At A Glance Author G When Six months ago Artist some jerk Studio ace n the hole Location dallas texas >From the time I was about fourteen, I had wanted a navel ring. I would always draw pictures of girls in art class with belly rings because I thought that they were so cool. I remember asking my dad for one when I was sixteen and him telling me "G, I don't want some nasty, tattooed, harley-driving old man touching you." Well, I understand now where he was coming from but then, I threw a fit.
I tried doing it myself once, it just got infected and I had to take it out. So much wasted blood and pain. Don't pierce yourself unless you know what you're doing. When I turned eighteen I finally decided to get it done. I had already had my tongue pierced and my ear cartilege, so why I was even nervous I don't know. I went with my friend Melissa to this place called "Ace in the Hole" in Dallas and told the guy working there that I wanted my navel pierced. For some reason, in Dallas, if you are a tattoo artist or piercing person, you're an asshole. I'm not saying that ALL of them are, but the ones my friends (who have had hundreds of piercings and tattoos) and I have encountered, all are.
The guy, whos name I can't remember to save my life was such a jerk. Melissa was getting a tattoo and he kept picking on her and making both of us super uncomfortable. The last thing I needed when I was so nervous was to feel uncomfortable with my surroundings. I signed the paper work, gave him my ID and my cash and he told me to hold on a minute (rudely I might add). I sat there a while and waited Mel get her tattoo and the longer I waited, the more scared I got.
So as if being a woman in the bad part of town wasn't bad enough, Mel and I had a tattoo parlor full of dickhead men to deal with. The piercing guy led me down this hall to the piercing room and told me to clean my navel with this cleaner, (rudely) so I did. I kept looking at my bare navel and thinking about how soon it would be bare no longer. He then told me to lie down. He marked where the barbell was going to go and didn't even ask me if that looked alright before he applied the navel clamp. Hell, it could have been crooked in my eyes but he didn't give a damn.
The piercer wasn't comforting at all. I was trying to make small talk with him and he just looked at me like I was nuts. I joked with him and asked him how bad it hurt and he didn't respond. I tried to ask him about the different piercings that he had and if they hurt and what made him want to get them, still no luck. He answered me in one and two word answers.I kept staring at the needle that was soon going to go through my belly and I was shaking a little bit. Mel was no help, she was telling me how bad hers hurt and that I might even black out. These are not the things that someone who is about to get pierced wants to hear my friends.I laid down on the table and he told me to breathe out and the "pop!" the 14 gauge needle went through. He threaded the barbell through, told me to wash it, and sent me on my way.
It didn't really hurt THAT bad, it more burned than anything. For some reason when I stood up, it started bleeding really bad and I had to get a paper towel and hold it on there so I didn't paint the floor with it. I had a nifty little barbell with a pink diamond in it stuck in my tummy. I kept it up just like I was briefly told by the ass of a piercing guy but I started developing those keloid things. One of them got as big as a pea and every day it would fill with puss. It was gross. I tried and tried to clean it out, I washed it with everything that you're supposed to but my body was totally rejecting it for some reason. After a few months of battling with it, I decided to take it out. It was like my body went "ahhh that's the stuff" because the next day it was all healed up.
I eventually went and got it done again bravely and I still have that one to this day. Every now and then it will goo but for the most part it's alright. Now I'm considering getting another one just for the hell of it, just not by anyone in Dallas. :0)