I had originally gone to see the local studio (Pierced Up, Bristol) to find out about the possibility of getting a second labret done just below my first. Unfortunately it was a s I expected and there simply wasn't enough room to do it safely. So, I decided that since I had gone all the way into town to see them I would get my navel done.
At A Glance Author Big Mad Drongo Contact big_mad_drongo@hotmail.com IAM bigmad_drongo When A month ago Studio Pierced Up Location Bristol, UK I should explain here that I have previously hadthis piercing. I got it many months ago (over a year now) and I loved it, and I cared for it and I kept it clean all the time (nearly). But I put a nice piece of jewellery in it with a slave ball on the end (basically a CBR with a threaded ball that attaches to a barbell). And this piece of jewellery put a lot of pressure on my piercing as the ring would flip all over the place and push on the skin, so I had lot's of trouble with it and eventually it started heading north so I figured I'd be best of removing it and having it re-done, rather then have my belly button cut in half by rogue jewellery.
It wasn't possible for me to get it done that day since they had appointments booked already, so I made an appointment for the following week, and left my deposit. There's something about appointments for piercing that always makes me nervous, I just feel apprehensive. I think I've had half of my piercings done by just walking in off the street when I felt it was time for a new piercing, and I was nervous each of those times but it was always different to the nervous expectation of an appointment. Hmm.
So I turned up, on time, and the piercer (didn't get his name, sorry) was running a minute or two late so I got comfy and flicked through some of the piercing and tattoo magazines they had lying around. Eventually he came back and we went through to the studio to get ready. By this point I had already made my choice of jewellery, I was all prepared to get a standard 1.6mm CBR, but it turned out that they offered up to 2.4mm for initial piercings, so I went for that instead.
So, I followed the guy through into the studio, which looked very nice and clean, everything you would expect really. I rolled up my shirt so that he could see my navel and he commented that I had obviously already had it pierced (which I had told him the previous week, but he'd forgotten!) so I explained that yes it had been out and healed for quite sometime.
Next came the cleaning with antibacterial soap (I think), he explained that when he had his done he found this bit the worst part as he doesn't like people playing with his navel! Then came the marking. He took his time marking it up and had marked it so that it was back a bit from the scar tissue, he had correctly surmised that I was intending on stretching, as he doesn't do many 2.4mm navels! So I stood, and lay and stood for him to mark it up, checked in the mirror that I was happy with the placement. Happy with the placement, I lay down on the bed in preparation. And grabbed the sides of it in preparation!
He clamped me up, explaining all the way what he was doing, then he got out the needle and prepared to pierce me. I took a deep breath on his command and then slowly exhaled as he pushed the needle. And boy, did he push! Although it didn't really hurt. Afterwards he explained that it was very tough for him and that he'd had to use a lot of force to get the needle through, but that was nothing compared to what was to come!
The next part was the jewellery. As I've already said I had chosen a 2.4mm CBR and I think the diameter was 14mm since it was going to be fairly deep. So he came to insert the jewellery, and this is when it started to hurt. He explained that he was sorry for it taking so long, but that my skin was grabbing the ring and it was very tough for him to get it in, the toughest jewellery insertion he'd ever had to do I think!
So once the CBR was in and the ball firmly clipped in place, I stood up and had a look, and was happy with what I saw. The piercer ran through his recommended after-care, and I already had the printed leaflet anyway. So I said my goodbyes, paid the outstanding balance and got a bus home again.
Here endeth the tale