After having two kids, one without drugs, I never thought anything would ever be properly described as "painful" again... but was I wrong!
At A Glance Author femme_noir When A month ago Artist Dana Studio Adorn Body Art Location Portland, OR My sister and I went over to Adorn as an idiot relief trip for her, and she offered to pay for my navel if I went with her when she got hers done... how can you pass up an offer like that? Besides, my first piercing had to be a navel - and if that's not a gateway piercing, nothing is!
We get over to Adorn, and once inside, I saw Dana; and wow, was he pierced! Let me offer you a bit of advice: go with people with more piercings than flesh; they generally have a better beside manner, and especially as it's one born from experience, but don't let that be your sole consideration, either.
Anyway, my sister has Dana check her nose, and that was going fine She mentioned that we were there for navels, but since she'd been pierced too recently, Dana said he wouldn't stick her and so it fell on me to choose my jewelry, a nice shiny internal thread purple barbell, Dana sterilized it, and off we went to the back room. (Adorn is huge, so clean, and very friendly!)
By this time I'm a walking wreck. I have three lobe piercings, one done by myself with a self-piercing hoop that was a gift from my grandmother... not having fallen off the turnip truck yesterday, I knew this piercing would be vastly different, and I didn't have much of an idea of what to expect. Dana was trying to put me at ease, and that's not easy, but fortunately he did well enough that I didn't back out. Trusting your piercer is vital, and helping the piercee feel comfortable is a large part of that trust.
So ensues the usual routine of stand up, mark, do you like it, adjust markings, and lay down... no big deal. I was watching Dana out of the corner of my eye, moving stuff on the tray, cleaning stuff, prepping the jewelry, and changing gloves. (Always make sure that your piercer changes gloves often - at least every time that they touch something that might be contaminated. Cleanliness is essential.)
Next came the actual piercing. Breathe in, one, two, three... I felt the needle go in, and I'm thinking, this is all? Wrong, boy-o! Once it hit the 2/3rds mark, there was the most incredible burning sensation that had me breathing through my teeth. To Dana's credit, however, he was fast - the entire piercing and jewelry insertion took less than 10 seconds, and the worst part of it all was the needle exiting. No blood, fortunately, even though I had been prepared for a considerable amount.
While I was waiting for my nerves and the adrenaline to return to normal - which is an excellent idea even if you think you're perfectly fine - I listened to Dana go through the aftercare recitation at high speed like he'd been through it a thousand times before, and he probably had been, too. Then I got up, moseyed over to the mirror, and admired the great job he'd done with no small amount of satisfaction.
The immediate after-piercing period was a breeze; there was only a few hours of midsection stiffness, and I had successfully rearranged my entire movement repetoire in a few hours. I noticed that it had started to lay to the side, but at 2 weeks it had straightened out and so far has even survived a 30 pound kid rocket launched at my navel at full speed without a hint of tearing, not to mention the horde of little feet, elbows, and knees that seem determined to attack it every moment of the day.
As I'm writing this, it's been about 4 weeks, and it's behaving like an absolute dream. I don't baby my navel; I soak it once every few days, and clean it when it needs it, and no special treatment. No infections, and only one bubble burst, and of course I still apply common sense - no touching with dirty fingers, and don't play with it! I'm fairly certain that I've got a nice heal going on, but I don't dare check for another three months. Patience is a virtue!
I have more piercings planned for the future... and plan on only getting stuck by Dana. An industrial, a handful of cartilage, nose, and temple are on the drawing board for the future, and I know it's not going to stop there, either.
Moral of the story: Some navels do hurt, but not all; and the pain does not last long unless something went wrong. And never, ever two-time a good piercer, as they are worth their weight in gold!!