Hey, my name's Beth...I'm fifteen, in the tenth grade. I remember when I was in seventh grade, my friend Sarah came to school with her belly button pierced. That's the time that I fell in love with the idea of having my navel pierced. At that time, it wasn't as trendy as it is now, which made it even more desirable. As soon as I got home that day, I asked my mom about it, and she simply said, "No". For two years I asked basically every week, and I remember at one point I even wrote twenty-six pages of the same sentences..."Please let me get my belly button pierced! You won't have to see it, and dad can take me instead of you!" That didn't work. It seemed as thought nothing did. I would go online and find information on the piercing...print it out, and show it to her. She'd always say the same thing, "Wow, this is great information you're finding!"
At A Glance Author Beth Contact iamninjabeth@hotmail.com When A month ago Artist Ara Studio Bear Skins Location Edmonton Slowly, more and more of my friends were getting their navels pierced and it made me so upset. I must have watched fifteen friends get theirs pierced before I did...here I was, wanting it for two years, with not even a "I'll consider it."
About two months ago, my cousin Tori asked her mom if she could get her navel pierced, and her mom said no, just like mine had. It ended up causing an argument between them, and eventually, Tori's mom gave her permission to get it pierced. Tori told me that not speaking to my mom would eventually work...so I tried it. My mom and I didn't talk for five days...not one word...until I mentioned it again, and she finally said, "As long as you don't ask for anything else." I agreed.
It was August 21st, and I was scared out of my mind.
Tori, her mom, and my mom all came with me. Tori had to come, because she comes with me whenever I get piercings (other than my navel, I've only got five others...all on the ears...but I'm getting more on my ears when I'm sixteen!).
I was extremely surprised with the cleanliness of the studio! As soon as you walked in, they had a mat for you to take your shoes off...I was already impressed.
Then, they asked me to fill out a form...have I aten in the last twenty-four hours, how old am I, blahblahblah. A few minutes later, a girl named Ara asked me to follow her.
We walked past about five people getting tattooed, into a private room where I was to get pierced.
Basically as soon as we got in there, she asked if I wanted a bar bell or a ring, and I said a bar bell. She then cleaned the my navel and put the dots on. I didn't get to see the dots...but she looked at them to make sure it was centered.
Then, she went over the cleaning procedures and asked me what I already knew about it. She asked me to lay down on this doctor-type bed, and said, "See the fish on the ceiling? I want you to focus on them...breathe in and out slowly...tell me if the clamp hurts..." The clamp hurt?! I didn't even know that she had put it on. I'm not going to lie. It was a needle going through my skin, of course I felt it go in when she pushed it through my skin...but I can easily say that getting my lobes pierced hurt much worse. It was basically just a pinch. When the needle was in and she was going to put the bar bell in, she said, "Now wiggle your toes and keep breathing in and out slowly..." and then she slipped the bar bell in. That didn't hurt at all, like a lot of people say it does.
I paid the $64.00 and was on my way. When I got home, I realized that it was quite a bit deeper than any of the other navel piercings I've seen, which made me extremely happy...since my navel is pretty shallow, I was worried that it wouldn't be very deep...but it definately is! It was a little sore for about a week afterwards...and the crusties didn't start until five days after the piercing was done. It's a month old now, and I make sure to clean it twice a day with Pears anti-bacterial soap...and since it's anti-bacterial, I'm going to be switching to something else, because I don't want to become immune to it or anything! It still has it's days where it's red, or where it's a little sore...but I am 100% happy with it, and I would totally say go for it! The pain is always worth it. I can't wait to get more piercings!