I was never particularly interested in any piercing whatsoever, and it was only when I was 13 that I decided to get my first ear piercing. That experience of adrenaline and love of the new metal in me planted the piercing seed within me; I've been addicted ever since. Being so young I couldn't get any piercings done without my parent's consent. My mum hated, and still dislikes, body piercing of any kind (I think I was lucky she took me to get my ears done!)
At A Glance Author obscurething Contact obscurething@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist Tattoo artist Studio Tattoo studio Location Bognor Regis As soon as I was 16 I knew that I needed to get something pierced and I knew it had to be different, I wasn't exactly afraid of pain...I had already had my ears pierced professionally, and then attempted some self ear piercing (never the best idea.)
Due to my un-enlightened and highly anti-body mod boyfriend at the time, I left the piercing idea for a while. I wanted to do some research and get all my information on body mods collected before I did anything! I understand that some people see piercing as being a temperamental thing, I'm forever being told "at least you can always take it out if you don't like it...'etc. But I see my piercings as something I want to last forever. If they were all temperamental then it would be a waste of money, fear and my piercers time...
I see my navel piercing as a very typical, 'he dumped me therefore I'm going to somehow get back at him by doing what he didn't want me to do' type piercing. I think everyone has probably been there and knows what I mean.
So I did the slightly ridiculous thing of deciding on the spur of the moment to go get a piercing, I didn't check out the studio, I didn't ask many questions. I just went and sat in a particularly disgusting tattoo studio, picked out my jewellery from a dusty cabinet and started praying that they would actually autoclave it. I felt very nervous but I felt unable to back out...which is always the sign of a very bad piercing experience in my mind.
However, I eventually got called into the back of the studio where the male 'piercer' (I have a feeling he was just a tattoo artist posing as someone who knew what he was doing) marked up my navel and told me to lie back on the dentist style chair and try to relax. He actually laughed at me because when he was marking up my stomach he said he could feel my heart beating.
One thing I have noticed about all of my 'bad piercing experiences' is that the piercer themselves has never once asked me if I liked the placement, or has given me good after care advice.
Anyway, this guy cleaned the area etc, and then proceeded to take a long time in 'freezing' the area. I, personally, don't like having areas of my body numbed before I get pierced. I have found it makes the healing time extend and I don't mind the pain really. However, I felt a slight discomfort when he stuck the needle through but I was busy concentrating on the pattern on the ceiling so I tried not to take much notice. Eventually he put the bar through and covered it in a dressing. He then quickly mentioned something about salt water and hustled me out of the room.
I really regret what happened about 3 weeks after this event took place, I had gone to get my nose pierced. This time at an actual piercing studio, but in many ways it was worse than the tattoo studio. The woman there gave me a bottle of blue 'antiseptic lotion' and told me to clean my nose piercing with it twice a day. Since my navel piercing hadn't been healing well I decided to use the blue cleaning fluid stuff to clean it with. Big mistake. I used this liquid for about a month on both my nose and my navel before I realised that this stuff wasn't helping. I then went to the new piercing studio which had opened in town and the woman there almost screamed when I showed her the bottle. She then took a look at my piercings and explained to me that the bottle containing blue liquid was high in alcohol content. Pouring alcohol onto open wounds was never a good plan.
Since then I have only used salt water to clean any of my piercings and they have healed up wonderfully.
I really recommend doing some research before you get any piercing at all since not all places which say they are qualified to carry out body piercing give the right advice or use the right methods. Sorry to be all gloomy and doomy, the good part of this story is that I adore my navel piercing and I plan to get more piercings around my belly button soon!