I was two weeks away from being 18 and I REALLY wanted to get my belly button pierced. I've been wanting to get it done since I was about 13, not because "everyone else was doing it", but more of because it could be a semi-permanent form of self-expression. I had looked into many places and talked to many of my friends and finally came up with Splash of Color in East Lansing, Michigan.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Jill Studio Splash of Color Location East Lansing, Michigan Since I couldn't find time to have my parent come with me to get it done, I decided to just wait until I turned 18. My friend wanted to get her tongue pierced so I went with her to get it done. This place is in downtown East Lansing, and man was I surprised! I had always thought of tattoo/piercing parlors as somewhat dirty places with odd people, seeing as how that's all that is around the town I live in. But this place was anything but. The walls were colorful and decorated with awesome artwork, awards, and certificates of important steps they have taken to be professional piercers/tattoo artists. You could tell the place was extremely sterile, it somewhat smelled like a hospital. They had many posters and signs up listing "The rights of a piercee" which told me they took it seriously. The people were friendly and they had awesome personalities! We waited for about 15 minutes for a piercer to have a consultation with her, in which I was a little weary because the man was a colorful character with many piercings, long hair and tattoos. He began to examine her tongue, in which he told her that it was too short and he could potentially hit a vein or do damage, and that he DID NOT want to be liable and pierce it. This showed me that they were not kidding around here and they weren't going to do just anything to anyone for the money. She ended up getting a tattoo instead, but the mans integrity convinced me that this was the place to go.
So I made my appointment for a couple days after my 18th birthday. It was a Friday and I went in at about 7:00 and was greeted in a nice manner and proceeded to fill out paperwork. They asked many questions about how much I ate, my pain tolerance, if I bled a lot or other things like that. Before I even got the piercing they told me about cleaning instructions, gave me a booklet of info, and the Provon cleaning solution and a pretty good sized bag of sea salt with instructions. They explained that full healing time would take 4-12 months, and that I shouldn't change my ring before 4 months, no matter how healed it looked. They also told me that I could come back and they would show me how and change my jewelry for me. Cool. Finally I had to sign a sheet that had a little semi-quiz on it, asking me how many months it took to heal fully, sign my name, all that good stuff.
So I went into the room and girl named Jill introduced herself and told me to relax and asked me if I had any questions. Being fully informed and even having a quiz before I went in the room, I was set. She brought out a tray wrapped in paper and saran wrap type material, she explained how she and I could tell it was sterile. This place was NOT kidding around. They had some special strips that when cleaned and heated to a specific temperature, they would turn a deep brown. She showed me a diagram on the wall of a non-sterilized vs. a sterilized piece. Every instrument she was to use on me had one of these strips in the bag. Again, they weren't kidding around.
So she took out a marker and began to mark where she would pierce, I looked in the mirror and she explained that I had a shallow belly button that slanted (which I already knew) so it might appear crooked but only a professional piercer would notice. She laid me back on the chair and told me to relax, in which she prepped and cleaned my belly button and what seems to had been half of my stomach. Since my belly button was so shallow though, she had a tough time getting the forceps to hold, so she continually tried, which was uncomfortable, but finally she used a different pair that seemed to work. All this time she changed her gloves about 5 times, which was good to know. She told me to relax, and I could feel the tip of the needle on the inside of my navel. I breathed out and I'm not going to lie, it hurt. I could feel every centimeter of the needle going in. But I'll tell you, I have a low tolerance for pain so I'm sure it didn't hurt others.
I think the worst pain was when she put the jewelry in. It was just a real big pressure/pinching that wasn't too comfortable. But it was bearable. After I was done I sat up and I LOVED it! Because my navel is crooked it somewhat evened it out and I couldn't even tell that it was off. I absolutely love it! I had no real pain, most likely because of the endorphins, but the drive home was a little uncomfortable. After that, I didn't wear many tight shirts or anything of the sort, and a week later I was fine. I could twist, turn, bend, sit, just fine!
A couple weeks later it's doing awesome. I follow the instructions carefully, wash with the Provon in the shower, work the jewelry up and down a couple times, rinse, and dry with a Q-tip. In the evening, I do a sea salt soak suction type thing with 8oz of warm water and an 1/8 teaspoon of sea salt dissolved, suction it onto my stomach and lay down for 10 minutes, it feels really good actually.
Sometimes it becomes a little red and of course I have lymph crusties that are there every day, but since they're not discolored and its not swollen or anything, they told me that this is a great sign that it's healing properly! So if you're looking to get a great piercing done by great people, don't hesitate to go to Splash of Color if you're in East Lansing!