My First Piercing
At A Glance Author green.plasticjen Contact green.plasticjen@gmail.com When Five years ago Artist Phil Studio Jaded Angel Piercing and Tattoo Location Ankeny, Ia Four years ago I waded into the world of body modification with, you guessed it, a navel piercing. Though, instead of a regular, boring standard navel, I opted for a double navel. I knew I wanted something a little different and after speaking with a couple different piercers I decided on the piercings and shop. I chose the newest shop and the closest to my home. The piercer's name was Phil and the shop was Jaded Angel Tattoo and Piercing in Ankeny, Ia.
I really liked the idea of a double navel, two curved barbells on either side of the top of my navel. The look is almost like horns for my navel, as a few people told me. What a rebel I was.
The big day arrived and I went to the shop with a couple friends and someone who tagged along with them. I filled out my paperwork, paid (or maybe I paid afterwards...whatever), and Phil stepped in back to set-up. My nerves had me jumping around like an idiot so Phil and Bob, the resident tattoo artist, helped me calm down a bit. I took some deep breaths and wondered around the shop a little.
After what seemed like an eternity, Phil was ready for me. I stood in front of him, tucked the bottom of my shirt into the bottom of my bra and he cleaned the area and marked me. He asked for Bob's opinion on the alignment and took his advice to make a slight adjustment. After we all agreed on the placement I took a deep breath and laid down. With my heart racing, I tried to breathe as calmly as possible. Keep in mind, this was my first mod so I had no idea what to expect. Nonetheless I knew about a zillion (true) girls with navel piercings and I was most certainly tougher than most of those chicks.
I turns out I might be a little tougher but I wasn't quite as lucky as most people with navel piercings. As Phil, after carefully placing the clamp and preparing the needle and jewelry, then instructed me to take a deep breath and let it out. He had one hell of a time getting the needle through. I have no idea how long it actually took him but I know now that it was a lot longer than normal. I remember him saying some things along the lines of "lots of scar tissue" and shaking quite a bit as one does when pushing on something with extreme pressure.
This comment about the scar tissue confused me quite a bit because though only a year before I was a pretty avid "cutter", I don't really remember slicing and dicing in the area where the jewelry was placed. Maybe the scar tissue was from some long lost accident but I have no idea what it could have been. Anyway, the first piercing was very much discomforting and I vaguely remember swearing a little through my teeth during the procedure. The first needle was finally through and now it was time for the jewelry. Disappointingly, it wasn't a smooth transition from the needle to the curved barbell.
After one piercing was complete I thought to myself that there is no way the second one could be as bad as the first. Unfortunately I turned out to be wrong. Not only did he again have trouble getting the needle all the way through, it was much more painful than the first piercing. Everything was the same for the second hole, only worse except right after he finally got the needle through I heard a pretty loud thud as the tagalong passed out. Not only did I not care much about her but I was in a position where I couldn't really worry about that. Luckily the others were able to bring her about and after a little water she was fine.
In the meantime Phil got the last barbell in and I was finished. I had minor bleeding and I don't remember too much discomfort immediately afterwards. It ended up taking at least 6-10 months to fully heal and during that time I did have some pretty bad pain. All the while I refused to try over because I wasn't going to go through that again. Also, despite all the pain and unexplainable difficulty, the piercings turned out looking very nice and were nearly perfectly aligned.
Today, four years later I still have my double navel piercing and I still love it but unfortunately time is taking it's toll and the jewelry seems to be migrating out a bit. Being such a memorable and painful experience, my navel piercing ended up being much more than a cute accessory. Four years later I have eleven piercings including the two navels. It was my ladder to the vast world of body modification and a testimony to my personal strength.