I always swore that I would never, ever pierce my belly button. I have never been skinny or tan or popular or worn belly shirts or any of those things, all of which I deemed prerequisites for this particular piercing. Since I was 14 (I'm 18 now), all I've wanted was my eyebrow pierced, but thanks to my supposedly liberal parents I was never allowed to get one because it was 'distracting' and 'disgusting,' and even now that I'm theoretically legal, they are holding my college tuition over my head as means to prevent me from getting any 'outrageous' mods. My father, knowing my dislike for belly button rings and my own belly in general, said he would 'compromise' and let me pierce my navel, assuming that I would never do it. And for awhile I didn't want to, but time went on and that urge to get pierced wouldn't go away, so I decided why not, and planned to have it done on my 18th birthday.
At A Glance Author Jezebelle Contact Jezebelle@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Sharrin Studio Pierce Ink Location San Jose, CA While I don't advise 'settling' on a mod, there were several reasons I decided to get it done. 1) Maybe if I showed my parents that I DO listen to them and slowly introduce them to body piercings they will one day acquiesce and finally let me get my eyebrow done, or *le gasp* a tattoo. 2) I have always hated my stomach, and I thought that maybe piercing it would either make me like it more, or encourage me to actually stick to a diet and exercise plan so that I would. 3) It gives me a chance to try out a new piercer in my quest to find someone I trust to do my VCH (which, since my parents will never see, they can't stop me from getting).
After much research on BME and Google, I decided to try Pierce Ink, which sounded like a nice studio with an experienced and knowledgeable piercer. I went in a week before my birthday to look around, get prices, and make an appointment. The place seemed very nice and bright and clean, and Sharrin, the head piercer, was very nice, so I made my appointment for the following Sunday at 1 pm. I was anxious the whole week, and spent almost every spare moment reading experiences and looking at pictures and jewelry and aftercare info until I felt like I had learned everything I could from the internet. Finally it was Sunday, and at 12 noon I picked up my boyfriend and we headed off to Burger King to grab something to eat so I wouldn't faint. At 12:30 we picked up my best friend and her boyfriend, and we were off to the studio.
We arrived at the studio just before 1 pm, and hung out outside for awhile until Sharrin showed up and opened the shop. I immediately walk over to the shiny glass topped counter full of navel barbells, and though I had my eye on this pretty burgundy jeweled satellite barbell, Sharrin told me after looking at my navel that I would need to be pierced with a J curve (also called a J bar) because of the shape and depth of my navel. I picked a simple J curve with two ruby jewels and she popped it in the autoclave while we did the necessary paperwork. I had my ID ready as she copied down the appropriate info and told me happy birthday, and asked if this was my present to myself, and I admitted it was. Then came the most painful part of the whole procedure...payment. I had read that the shop was on the more expensive side, as they only carry the highest quality internally threaded vacuum melted stainless steel and titanium jewelry, but I still wasn't prepared to shell out $100 for a simple navel piercing. She said normally it wouldn't be so expensive except for the J curve, which was $70. The good news is that both of the balls are removable, and so instead of having to buy new barbells, I just have to buy new balls when I want to change the look. Hopefully once I lose some weight I can wear a normal curved barbell, but until then I am glad that I was pierced with a J curve instead of trying to make a normal one fit. Most shops don't even carry internally threaded jewelry, much less J curves, so I appreciated her expertise. I did get a whole bottle of Provon for free as my birthday present, which I appreciated, since I had no money left after paying for the piercing itself.
Finally it was time for the actual piercing. I really wasn't nervous at all, as my pain tolerance is rather high, and after getting my wisdom teeth out three weeks earlier, I wasn't going to let a little needle scare me. I watched as she prepared all of the equipment, opening all of the little sterile autoclave packs and changing gloves. She didn't do the thing where they tell you what they are doing every little step of the way, which I appreciated, because I find it belittling, and instead carried on a conversation about diets and birthday cake and prom dresses with me and my friends, which made me even more comfortable. She marked my stomach with blue sharpie, and had me and all of my friends check the marks, and they looked fine to us. I told her I didn't really care as long as it was straight. Finally she laid me down in the dentist-type chair, and after that I couldn't see anything over my rather large bosom. She told me that my only job was to breathe and stay calm, so that's what I did. I barely felt the clamps at all. There was definite pressure, but it wasn't uncomfortable at all. The needle going through was the most painful part for me, but that wasn't even that bad, and only lasted a few seconds. Before I knew it the jewelry was in and I was done.
As I admired my new addition in the mirror she explained the aftercare sheet to me, all of which I already knew, but tried to listen to anyway. I liked my new belly button piercing, even though I never thought I would ever have gotten one. It was subtle and not too flashy, almost too much so, as the ball on the bottom was the same size as the one on the top and even with the J curve hid inside my navel. I plan on going back sometime this week and buying a larger ball for the bottom hole, but besides that I am very happy with it.
It has only been two days, but everything is going fine so far. It stings a little bit if I put pressure on it or I bend the wrong way, but even right now as I sit hunched over the keyboard I can barely feel it. For aftercare I am washing it 2-3 times a day with Provon antimicrobial soap, and then following that with a 10 minute sea salt soak. I've found that the easiest way to do this is to just jump in the shower with the water pressure on low to do the actual cleaning, and then soaking a cotton ball with the sea salt mixture and placing it on my navel and holding it there while lying on my back. This prevents a lot of water mess, and in my opinion is just easier than trying to run water over my belly button at the sink and sitting with a shot glass of salt water on my stomach.
Now it's only a matter of time (and money) before I go for my VCH and third set of lobe piercings, and hopefully sometime this summer my proposed Rose Red fairy tattoo.