Approximately a two months ago, I decided to add to my entourage of piercings and decided upon piercing my navel. I had all of my other piercings done professionally, but since I have done tons of research here on bme and have done a few piercings on other people, I figured doing my own navel would really be no big deal--WRONG!
At A Glance Author Heidi Contact Heidi@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Self Studio Home Location Chicago, IL I ordered the needle, curved barbell, and clamps over the internet. All were pre-sterilized and came in their sealed packages. Finally the day came for me to pierce, which was about a month ago. My fiance had his friend Rob over and they wanted me to come to Denny's with them (it's a middle of the night thing...) but I was determined to pierce my navel. I cleaned it up and attempted to mark it dead center. Every time I marked it, I asked Frank and Rob if it was centered, but they wouldn't give me a straight answer (alcohol makes people dumb! :)
Anyways, after a dozen tries to center the mark on my navel, it finally appeared centered to me. I cleaned it up with alcohol again and clamped it. Something went wrong when I clamped it because I may have grabbed too much skin. They say there is a tiny muscle that runs across the inside of your belly button and you have to be sure not to grab that and try to pierce through that, otherwise you'll have a hell of a time getting that needle through. Luckily that was not my problem.
It took me about 40 minutes to finally pierce it. The pain was getting to me. Every time I pushed the needle further through my skin, it hurt like hell so I would stop. Well when I stopped, the needle would slip out just a little bit, so all the pain I went through was for nothing as I just had to go back through where I just pierced.
Well, once I got the needle through, I thought to myself that it was finally done and I ran out into the frontroom to show Frank and Rob my skewered navel with the needle still inside it. They thought it was cool and yelled at me to hurry up because they were hungry. I went back into my room and began to push the barbell up against the needle from the bottom, hoping that I could get the jewelry in as the needle came out--not the case. I had to remove the needle to get the barbell in. It was an external tread curved barbell, so the treads hurt going in too. Well, I got the barbell in, but I pierced way too much skin for a 1/2 inch long curved barbell, so just the very tip of the barbell was sticking out of the hole--not enough for me to screw the top ball onto.
All of that pain I went through was for nothing!
I removed the barbell, put some alcohol onto the fresh wound and bandaged it up. I went out into the frontroom to tell Frank and Rob that it didn't work and they thought that was funny too. We went to Denny's and ate. I was in a better mood after eating and was horsing around and spilled a whole glass of lemonade onto my fresh wound and lap---OOOOOH that stings!! The first night was hell for sleeping on it! And there wasn't any metal in it!!! Anyway, it's been about a month and my wound is completely healed. There is just a small scar left.
To all of you underage girls who want your belly buttons pierced *SOoo bad* and your parents won't let you so you think you can do it yourself: you can do it yourself, but you run the risk of serious infection, scarring, rejection, migration, piercing it incorrectly, and TONS of pain.
Through all of my other piercings (8 body piercings now--not including the screwed up navel), I have learned that the faster it is done, the less painful it will be. When you self pierce, you are definitely going to slow down and stop to tolerate the pain. It will hurt more doing it yourself than having it done.
Believe me, it will be well worth the wait until you are a little more grown up to go to a shop and have it professionally done. Quick, cheap, and relatively painless!
The fifty dollars they charge around here to pierce a navel is well worth the significant decrease in pain compared to the low cost of self piercing.
If you have any questions, comments, ancectodes, jokes, chit-chat or whatever, feel free to anonymously email me through the forum. I will reply to all questions, comments, and/or concerns. Thanks for reading! Tattoo the Earth!!!