I got my navel pierced in September 2005, one day at my college (University of Connecticut), while my boyfriend was there, i thought "I want to get my navel pierced today"...it was sort of a spur of the moment decision, but I had been thinking about it since I was 15 years old (and I was 19 when I got the piercing) my boyfriend jumped at the opportunity and offered to pay for it because he knew I would rarely get in that mood again. I called the piercing place to make sure I didn't need an appointment and I could just stop in and get it done, and they said they had time all afternoon and just stop in.
At A Glance Author Ashley Contact bunnyliciousae@hotmail.com When Six months ago Location Storrs, CT So we walked to the piercing/tattoo place just off campus, and I told them that I wanted my navel pierced and I waited about 5-10 minutes, during which me and my boyfriend admired all the tattoo drawings on the walls, and he picked out one that he would get when he turned 18, and then they came and said it was all ready. He showed me all the things were sterilized or taken from a brand new package, and drew a dot where he was going to pierce. He instructed me to look in the mirror to make sure the placement was alright and then told me to lay down. I was so nervous I just squeezed my boyfriend's hand and looked at him and I felt some pressure and a small pinch, which I thought was just the clamp and the piercer said "OK all done!" and I was shocked at how little it hurt, was thinking "are you sure it's over??!" But it was! It was so easy. The only reason I knew he had done it was because my boyfriend said something to the extend of "Wow that's cool" because he's really into piercing and stuff like that, so he thought the needle going through looked cool.
I am a big baby when it comes to pain, I cried getting an IV when I went to the hospital, and bee stings terrify me, so as you can imagine, before I had this done, I was very nervous about the pain, but many of my friends had it done already and I knew they said that it wasn't that bad, so imagine my surprise when it hardly hurt at all, just a TINY pinch.
I looked in the mirror and I immediately fell in love with it, I loved how it looked. It had a plain curved barbell, it was fairly small, but I knew i could change it as soon as it was healed. My boyfriend also loved how it looked, and wouldn't stop talking about how great it looked, he was proud of me for ignoring my fear of pain/needles and doing it anyways. It hardly bled at all, there was a little dried blood on it later, but generally very little, which I think is the case with most navel piercings.
The piercer then instructed me on aftercare, giving me a piece of paper with all the instructions in case i forgot. However, I was pretty lazy with the Sea Salt Soaking, and that's where I ran into problems. Over six months my piercing rejected, and I noticed it was closer and closer to the surface, allowing me to see more and more of the barbell, once it was very close, I decided the best decision was to take it out, however, I will be getting it re-pierced as soon as I am able to.
In terms of pain over the healing time, I only found that it hurt if i accidentally bumped onto something or if my boyfriend accidentally touched it. I also played with it quite often, which may have contributed to it rejecting. The first time I changed the jewelry, which was about 3 months after I had it done, it bleed a little and hurt a little, but nothing major.
My advice is to make sure to follow the piercer's aftercare instructions closely and don't get lazy with the sea salt soaks or cleaning, the healing will be much faster and problem-free. I can't wait to get it pierced again and closely follow the instructions!
I have to say that ever since I got this piercing, I've been bit by the piercing bug and I can't wait to get an industrial done this summer, and hopefully a new navel piercing in the fall!
Anyone who wants this piercing but is hesitant about it because of the pain should definitely get it, because as I said, it hardly hurt at all and is over in a second. Just be sure that you have the discipline to clean it twice a day, and soak it in sea salt water, because laziness can cause possible problems, such as mine with the piercing rejecting.