A while ago, I was browsing BME and I noticed some interesting navel piercings. Then my eyes fell upon the horizontal surface navel...you know, the one under your navel to make it look like a triangle? If you already have the standard that is. Anyways, I saw It, and I loved It. I wanted It. I knew that I had to have It. So I started talking to my friend about it, and he said go for it! I'm going on a canoe trip though, so if I couldn't get It done before then, I had to wait. Well, there was no way I was going to put up with waiting, so I started saving up right then.
At A Glance Author Paulina Contact Paulina@bme.anon IAM paulisnaff When A month ago Artist Jeff Studio Body Xpressions Location Lachine, Montreal I knew that at the piercing/tattoo shop I was going to, it would be $40 to get it done. Once I had that money, all I would have to do is make an appointment! But my friend Marcus wanted to talk to Jeff about it. Jeff is has an IAM account (FirstStar) and happens to work at the Couche-Tard a very short distance from my house. Well, having nothing better to do (at the moment) we decided to go see him and ask him about the piercing. He told us that his new shop was opening soon, but until then he was piercing at reduced prices. "$20" he told me, and I was ecstatic. Who doesn't love a good discount? So we walked over to the shop (still having time to spare) and made an appointment for the next day.
The next day, at 2 o'clock I stood outside the apartment building with the blue door, nervous about my piercing. The place is pretty small, so my friends (they really wanted to come.) waited outside (eventually they got bored and walked back to my house to wait for me there). I walked in, and there was Jeff, apparently unaware that I had made an appointment at all. Casey however, was convinced that he had told him. Jeff was the piercing expert and Casey's specialty was tattoos. But oh well, I was here and there was no problem.
Except there was a problem. Jeff, having not known about my appointment, didn't have a surface bar. He didn't even have a clean 14g curved barbell. Well, he didn't really think he should pierce me with anything else, so my idea went right out the window. But wait! Jeff suggests something else. "I could give you two horizontals, on the sides of your navel, instead." Two, eh? Hm...This is tempting. I could make it a whole navel project! Oh goodness, I quite liked the idea. Turning around and taking a quick look at my friends (Marcus and Kenevin actually did come inside) I knew that I wanted them. It however meant that I could not pay for Marcus' vertical labret, but that could be done another day (Saturday, for example, and we were Tuesday). So I decided to go for it. $35 for both instead of $40, Jeff wanted to give me a deal since he hadn't been prepared for my original desire. Which was just fine with me actually, I quite enjoyed the idea of these new piercings.
Jeff marked me up, and Casey was in the living room (they pierce in a shop in their apartment) with Marcus and Kenevin, and they were calmly chatting away. I however, stood up, checked the placement, sat back down, then checked the placement again. I have a weird navel, and nothing seems to look straight on the first shot. Finally, Jeff got the right markings and I was satisfied. I sat down and waited for him to prepare everything. He did the first piercing on the left side.
Now, I'd seen Casey pierce my friend, and he does that whole thing where he doesn't actually tell you when he's dropping the needle. That's definitely not what I like. I was taught to breathe out on a pierce, and that was what I was comfortable with. So when I heard that that's how Jeff pierces, let me tell you, I was relieved. He got the clamps on the left side of my navel, the first piercing. I held the clamps, he got the needle, took the clamps back, and then positioned himself to pierce. I put my head back because if I didn't, I knew I would probably move a lot. "Are you ready?" I heard him ask. "Yep, do it," I said. Okay, here comes the familiar count: 1,2,3 –pierce!- I jumped a little, so he pierced a tiny bit more skin than intended, but nothing seriously bad. Yes! I was done one! Next please. Once again, he positioned the clamps (with more difficulty, they were sliding everywhere from the alcohol), got the needle, and got into position. I had figured that the second one would hurt more, but nothing prepared me for what was about to happen. The count again, "1,2,3-" and the needle dropped through my skin. Okay, I thought, Just slide the jewellery through and it's done. I looked at my navel to see the finished product. But somehow, the needle was still in my skin, and hadn't gone through the second side yet. "What's wrong??" I started panicking a little. It hurt. It wouldn't go through, Jeff told me. I told him to try again. I wasn't wussing out of it now. So he pushed the needle, but no luck. It wasn't piercing. He looked at Casey, trying to figure out what the hell was wrong. "She must have a nerve there!" said Jeff. Aw crap. A nerve? It figures my stupid navel would go and do something like that. But again, there was no way I was gonna back out and definitely no way I was gonna have an asymmetrical navel, so I told him I didn't care about the pain, just finish it. He tried one last time, and-...It went through. Oh man, it hurt so much, nothing could've prepared me for that. He slipped the jewellery in "\Ãw€ë (16 gauge curved barbells by the way) and I was done. Well nearly, then he cleaned it with the alcohol, which again, hurt a whole lot. I have this reaction to pain where I state the blatantly obvious. For example, when the first needle went through, all I said was "Oh wow, that's kinda painful" and when the alcohol was cleaning I said "Oh, huh, that kinda sorta stings." Yea, I know, duh. Well, everyone reacts in different ways.
Anyways, I got up to show Kenevin and Marcus and they loved it. I did too. It's amazing. So I walked out of there (after paying of course) a very happy girl. For the rest of the day however, I was annoyed at my mutant navel that refused to be pierced. "Well haha," I thought, "I showed you."