I love piercings. The whole idea of them and watching them happen is just amazing. In the past month I've gone with a friend of mine while she had an industrial piercing, naval and clit hood piercing done but wasn't old enough to get one with my parents permission myself.. Needless to say after watching those piercings, I was anxious!
At A Glance Author Stareyez Contact Stareyez@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Amy Studio Addictions Location Salem, Oregon Well I turned 18 on July 6th but Addictions (my shop of choice) was closed for the 4th of July weekend which i have always hated about my birthday. So I went in on the 7th and decided to do something simple to start out with because I know this will not be my last piercing as i have 8 in my ears, 2 of which i did myself..
I wanted to get my nose pierced since I was 16 but wasn't able to because well.. mom said no! :( Im not able to right now because of my job. So i'll stick with the ones you cant see with clothes on. I went down to Addictions and paid and had to wait about 30 minutes for the people in front of me. I paid the 40 dollars and received my aftercare bag which so charmingly included a strawberry flavored condom! Also i got some stickers and some saline solution in a spray bottle, some sea salt, and a pamphlet full of information and just about anything I needed to know. I knew I would start out with a simple hoop through the piercing so I picked out a light green ball for my hoop because it matched the color of my eyes.
When i got in the room i set my stuff down and sat in the chair while Amy got everything ready. She put on gloves and told me to stand up while she she cleaned and marked me and then I laid down so that i could get clamped. The clamps, I have always heard were uncomfortable, but you know what? Honestly they didn't hurt one bit. They weren't very tight on me. Then Amy told me to take a big breath in and breath out and when i exhaled she pierced me. I hardly felt a pinch. She said, 'you're pierced' and I was so relieved that that was it.. I was waiting for the pain??!! So I made a comment about how I'd heard that putting the jewelry in can be the worst part of the piercing and she said 'well your jewelry is already in!'
Thats how quick it was. The piercing was nothing. I didn't go in expecting a simple navel piercing to hurt that bad but I thought it would hurt more than my ears and it didn't. I sure as hell don't want it infected so i keep a steady spray of saline solution on it. Its hard to sleep because I only sleep on my stomach and right now I have to adjust to sleeping on my side. Im careful with the shirts that I wear, making sure they are slightly loose fitting, at least in that area. I was scared of having sex only because I didn't know if the thrusting would be painful to the piercing, but really I didn't notice any pain at all.
Being where it is, I often bump it. I work in a grocery store and I have to do a lot of lifting. I never realized how much I use my stomach.. especially to lift objects and so I really had to get used to watching that because forgetting that could really hurt!! Its at a really bad level and in the aftercare information it mentions that that is the biggest reason why navel piercings get infected so easily. Its hard to not bump it with my hands or accidentally rub my stomach against something (or someone, wink wink) and really make it hurt. Bending down can be a slightly painful experience as well as stretching upwards. The area around the navel is sensitive to the touch. I suppose that is a good thing because I've heard that an infection can make the area numb.
I haven't shown my parents and I don't think I plan on doing that. I don't think they'd really care because.. well, im eighteen and I can make my own decisions now, but I just felt like it was too private to share with even them. I share a lot of things with my brother and I didn't even tell him yet.
All in all, the experience was awesome. I had a great piercer and it was obvious she knew what she was doing. I'll go back either tomorrow or some time this week and pierce something else. Im not sure just yet what I want to pierce but Im waiting for the day I can pierce my nose. Im also waiting to get the courage up to pierce my clit hood and my nipples, over-stimulated as I already am, it sounds like great fun! Because like the name of the place says... its an addiction.