So I had my navel done when I was about fourteen by a piercer named Lucile in Cranbrook, B.C. at Transformations. This is a well known piercer in Cranbrook for her horrible piercing strategies. I highly recommend NOT going to her. She pierced my belly button far to shallow, to low, and off to the left. I eventually took it out because I couldn't stand the crookedness of it. Ever since then I have been going to Dan at Hemp 2000. They sell "tobacco" pipes, lots of hemp products and clothing, jewelry, and all sorts of things for the smoking piercing addicted hippie. Dan is a piercer I really trust. He is a very friendly guy who is willing to talk to you about anything you want to know. I HIGHLY recommend Dan if you are in Cranbook. He has fair prices and is very hygienic and changes his gloves more times than I can count.
At A Glance Author Alexis Contact jelly_bean_from_hell@hotmail.com When A week ago Artist Dan Studio Hemp 2000 Location Cranbrook, B.C. I was wasting some time at Hemp one day, blowing off my paycheck, and on impulse I decided to get my navel re-done. I had had it planned for a while to get the standard navel again, and a surface below it. So I just went for it. He fiddled with the placements for a while, taking in mind my crooked belly-button. He even used a ruler to make sure that it was positioned evenly. I was quite nervous about the surface because I heard the bottom of your navel hurt like a bitch. I was far less nervous about my standard because I had already had it pierced and it was a breeze. But after talking to Dan and my boyfriend for a bit about the placement I felt less nervous and was less occupied on the pain issue.
When it finally came down to it I asked Dan to do my surface first to get it out of the way. Like all my piercings, I tried to watch with a hand held mirror, but Dan got in my way, so all I got to see was a nice chuck of skin scrunched up in the clamp. That was a bit overwhelming. I laid my head down and Dan proceeded. The pain was minimal. Less than I expected. The pain wasn't very intense either, just the sharp stab. Dan is very good with getting surface jewelry in, but none the less that hurt a bit, but only for a brief moment. Next came the standard navel. This one I got to watch. And as he was shoving the needle through it hit a nice piece of scar tissue and it faltered for a second, applying more pressure Dan pierced through it. It was all very fast. But fucking shit ow. That one really caught me off guard. How ironic, seeing as I was worried about the surface. But the pain is forgotten now.
I absolutely adore the way my navel looks with my brand new piercings. I couldn't be happier with the piercing. It has been healing fine. The first few days it showed no redness around it, but it started to look a little sorer as the week went on. My left side has looked more irritated than the right, and that was the side that hurt more right after getting it pierced. When I first got it it was a little sore just walking around but that subsided quickly. For the night I find it comfortable sleeping on my side, and can position myself on my stomach comfortably. I am very mobile now after about three weeks. Some words of precaution from my piercer to me, "sex is bad for the surface piercing". I pass this very important information on. The twisting and stretching of the body during sex can really irritate the piercing. I'd suggest abstaining for a bit or at least working with positions that don't involve the pelvic muscles. Also watch out for car seatbelts, some sit directly on the piercing and can be really irritating. For a cleaner I use your basic sea salt water. I am very paranoid about the surface rejecting so I clean it about 3-4 times a day. I soak in the shower every morning and let the sea salt puddle in my belly-button. Dan insisted on not moving the surface bar jewelry because of a higher risk of infection that way. He offered to clean it anytime I wanted and if it did reject he'd pierce it again for free. Although, I found every time I cleaned my piercing it would get red around the edges. The skin around the surface started turning white and looked very dry. I assumed that my sea salt solution was too strong and was drying out my skin so I stopped using it. I stopped cleaning the piercings for a couple days and the redness really backed down. I changed my solution to the one that Dan provides. It is Hemp 2000's own mixture and I have no clue what it is, but it seems to be working better than the sea salt.
This set of piercings is my favourite to look at and I really hope that they will continue to heal as well as they are.