. But already by last night (Sunday) I could lay on my stomach, as long as I rolled over very carefully. Probably sleeping on it is not the best, but it's probably less bad for it than not getting any sleep would be.
There was very little swelling (a nice change after my lip, which swelled up huge and bruised a bunch as well) and no blood at all. At first I was a bit disappointed at the lack of blood, since I love bloody messes. But that night when it was already a bit sore I was very glad there wasn't any dried blood to deal with. It's been very easy so far. Much better than cartilage piercings that throb for days. And so far neither of my cats has stepped on it.
Although I had high expectations when I went in, I was still surprised at just how much Scott rocked. Really the only concern I had at all going in was that it would seem very medical, due to face masks and crazy sterility and surgical drapes. But I had nothing to worry about. Scott is really fun and could probably make a root canal seem like a good time, so the piercing was a blast. It was really wonderful and I'm so happy with the result. I can't wait until I can make it back to Chicago.
The Aftermath:
I always find healing diaries very helpful, so I'm going to chart my navel's progress, at least for the first week or so.
Day One:
It's sore, as is to be expected. It's uncomfortable to bend much at all at the waist. This will be good for my back – no slouching or bending at the waist. There is a tiny bit of swelling, but not much redness.
Day Two:
About the same. Washed with my new Satin soap this morning. It's very nice! Just a tiny dot makes enough lather for navel and ears. Made some red clover tea and soaked with that in the afternoon. It's supposed to reduce swelling. Who knows... The warmth felt nice at least. Put some honey on before bed. I was concerned with how sticky it might be, but I used just a little bit and then put a shirt on. I think it'll be fine as long as I'm careful.
Day Three:
Was running late for class, so I didn't have a chance to shower. Honey didn't seem very sticky, though. Soaked with red clover again this afternoon and re-honeyed at night. This is by far the easiest piercing to soak. No sticking my ear in a cup or sticking my crotch in a bucket. It's very nice. The jewelry got pushed up at some point in the day. The area around the top hole is a bit red.
Day Four:
Ran into my first problems. I whacked the piercing as I was waking up this morning. And there was cat fur stuck to the honey. The piercing was pretty red and tender, but after showering it seemed to calm down some.
later that day:
Ack! Piercing is making up for not hurting during the actual piercing process... Was in agony by mid-morning. It was all swelled and the jewelry was tight which made it hurt far more than I would have liked it to. Bought some anti-inflammatory/anti-microbial herbs and soaked in a tea (chamomile, chickweed, and goldenseal).
Day Five:
Still very painful and swollen. The balls are sunk into the piercing. Soaking numerous times per day both with sea salt and with teas.
Day Six:
Wasn't sure if I should look into getting a longer barbell to make things calm down (I had the same problem with excessive swelling with my lip piercing, but luckily it swelled right away, so I was able to get a longer post the very next day). Called the shop and talked to Ian. He said that his conch had done the same thing and he has a similar reaction to large gauge piercings. It was nice to know that I hadn't done something to fuck it up and that the swelling was at least somewhat normal. Ian recommended alternating soaks with very cold water and very hot water to reduce swelling. So I've been doing that. I also have decided to stop being such a hippie and take some ibuprofen.
Day Seven:
Still soaking fairly often. Swelling has gone down a little bit.
Day Nine:
Soaking only once a day. Washing with soap only once a day now as well. I was washing it twice a day since it was so open and inflamed, I was nervous about it getting dirty/infected. Even if washing it more often was not helpful, it made me feel better. But I'm cutting down on soaking and washing now since it's starting to look much better and I don't want to dry it out too much.
Day Eleven:
It's looking much better. The skin around the top hole was getting pretty dry, so I put a tiny bit of olive oil on it. It is oozing lymph lots. The swelling has gone down quite a bit. I can finally see parts of the barbell. It's much more comfortable as well.
Day Fourteen:
I've gotten into a routine: rinsing in the shower in the morning and then applying a little bit of olive oil around the piercing (the skin there is still a bit dry), soaking in the afternoon, honey at night. Seems to be working well. I am soaking only with sea salt now. The teas are a pain in the ass and I'm lazy. Maybe next piercing I will try healing with tea soaks. This is the honey trial.
Day Twenty-one:
Well on the way to healing. It oozes lots, but is no longer swollen. I have also been putting the honey on a nasty scary I had from a skin biopsy. When I started, the scar was about 4 months old, almost black in color, and slightly raised. It has smoothed out and lightened considerably. I'm very pleased. Go honey! Not sure how much it is helping the navel, but so far the healing has gone pretty well. It's a little less obvious. However, it does do one very good thing: it eliminates the excruciating pain of accidentally moving the barbell when there are crusties on it and ripping them from the skin/pushing them through the piercing. The stickiness keeps the barbell in place until I can rinse/soak everything off and it also makes the lymph dry to a stickiness, rather than hard and crusty.
Day Twenty-four:
I don't know if it's the large gauge, the honey, or magic, but this has been one of the easiest first months I've had with a piercing (aside from those few days of evil swelling). The swelling is gone, the redness is just about gone. It oozes a bit, esp. if I knock it, but other than that, it's really good.
So, in conclusion, Scott Jania rocks my socks. As does organic honey.