I've wanted a navel piercing probably since I first saw Britney Spears with her sparkly belly ring. I was probably around 12. By the time I was 13, my cousin had one and I loved it even more. I asked my mom if I could get mine done and of course she said no.
At A Glance Author Chanel Contact SouthsideAngelO4@aol.com When N/A Studio Supermall Location Chicago, IL I forgot about the piercing for awhile only talking about it occasionally with friends but never expecting to get it done. Not until my friend since 3rd grade said, "I want to go get it done." did I seriously think about it. I didn't believe she would so I said, "If you actually get it pierced, I will too." So it was decided, we were going to get pierced. Throughout this whole thing I forgot about the one thing that stood in my way...my mom.
Another cousin of mine was going to get a tattoo at her friend's cousin's tattoo parlor and said that she would bring me and my friend along to get our piercing in two weeks. For that first week you couldn't shut us up about piercing. We asked everyone we saw with piercing what it was like, how to clean it, if they were glad to do it... and of course doing research online.
I had decided I was going to do it without my mom's permission. As the date approached however I decided I couldn't do it without her knowing because it would be to hard to hide. So one day on the drive back home I asked her. Before she could answer I quickly said how I've been researching the after care and knew all the risks that came with it. To my surprise the words out of her mouth were, yes.
So yay! Thursday rolled around and we both had permission. I called my cousin to confirm that we were still going. To my horror she said no, she wasn't going to be able to take us. I was crushed. I had waited so long and the excitement in me had built up. I told my friend and she was equally let down. But we are determined people which is why we get along so well. We found out from another friend about a place that will do the piercing on minors without many questions. Of course we still needed a ride there so I asked my mom is she could take us and she said yeah. After many complications we finally went [Feb. 21] Monday morning and it was closed. It was like we weren't meant to have the piercing. But my mom came to our rescue when she said that she would bring us back in the afternoon once they opened. I had never loved my mom so much.
We arrived again in the afternoon and we let the guy know that we wanted a navel piercing. We said okay who's up first. Having previously agreed that I would go first I stepped forward. To my surprise I wasn't nervous at all. Now the weird thing about getting pierced in a low budget place like this is that it's like a flea market. Random people walking by would stop to watch me get pierced. The attention was pretty cool though. I watched him open a new needle and then he told me to stand up. He cleaned my navel and then put what looked like petroleum jelly on the needle [it looked so tiny to me]. I saw him roll his chair toward me and I knew this was it. I stared straight ahead. He told me to breathe deeply, and from having read so many experiences I knew what was coming but I still wasn't nervous. What I was nervous about was that he hadn't marked anything or used a clamp. I felt the needle poke through the first layer of skin and I thought to myself, "Hey this doesn't hurt." Then I was told to breathe deeply again and I felt a sudden jab of pain. It felt like a shot at the doctor.
It wasn't painful in my opinion and it quickly went away in like 2 seconds. He told me again to breathe deeply and I felt the same jab of pain as before and it went away as quickly as before. I looked down for the first time and saw my barbell in my navel. He twisted on the top ball and said, "ta-da!" I looked in the mirror and I loved it for the most part except it looked kind of crooked. I turned around and walked back to my mom and friend and showed them. They said it looked perfectly straight and so I was satisfied. He then gave me aftercare instructions but I wasn't really listening because I had already gotten great advice from another forum. Next up was my friend, I watched and... you'll have to read her experience which she'll be posting soon.
So all those butterflies that I had during those two weeks were immediately gone. I was so nervous about pain, soreness, and everything else but once you're there you don't think about it. I wouldn't suggest going to where I went but if it's you're only choice, why not? This is my 3rd day with my piercing and have had no pain or problems. All that's left to say is if you're worried about aftercare, email me and I have a print-out sheet from professionals that know what they're doing and I can send it to you. It includes the essentials and some "feel-good" things.