It Starts:
At A Glance Author Steph When A year ago Artist Didn't catch his name Studio Generation Location Clifton Hill, Niagara Falls September of 2001, I started high school. The first time I ever saw a navel piercing was in a magazine. It was Beyonce Knowles of Destinys Child who was in the ad and I thought the piercing was cute. I had heard of them before, but being the unaware pre-teen that I was, I thought that piercings were painful beyond belief. The only piercings I had at the time were my ears and I had gotten those done when I was young, so I did not remember the pain.
Phys Ed was the first class of the day. We were a couple weeks into the school year and we had to buy our P.E uniforms. I was talking to a girl I knew about my freshly acquired cartilage piercing and how the navel piercing was growing on me. She lifted up her shirt and showed me hers. Let's just say, her belly button was beautiful. It was perfectly centered and it had a curly little barbell. I was in love.
Spring of 2002, grade 9 was drawing to a close. One of my friends was going to get her nose pierced and asked if I wanted to go with her. I thought, "This is the perfect opportunity to ask my parentals!" I asked my mom, thinking it would not be that big of a deal, but to my dismay I was denied the privilege of getting a new body mod. "Oh well," I thought. "Maybe when I'm older I will try again."
The summer of 2002 flew by and grade 10 started. Now let's just say, this was my rebellious year. I began drinking and partying more often and I had gotten myself into intoxicated trouble on a few occasions. I mean, I turned 15! That's almost an adult! Really, if my parents couldn't see that I could make decisions for myself, I'd have to show them that I was capable of it. By now, I had given up hope of getting my belly button pierced...I WANTED MY TONGUE PIERCED!!
At this point in time, I did not have a job, so earning and saving money was much harder than today. I ended up babysitting one weekend and had a few spare bucks. My best friend and I were planning on going to the mall and looking at piercing jewellery, but at the last possible minute we decided to walk downtown to get our tongues pierced. We went to Heads, a grubby little place, lied about our age (we told the guy there that we were 16) and found out that we needed to be 18! Our plans were ruined! My friend called her cousin and asked her if she could drive us back to her house. Sure enough, ten minutes later she pulled up in front of Heads.
This is where the fun begins: my friend asked her cousin (18) and her cousins boyfriend (19) if they would drive us to the Falls to go to Generation. Cousins stuck together (because if anyone asked, I was the boyfriend's cousin). We got into Generation and told the guy that we wanted to get our tongues pierced...at the last second I backed out and said I couldn't do it. Feeling bad for being driven half an hour away from home for absolutely NOTHING, I decided to carry out my belly button dream. My friend did not have enough money for her tongue to get pierced, so she got her lip pierced instead.
I was led into a tiny room, barely big enough for the piercer and myself, but somehow my friend, her cousin and the boyfriend squeezed in behind us. I chose a plain, silver titanium barbell and the guy marked my belly button with a purple marker. My friend and I approved so we proceeded to the next step. He clamped it which did not hurt, it was just a bit uncomfortable. Three, two, one...stab. It felt like someone was cutting through a piece of steak! It was not a bad hurt, just kind of like being stung by an unusually large bee. I didn't even feel the jewellery go in. I decided it was time to look. To my surprise, it did not even hurt to move! I was under the impression that in was horribly painful to move after being pierced. Piercer-guy told me to stand up carefully when I felt I was ready. It was done! My friend still had to get pierced though, so I was not quite out of the woods yet. Watching her get her lip pierced was harder to do that actually get my bell y button pierced.
I was given a sheet about the aftercare of navel piercings and a brief explanation and we were off! I hid my piercing from my parents for 2 weeks, until I got my nose pierced, when I felt I should tell them about my belly button. After a nasty row with the parentals, I had to take out my nose stud, but I got to keep my navel piercing. It's been about 10 months since I got pierced and let's just say, I stumbled across the beauty of nipple piercings! Yes, body mods are definitely addicting and once the soccer season is over...I will add nipple piercing to my somewhat short list of body modifications.
My advice to people wanting their navel pierced is to really think about it. It's not a visible piercing, so even if you take it out one day, the little scar isn't a big deal. But really think about it, because piercings are addicting, and you may even run into the problems of tattoos (especially if your parents don't allow them). One day, I promise, I will get my tattoo :)