Ever since I was eleven, I've wanted my navel pierced. A friend who was a few years older than me had just got hers done, and I thought it looked awesome and really wanted it done. At the time, I didn't even have my ear lobes pierced, as my parents really do not like piercings of any kind, so there was no way I would be able to convince my mum to let me get my navel done. (At the time I didn't know about age restrictions etc. in most of the studios in my home town)
At A Glance Author Kat Contact Kat@bme.anon When A week ago Studio Primal Piercing Location Sheffield, UK The idea slowly went out of my head until just after my first piercing experience when I was 14. I had my ear lobes pierced and loved it, and the idea of getting something bigger and better was coming back into my head.
Cue me pestering my mum for the next four years with no success, and as the years went on, I was more and more desperate for something more than an ear piercing. Some of my friends had got their navels done, and they looked awesome. Every time I asked my mum, she would come back with another reason why I couldn't have it done. The most recent was that it was too close to my exams and she thought I might get ill and ruin my chances of getting into university.
I told my mum I would get it done after my exams, but I was so busy over the summer that I didn't get round to getting it done.
About a week after moving to Sheffield, I was walking along a road and noticed a place called Primal Piercing, which immediately put the idea of a piercing back into my head. I knew I wouldn't see my parents for a while, and a navel piercing would be pretty easy to hide from them anyway. But I didn't have the money with me to get it done there and then, and I didn't feel like going alone to get pierced, especially after getting my outer conch pierced and feeling extremely faint afterwards. So, off I toddled back to my halls, thinking about how ace it would be to finally get my navel pierced.
One evening, I was sat on my corridor, talking to a couple of my friends about getting pierced, and to my delight, two of them said they wanted to get pierced too! We decided to go to Primal Piercing the next day and get metal stuck through us. We all met up after lectures, went and had some lunch and then walked down to Primal. Unfortunately, they didn't have any barbells in, so I made an appointment to get my navel pierced a few days later.
When the day finally came for me to get poked, I was so nervous, but really excited. I got to Primal and sat down in the waiting room. I roughly knew what to expect, as some of my friends have their navels pierced, but I was still scared it would hurt.
When I was called through, I was asked to roll up my top (bit difficult when you're wearing a massive hoodie... they don't want to stay put!) My navel was marked up and I was asked to check and double check it in the mirror. I said it looked perfect, so I was told to lie down on the 'bench'. My navel was clamped and ready to go.. "take a deep breath in..." and as I was breathing out, in went the needle. I will admit, it did hurt, but the pain subsided in a matter of seconds. It didn't hurt anywhere near as much as I thought it would though. I have a fairly low pain threshold, you see, and my navel wasn't numbed at all. I felt a bit giddy and giggly afterwards, but I think that was just an adrenaline rush and the relief that the whole experience was no where near as bad as I thought it would be. I stayed lying down with my knees raised for a few minutes while I was told about the aftercare, then sat up slowly, stood up, and then walked over to the mirror to view my piercing.. I was in love.
I walked back to the waiting room where two of my friends were sat, with a massive grin on my face, and showing them my beautiful new piercing. They both agreed that it looked good, and my friends back at my halls like it too.
Two days later, and so far, my navel piercing has been the least painful of my piercings. My other piercings have hurt for a few days afterwards, but my navel is fine. A lot less painful than my outer conch anyway! I am aware of it most of the time, but it is not painful at all. There is a tiny amount of redness around the exit hole, but there does not appear to be any swelling, or any other redness.
I would thoroughly recommend Primal Piercing if you live in or around Sheffield, they're really friendly and professional. I was shown the needle and the jewellery in their packets, and everything was explained to me, from the marking up, to the disposal of the toothpick used to mark out the hole.
But now I just have two problems.. hiding it from my parents this weekend, and deciding what I want pierced next!