I've always been fascinated by piercing's and tattoos but unfortunately my parents don't like it. Still they get upset when I talk about it and I've only just got my ear lobes pierced twice over the summer. After looking on here, I soon plan to get my tragus pierced; they're going to love that. Just a bit of background but back to the point of this story!
At A Glance Author brightpinkstars Contact brightpinkstars@bme.anon When N/A Artist cant remember Studio camberley tattoo studio Location camberley, uk In 2000 my mum decided she would have her navel pierced when we were on holiday in Greece and lots of woman were showing theirs off in bikinis (she waited till we were back in the UK though). I had wanted my navel pierced for ages only having one ear lobe piercing, so asked if I could as well, not surprisingly the answer was no.
Fast forward two/three years and a lot of nagging in between, finally I was allowed. So I was shopping in Camberley with one of my friends, my mum and younger sister. The friend I was with had been pierced at Tattooland/Camberley Tattoo Studio, we decided I could go there. We walked in, me almost hoping they might not be able to because we hadn't booked an appointment if I'm honest. However the guy told me I could come straight through. I chose a sparkly blue barbell to be pierced with. My mum, sister and friend crammed into the little room because as they put it "they wanted to see me in pain", nice eh?
So I sat in the dentist-type chair, while my mum paid the £35 for the piercing and jewellery, then signed the consent form. The piercer took out a new needle (hollow I think), pushed it threw after a quick countdown and then slid the jewellery in. I honestly didn't think it really hurt, just felt like a pinching. Obviously my spectators were disappointed that I didn't scream out in pain. Though they did get a laugh at the big white bandage he put across my navel. Typical I had worn a skimpy black lacy top that day, so it was very noticeable, luckily we had finished our shopping for the day!
I remember later looking at it and there was only a very, very small amount of blood around the balls of the bar. I think I did one sea salt wash a day for a couple of weeks as recommended. This was probably quicker at healing than my ear lobe piercings! Despite the typical catching it on clothes, I would be really surprised if this didn't happen to you!
No problems with infections, even though I had a big problem: A couple of weeks after I had gotten pierced we went on holiday. I went shopping and found an amazing shop that sold some gorgeous multi-coloured bars and cbr rings. In preparation for the couple of weeks when I could change the jewellery, I really wanted to change it but thought it would be better to wait. A couple of days later I was playing with my piercing (bad idea I know) and thinking about when I could change it. I couldn't work out how the balls would come off so I was trying to twist it, seemed stuck so I thought oh well and left it.
Later that day I was getting changing for swimming and realised the bottom ball was gone! Oh so that's how it unscrews. The bar was surprisingly still in the piercing. Well I panicked, wrapped my towel around me and ran down the road only wearing my costume, towel and shoes to where we were staying. After being calmed down my mum said to remove the bar and just to go back to the pool (which probably shouldn't have been swimming after getting it pierced for awhile anyway..). She reassured me it wouldn't close up and luckily I had bought the jewellery so I could change it that night.
That night I boiled some water, in an attempt to sterilize the jewellery a little, dropped the cbr in (I figured the cbr was less likely to come loose and fall out) and waited. Using some sea-salt water I cleaned around the hole and put the ring through, this went fine but then it came to putting the ball in place. Very fiddly anyway, but I was shaky because of nerves. I remember this taking me ages, as I kept tugging on the skin, which worried me. Eventually I put the ball in place. I then kept this in for the rest of the healing time and treated it as though it was the original piercing.
I am still really happy with this piercing even though its pretty standard and a lot of people have it. I think it looks beautiful, unfortunately crop tops haven't really been in fashion like they were when I first got it :-( Kind of a good thing really! I get to show it off in the summer though wearing bikinis and sometimes if my top rides up people will notice it and comment on it. I really recommend getting it, if you are considering! Also if you are around the Camberley area then it is a good studio (I noticed there weren't many reviews for it on BME). I've heard Under the Skin is also good in this area, where my sister and friends have been. Hopefully this has been helpful in reassuring you this is good piercing, that for me didn't hurt.