Ok, so to start off with here's a brief summary of my body mods so far: I have a standard navel piercing that I received 5 years ago, 2 lobe piercings I've had for about 7 years, 2 tragus piercings (one is 3 months old and the other is 2.5 months old), 2 rook piercings (one is 2.5 months old and the other is 1 month old) and 1 snug piercing (which was done at the same time with one of my rooks and is 1 month old).I love all of these piercings and have just had to have another one so that leads me to the two lower navel piercings I received earlier today...
At A Glance Author Tiffany Contact captaintiffany16@yahoo.com When It just happened Artist Jimmy Studio Southern Cultures Tattoos Location Waco, TX So I was looking around BME and fell absolutely in love with a horizontal surface piercing under the navel. I decided I needed to have one so I went around to various shops in Waco (which I have lived in for only about 2 months now) to see if they pierced with the surface bars that BME recommends. None of the shops in town pierced with those so I had to retire the idea of that piercing for now. I had a friend with me and decided that I would just get two lower navel piercings because they almost achieve the same look as the surface piercing does...almost.
I drove to the shop, Southern Cultures Tattoos, since I had heard that this is the best place in Waco to get pierced. I asked for Matt since he comes highly recommended but he wasn't working today so I ended up getting pierced by Jimmy. I wasn't nervous at all as I have 5 cartilage piercings and nothing is supposed to hurt more then those! My friend and I waited for about 10 minutes as they sterilized the jewelry that I had to provide because they didn't have any curved barbells that I liked.
When it was my turn we went back to the room and looked to make sure everything was clean, which it was, and that all the needles and clamps were in the right one-time-use packaging, which it was. So Jimmy then proceeded to mark my stomach with the dreaded purple marker that stays on for days and he had to move the placement once due to the fact that I didn't want them to look like two surface piercings. He moved them around until I liked it which was awesome since I've had a piercer who got rather annoyed by me asking:(. So everything was set to go and I got up on the table (they don't have the spiffy dentist chairs at this studio) and was told to lean back so he could get a good angle at my navel.
Now comes the actual piercing: Before he pierced I asked him nicely if he did the "breathe in, breathe out then pierce" method because that's how all of mine have been done and it makes me feel more comfortable and my answer was a needle through the belly with no warning at all! That kind of upset me since I specifically asked if he did and a simple "no" would have been just fine. The first needle went through really easily and didn't hurt at all. The clamps didn't hurt, the piercing itself didn't hurt, and the jewelry being put in didn't hurt. So I was stoked for the second one, a pain-free piercing project is always good! So he gets ready to do the second one (I don't even ask about the breathing this time) and HOLY CRAP!!! The needle went in halfway just fine but then I'm pretty sure it got stuck on something because he had to SHOVE it through, and I mean shove. I have a pretty high threshold for pain so you know it must have really hurt. It was almost to the point of tears, but not quite. Now when the person your piercing is saying "oh my God that really hurts!" you should probably stop and make sure she's ok or at least talk to her about what's going on and why its hurting while you are shoving the needle through, but evidently that's asking too much.
So anyway, he finished up with that and cleaned off the minimal amounts of blood that had escaped and I got up (yeah, he didn't offer to help me up either, his apprentice, this really sweet girl with an Australian accent, did though so it was fine...she also talked to me throughout the whole experience which was awesome! So when she gets certified I'm definitely going to her) I tipped him $5 since the second one did hurt a lot and he didn't warn me about the first needle and went to the counter to pay for the actual piercings. The total for two was $20 since I provided my own jewelry, but their rates are $20 for 1 or $30 for 2 normally. Then my friend and I left and I drove home which was a little painful, but not too bad, and I went back to my dorm room.
I can't really tell if I like them yet because one is more shallow than the other but I don't think you would be able to tell if I didn't point it out. But other then that I'm sure I will love them once the swelling goes down, the marker is wiped off, and I get some cute pink curved 14G barbells in them! So overall I was happy with the experience but next time I will either get pierced by the girl or Matt. Not that I disliked Jimmy, but he just doesn't use my preferred method of piercing. Happy Piercing and feel free to email me if you have questions about these piercings or any of the other ones I mentioned I have! Also, my aim screen name is captaintiffany16 and feel free to contact me on there too!