At A Glance
Author	Lyz
Contact	apple.of.dischord@evil.co.uk
When	A week ago
Artist	A woman.......
Studio	Manchester and Leeds Piercing Studio
Location	Manchester, UK

History

I got my navel pierced about three years ago when I was fourteen. It was my first piercing apart from my ears, and I'm not really sure why I got it done. I think maybe I was quite immature and just wanted it because I knew my parents wouldn't approve. When I think about it now, I realise how lucky I have been. I went to a really shoddy studio in Manchester called L'Homme (of course I didn't know how bad it was at the time, and it was the only place that I knew didn't ask about age), but luckily the piercing was done well and I had no probems with it at all, apart from the fact that it is a little crooked. It healed really well and quickly, and from then on I was pretty much addicted to piercings.

Although I liked the way my navel looked, over the past year I wanted something which would make it stand out a bit, as navel piercing is so mainstream. I spent a long time scouring BME for ideas, and decided that a quadruple navel was the way to go. I was thinking of two either side of the one I already had, and one at the bottom, in a sort of 'bird's foot' shape. I thought this was beautiful, but I knew it would be expensive. Through sheer luck, I came into some unexpected money and now there was nothing to hold me back!

The Day

My two previous piercings (labret and eyebrow) were performed at The Studio in Manchester, which is a lovely new place. However, as what I had in mind seemed fairly complex, and the people at The Studio are all fairly new, I decided to go to the most well-respected studio in Manchester, the Manchester and Leeds Piercing Studio.

So me and my boyfriend Dave made a trip into Manchester last Saturday, which was quite a big thing as we both hate it in Manchester, such a hostile place, and mosied on down to the shop. There I was told that the piercer would only perform on piercing at a time, so I would not be able to get the whole piece done at once. This annoyed me a bit, but I respected them and I realise that they know more about this kind of thing than me.

We then had to wait around for a LONG time, as there was a huge backlog of people to be pierced and a dinner break to be taken before she could fit me in. I signed all the forms and paid and got my care instructions and all that, then we looked round the shop and went for some food. When we returned there was ANOTHER long wait, and by this time we were getting a bit stressed, as tends to happen if you stay in Manchester for too long.

But finally, my time came. The woman who pierced me was really friendly and professional, although she seemed very busy she took time to explain things and didn't rush things at all. She asked where I wanted done, and I said the bottom of my navel (is there a name for that? Like the Anti-navel?).While she prepared her stuff, I looked around the room. It was big, and very clean with all the usual stuff, autoclave, dentist's chair, interesting art. She marked me and I lay down. I was a wee bit nervous, but it was that lovely excited 'I'm about to be stuck with metal' nervous so it was ok. She sprayed me with some freezing stuff, and told me that the bottom part of the navel usually hurts more than the top, as it requires more fiddling.I got a bit more nervous, but felt fine. Well, she went through the usual counting, breathing thing and then did it. It didn't hurt at all, well I could feel it but it wasn't anything you'd call pain. It felt really good actually, they always do. Then she put the curved barbell in, just a plain steel one, and I had a look. It was so pretty! Perfectly straight and it looked so good with the other one. I was so pleased! She bandaged me up and I said thanks and was on my way.

The Aftermath

There was virtually no pain after the piercing, it was like a dull throbbing for a while, which went pretty quickly. That night, I took the bandage off (naughty me, I was meant to leave it until the next day), and it was amazing! There was no blood (my first navel piercing bled pretty badly) and no redness or anything. I was so pleased. I clean it twice a day with a solution of epsom salts and water, and it seems to be healing really well. It's not tender at all, unlike the first one which was pretty sore from what I can remember. I'm so pleased that I'm considering leaving my navel as it is, and not getting the other two piercings, as they may look a bit too crowded. I guess I'll wait until this one has healed then make up my mind.

I'm definitely glad I got a second navel piercing, it just makes it that bit different, plus it looks really sexy!