I am seventeen years old. Yesterday I went with my mother to get my navel pierced at 23rd Street Body Piercing. My mother only agreed to sign because she would not have to look at my navel piercing everyday because I wear clothes and all. On one hand in made me a rather happy that I had a parent open to my body modification, but it also made me a little sad that she is open to it as long as she does not have to look at it.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When N/A Artist Jason Studio 23rd Street Body Piercing Location Okahoma City, Oklahoma The staff at 23rd street was very friendly, but I think their appearances scared my mother. I have been there before, but my mother has never been in any piercing parlor. She said she was very surprised at how clean and professional it was there, she was expecting someone much more shady.
I talked to the girl at the front desk about jewelry. She was very lovely. She asked to see my stomach and then started talking to me about what kind of navel structure I had, I did not really understand her structure talk. We decided to put in a twelve gauge circular barbell, and then, in about five months, we would stretch it to a ten gauge. I want a larger gauge navel piercing, but several piercers have advised me from piercing it at a large gauge. She went over the after-care procedure with me. She gave me the usual speech and checked things off on the after-care sheet as she went. I am to do sea salt soaks two times a day. I am not to touch it when I am not cleaning it, and cannot submerge the piercing in standing water. I am also not to use harsh and abrasive soaps or cleansers, move the jewelry, wear tight clothing. I can not use alcohol, peroxide, or ointments. I already knew all of those instructions, as I used them with my other piercings. She asked if I needed to buy any sea salt and seemed surprised when I told her I already had some, and then told me she was glad that I knew my stuff and had done my research. I paid my $44.00, and waited on a sofa with my mother. I watched a couple of girls walk in who were both getting their nostrils pierced together.Then Jason, my piercer, called my name and led me back into one of the rooms. He told my mom that she had to be present. That did not really make her happy, and she just stood in the corner and read her newspaper. He marked my navel with purple ink on a toothpick, had me look in the mirror to see if I thought the placement was acceptable. I thought it looked fine, then I lay down on the table. Just then did I start to get cold feet. Nevertheless, I toughed it out. I am very glad I did. Jason swabbed around my navel and inside of it, which made me wish I checked for lint before I left the house. Then he put the clamps on, they were very cold. He had me take a deep breath and proceeded to slide the needle through my skin. I was expecting a little pain an d maybe some blood. It felt like someone's fingernails were pinching me. It made me gasp. That was all. There was no pain or blood, not that I found that disappointing. Then he screwed the balls in the barbell in. I hopped of the table and got really dizzy. I looked it in the mirror. It looks nice.
My piercing is now two days old. I am very pleased with it. It has not bothered me in the least. I bumped it a few times at work leaning over the counter to talk to people, but other than that, it has not gotten in the way of any of my activities, except for rolling over on it in my sleep. I am a little worried about it being knocked around at work, because I am a gymnastics instructor, but it has not happened yet. My mom thinks I look funny bending over a cup of sea salt water and likes to make fun of me for that but it is worth it. My parents are concerned that this is a gate way piercing. I guess they do not understand that when they took me to get my ear lobes pierced when I was seven years old, that that was my gate way piercing. I do want more piercings. However, I cannot have any visible metal in my face at work, plus I don't quite have the money being a struggling college student. In addition, I doubt I could convince my mother to sign for me to get anything else for a while. So I suppose I will have to wait not much longer until I am eighteen and of legal age.