I have wanted my Standard navel pierced ever since I was about 13. I was looking on BME for a while trying find information on it before I got it done. I saw a picture of a standard navel with an inverse navel. I really liked it so I decided to get both done in the same sitting. I started looking for a shop to get them done at and Diversity is a well known place here, so I decided to go there to get them done. About a week later I went to the shop and met the piercer. He was being kind of a smart ass to me but I just brushed it off. So I picked the jewelry I wanted in them. I chose a curved barbell with clear jewels for the standard and a CBR in the inverse. He took them in the back room to clean them and the needle and came out a few minutes later to call me in.
At A Glance Author BeccA Contact Skinbabe916@aol.com When A month ago Artist Tim and then Painless Wayne Studio Diversity Location Las Vegas, Nevada He took me into the back room with my boyfriend, Aj. He shook my hand and introduced himself as Tim. He had me stand as he marked where the piercings would be placed. He broke a long q-tip with a wood stem that he used to mark the lines to they'd be straight. He had me take off my belt and lay on a dentist looking chair. He cleaned off my stomach and then told me to take a deep breath. He pierced my inverse navel first and then asked if I was okay. "Yeah", I replied. He pierced my standard navel next with no warning. He then again asked me if I was okay. I replied yeah again. He then put the jewelry in and told me to go look at them in the mirror. The standard was a little crooked but I thought it'd be fine. He gave me a piece a piece of paper explaining how to clean it, sprayed it with H2Ocean; told me to buy some and use it 6 times a day, and sent me on my way. They did not hurt that bad, just like a little pinch. I was not worried about the pain though. I wanted them so bad I did not even think about the pain.
I cleaned it as he told me to for the next two weeks when I decided to go to a different shop, Totem Tattoos and Body Piercings, to buy regular sea salt solution. So I asked if they had any and the girl told me to hold on. She brought back a person who worked there and she was like flipping out because I used sea salt to clean my piercings. She just told me to use anti-bacterial soap with bactine. So I'm telling her I heard that bactines should not be used on piercings because there puncher wounds. So she brought out the tattooist/master piercer out to talk to me. He asked to see my piercings so I showed him. Apparently the inverse navel was tearing and most likely would reject. The CBR Tim put in there was way too small and was causing the tissue to tear. I had to buy a new barbell at Totem Tattoos because the jewelry needed to be changed. It was a curved barbell with red jewels. He changed the jewelry for free as long as I bought the new barbell. He noticed that the top one was crooked and he said that he is also a jeweler and he would bend the jewelry to at least make it look straight when it is healed. He would do this to any jewelry I wanted to put in it for free. He told me that I should call Tim back and say to him that I wanted my money back for the piercings or I'd call the health department. I told him about the jewelry being too small and he said "It looked fine to me and I'll make a note of that." He would not give me my money back, so I called the health department.
Before we found this information out my boyfriend bought me a white gold CBR for my inverse navel for when it was healed for my birthday. We could not take it back and thought it would be too small since the one I had in it before was. It was bigger than the CBR that it was pierced with but to make sure we had the tissue that was pierced and the CBR to see if it would fit. We found out that it will fit. I will wait till the 6 month period to change my jewelry though. As for Tim I do not know what happened to him, he is still probably being a smart ass and piercing people inappropriately.
As of right now I am pretty much happy with my piercings and I am cleaning them twice a day with anti-bacterial soap. They seem to be healing nicely; still a little redness right around the holes and whitish-yellow secretion.