Okay. My fascination with the navel piercing goes back a long long way. Ever since I could remember, I wanted to get the navel piercing, I always thought it was so cool looking as a child and I knew a few people who had it done. They were older, of course. So one day, I shared this idea with a friend that I made in eighth grade. Her parents let her get it done the first day I presented the idea to her. I was jealous, of course, because I had wanted it a lot more than she did and for a longer time I had to wait. Finally, after 3 years of secret rivalry between me and who was supposed to be my friend, my aunt, my legal guardian, took me to get it done.
At A Glance Author Renee Contact babierenar1405@aol.com When Six months ago Artist Joel Studio Screamin' Ink Tattoo Location Broadway (Rt. 4) Fairlawn, NJ I was told by my piercer, Joel, to choose a ring, and some of them were free with the piercing, so i chose one of them. It was my aunt's money I was spending by getting the piercing in the first place and I did not want her to spend a hundred dollars. Anyway, Joel was hot. He told me that the amount of flesh that was actually going to be pierced would be small. I said that was okay. I just wanted the piercing to be done and over with after so many years of anticipation.
In the shop, I was taken into a back room where there was a dentist type chair. The room was white and looked very clean and trustworthy. Joel asked me to stand still for a minute, he put on a pair of sanitary gloves and told me to lift my shirt so he could mark the entrance and exit holes for the needle to go in. After he did this, he told me to look at the dots in the mirror to see if they looked straight and if I was happy with them. I told him I was and layed on the dentist chair. My favorite song came on, "Fade to Black" by Metallica and I realized I'd been holding the foil wrapper from a piece of gum I chewed earlier. I rolled up the foil into a ball and put it in my mouth and bit down on it while Joel put a clamp on my navel. This was an unconfortable process, which took the most time. It felt like a pinch that moved slightly as he adjusted it around the dots he had made on my navel.
After about three long minutes of pinching clamp-placing (I turned out to be grateful for this because I was sure he was taking his time to place it correctly), Joel asked me if I was ready for the needle. I said I was and a few seconds later, I felt a sharp pinch lasting about ten seconds. All the while, biting down on my foil ball, I was trying to focus on my favorite song. At this point, my piercer told me that the worst part was over. Then he said to stand up, and told me it was over. I stood up and looked in the same mirror I had looked in before, only this time the results were much better, needless to say. I loved it! I told him that too. My aunt was happy for me that I had gotten what i finally wanted.
Joel explained all of the aftercare information I needed to know before we left the tattoo parlor. He supplied me with a paper of aftercare instructions in case I forgot anything he said and recommended that I buy Bactine at a local drugstore. My aunt agreed to this and we left the shop.
On the ride home, I was laying back in the car seat on the way to a Walgeens and I looked at the piercing. My navel had become a pool of blood that I sopped up with a tissue and that was the worst of the bleeding. I cleaned it twice a day with Dial soap in the shower and put a dot of the Bactine on the top and a dot on the bottom for the first 2 months only, even though maybe i should have done it longer. But, now it is about 8 months and it only rarely gets infected. I only clean it daily in the shower with the dial soap now. I use sea salt soaks and found that they really work well. I forgot if this tip was found in the aftercare paper Joel gave me or online somewhere, but it is good I found it. The soaks really draw out infection well. I am very happy I got it done. It looks so sexy! There's so many different kinds of rings to put in it and some of them are really cute. The pain was not terrible, like a screaming pain, it was bearable. It is one i would go through again for another cool piercing. If you are thinking about it, go for it! Definately worth it! Any questions? Contact me!
-Ren