I have always had a fascination with body piercings and tattoos, but it took me many years to get over my fear of pain and actually have something done. As a young girl I couldn't wait to get my ears pierced, but my Mother made me wait until I was eight years old. I managed to talk her into letting me get them done a few months early. When I was thirteen, I had forgotten the pain and convinced her to let me get a second pair of ear lobe piercings.
At A Glance Author Shazza Contact Shazza@bme.anon When Two years ago Artist Unknown Studio Four Roses Location Adelaide, South Australia Fast forward a few years... when I was in my early twenties, I started thinking about getting my belly button pierced. As I still cried when I had to have injections, I thought about it for a few years before deciding that I would get it done after a pub crawl celebrating a friend's birthday in mid 2001. A few friends had told me it didn't hurt very much. My then boyfriend liked the idea and as I was a poor law student, he agreed to give me some money to get it done. So I set out with a purse full of drinking money and piercing money, still thinking I would probably chicken out and not actually get it done!
During the evening I couldn't stop thinking about my soon-to-be pierced belly button. The pub crawl was one of those bus tours where everyone drank dodgy free cocktails and sang even dodgier karaoke. Of course, before too long I had drank enough to blab that I was going to get my belly button pierced. Once I had told everyone else what I planned, there was no backing out!
In the wee hours of the morning when the party was dispersing I took the birthday boy GT and another friend (who are both nurses) along to Hindley Street in Adelaide. Hindley Street is pretty much the centre of the nightclub area in Adelaide and it has several piercing and tattoo parlours – no doubt most of their customers are slightly intoxicated walk-ins like me. I chose Four Roses as I knew they had been around for a long time.
We went up the stairs to the piercing section. The shop was really nice, with a huge range of jewellery as well as lots of incense and crystals and other cool things. I spent a few minutes procrastinating while looking in the glass counters full of merchandise. Finally I went up to the counter and said "I'd like to get my belly button pierced." The lady behind the counter suggested a plain surgical steel ball closure ring to allow for easy cleaning while it was healing. I was bit disappointed not to get a fancy jeweled barbell straight away, but I figured she knew best. I handed over the money and she went and got the piercer.
The piercer led me through to the piercing room. I got a bit freaked out because it reminded me of a dentist's surgery! The smell of disinfectant and the sight of the dentist-style chair made the reality hit me that this might really hurt. I sat down in the chair and held my friends' hands as the piercer adjusted the chair so it was lying back. I had to undo the top of my jeans, and then I just lay back looking at the poster on the ceiling. I didn't want to see what was about to happen!
I had seen piercings on TV so I was waiting to feel the clamps on my navel. But there were no clamps; I just felt her disinfecting my skin and then a searing pain as she pushed the needle through. I was slightly in shock about how much it hurt. I didn't really notice any pain as she put the jewellery in, but maybe I was just too light-headed to notice! Once it was all done, the piercer put a dressing over my belly button and I got up and walked out into the shop area. I had been standing up for about 10 seconds when suddenly I felt light headed and everything went black. I didn't pass out completely, but luckily my nurse friends saw what was about to happen and aimed me towards a chair. The lady behind the counter got a couple of damp face washers and put then on my forehead and neck. That made me feel a lot better. The piercer came out to check that I was ok and gave me a drink of water with a couple of Panadol tablets. I still couldn't quite believe how much it hurt, and I remember looking at the tablets thinking I was going to need something stronger than Panadol!
I was told to leave the dressing on for 24 hours, and then clean the piercing with anti-bacterial soap. When the soap got into the wound for the first time I nearly hit the roof – it hurt nearly as much as the piercing itself! After that first time it didn't hurt any more.
I am really happy with my navel piercing. I now wear a zircon gold bananabell with light blue stones and it looks great. Lots of people tell me their navel piercings hardly hurt at all. I have since had a number of other piercings and tattoos done, and only my nipple piercings hurt more than my navel. I guess it depends on the placement as my piercing seems to go through more skin than some I have seen. In hindsight, I was also probably way too drunk to be getting pierced! I'm really glad I did though, it was worth the pain and I definitely caught the body modification bug from it! If you're thinking about getting it done, stop thinking and just do it!