I had never thought about getting any part of my body pierced, until getting my ears pierced the first time days after I turned 22 started the ball rolling.
At A Glance Author anonymous When Six months ago Artist Kendra Studio 2XS Hair and Beauty One particular day (after doing various research and talking to a lot of people), I walked into 2XS, and spoke with Kendra and the girls about getting my navel pierced, getting all the information I could about the cost, procedure, and so on, and then told them that if my partner didn't have a problem with it I'd be back. I walked out of the salon and to the nearest pay phone. I rang up my partner, and told him one thing "I am going to get my navel pierced". His reply (instead of the "no way, no you're not" reply I expected) was "its your body love", which really made me feel good.
So I wander back to 2XS, tell Kendra that its ok, and she lets me pick out a barbel (I later find out it was 12 gauge). I pick out a nice pretty one with a clear stone (I figure that seeing as I am going to be wearing it for ages, I don't want to get something that wont match any clothes I will wear).
She tells me to go through to the piercing area out the back of the salon and after shutting the door on us, we start the usual paperwork and I have a field day checking out her qualifications and health department approvals and things. She does the usual marking, telling me to lay down and prepare myself. She is chatting to me the whole time about different things, I feel quite happy that she and I have things in common, so I try and calm myself with a series of yoga style breaths.
She disinfects my navel and starts to clamp, but I feel sick, so I tell her to ease up a bit before I feel like i am going to faint. After a few goes like this, she finally gets the clamp on, and then just as she is about to pierce, I flinch. By this time I am in so much pain from the clamp, that she calls in another girl who works there to help us out. Looking back on it, I can laugh, but at the time, it was hell. The other girl comes in and sits with me, holding my hand and telling me to stick my stomach out and ~breathe~. She tells me that I am lucky to have so much stomach, trying to distract me, then I feel the needle go in and I yell the place down. I felt EVERY inch of it. The girls are both talking to me, trying to calm me a little, while Kendra puts the jewellery in. I feel the jewellery go in, that hurt as well, which just made the whole thing worse, I was in agony by the time I was told to sit up. I look at the piercing after hopping off the table and I a m not overly impressed with it (a common feeling with me after every piercing I find, the love settles in later).
I wander out and pay Kendra for doing it, I thank both her and the girl who sat with me through it, and then the endorphins kick in. I race straight up the street and flash it at a lady working in a shop that sells body jewellery, I also flash it at another lady who works in a shop across the way from the first one, I was talking to her regarding body piercings a few weeks before, she has many. She told me it looked great for a fresh piercing.
I got home and started caring for it, and it hurt a lot for the first week or so, then the tenderness went away and I started to fall in love. The experience of the aftercare was pretty easy, and my navel looked as though it had healed perfectly after three months.
I went back to Kendra and she changed the barbel to a captive bead ring, which looked lovely. It did reduce the healing time after that, and after months of having that in, I decided to change back to the barbel to let it heal itself the rest of the way. Its still healing itself, but (looking back on it) I think I should have stuck with the barbel, even after I was told it was healed.
It will still occasionally get low grade infections from a low immune system and things, which requires me to do the aftercare thing on it for a while, but its a joy to have. I wouldn't lose it for anyone, it is part of me.
I do recommend Kendra to anyone who wants a piercing from the waist up, she has a reputation as the best piercer in the city, and I can see why after having a piercing done by her.