I'm still trying to decide on this one.
At A Glance Author Jessica Contact Jessica@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Ed "Bear" Studio Simple Dreams Location Regina Saskatchewan A few years ago I got my navel pierced, and for the past few years the only piercings I've had are that, and four in my ears. A few months ago I decided that it was time for something new. Now, my parents aren't exactly thrilled about the whole body mod scene, and the fact that im interested in it let alone wanting to partake in it myself. Facial piercings are pretty much a no-no, with the exception of a nostril piercing, which I'm sure I would have no problems getting if I really wanted to. After browsing the internet, looking at portfolios, and different things on this site, I decided I wanted some more navel work done. I was trying to decide between a horizontal surface piercing below my navel, or two diagonal inverse navel piercings. I'm not really sure what the deciding factor was for me to be honest, but I eventually came to the conclusion that I wanted two done. This wasn't urgent, just an idea I had. I Hunted and hunted for a shop that would do it with the jewelry I wanted (which is the proper jewelry anyways as far as I've ever been told, but I'm not a piercer, so what do I know.)
After going through a rough couple of days, On Friday during school I decided that I WAS going to convince my mom to take me after supper. It was relatively impulse, but I had thought about it a lot previous to yesterday, so it was just the actual event that was spontaneous. Plus, personally I prefer to get piercings on that sort of basis. If I made an appointment for a month from now, I'd probably get far too worked up about it by the time it actually came down to it. Anyways, I get home from school, and my mom says she'll take me, but I have to ask my dad. His response was "What the hell do I care, it's your bellybutton, I just hope it KILLS." Thanks dad. I called around, and found that I could have both piercings done, with the exact jewelry I had wanted, for less than HALF of the price I had been quoted by another shop. That kind of worried me. Cheaper definitely isn't always a good thing. But, I was determined, so I decided to at least go to the shop and check it out.
The shop itself was very clean looking, and my mom and I had quite the chat with both the piercer, and the tattoo artist. They both seemed really nice, and were able to thoroughly answer any and all questions that I had. I decided to go through with it. I signed all of the papers, and proceeded to the piercing room. After nearly fifteen minutes of measuring, marking, erasing, measuring, marking, erasing, we all agreed that it looked perfect. I'm kind of a wimp, so part of me hoped the measuring would take a bit longer, not to mention i could NOT stop shaking. My mom left the room, being an even bigger wimp than I am, and it was time for me to hop up onto the bed. I asked him how he did this, 1-2-3 pierce? Deep breath in, pierce on exhale? I wanted to be prepared. He told me neither, he'd just do it whenever he felt I was relaxed and my muscles weren't tensed. He then proceeded to tell me that it was going to hurt like a bitch in the morning. This wasn't what I wanted to hear a minute before I was about to have my body punctured. He said it was just because women tense up their lower abdominal muscles and hips, and that I would be able to feel it in those areas. "So you're telling me this is going to hurt way more than my top one did?" I asked him. My top one didn't hurt at all I found. But he told me the initial piercing wouldn't, just the after math. I didn't care, I really wanted to do this, so on with the show.
Clamp goes on, and it didn't bother me at all. I couldn't even feel it. He told me to relax, so I closed my eyes and began breathing. I felt the tip of the needle touch my skin, then a teenie bit of pressure, and he turned away to get something else, so I figured okay, needles through, didn't hurt at all. I'm good to go. He told me to keep relaxing, and next thing I knew I was in immense amounts of pain. He took a while to get the bead on, so I asked him what exactly went down there. He said the initial pressure I felt was the needle, and that the pain came with the jewelry insertion. Which I found strange, because I was under the impression that most if not all piercers do it in one fluid motion, and that it shouldn't feel any different than the needle going in. It worried me that maybe he had taken the needle right out, and then shoved the barbell through. Then I remembered him saying he was "Taking the needle off" and unscrewing it. Whatever, pain was gone, I was fine, time to move on to piercing number two. This one went pretty much the same, only after the painful part he said, "Okay, now I just have to insert the jewelry." Probably sounding like an idiot, I instantly said "YOU HAVEN'T DONE THAT YET?" No, he was just about to. When he did it, it hurt too.
After I was done, he gave me a mirror and showed me how to clean it. I was really impressed with it, and he said it turned out much better than even he thought it would. I was shaking then more than I was before the piercing went down, so it took him a couple of tries to get a picture. With a huge grin on my face, we went over after care, talked about coming back to see him and to gauge up in three or four weeks. We talked about booking tattoo appointments, etc. And my mom and I were off. By that point, I could feel it in my muscles. It was not the most comfortable feeling. I knew I would not be able to sit up straight, so in the car I reclined my seat all the way back. When I got home I really started to feel the pain. It is as if someone is stabbing you in the stomach with knives, only not where the piercing is, lower.
I was desperate to show someone, so only about four hours after having it pierced I was off to go see a very good friend of mine at his house. He's pretty into the whole piercing scene too, with seven piercings himself. He liked it, and was super careful to be gentle with me, so as not to hurt it. A couple of times though he did bump it, and did it ever hurt. I couldn't sit up, I had to lay down to avoid immense amounts of pain. Waking up the next morning it wasn't too bad. Throughout the day it went back to it's painful state that it had been in the night before, but not quite as bad. Then it came time to clean it. I was at the same friends house, and the pain of moving the barbell nearly caused me to pass out cold on his bathroom floor. It was terrible, my vision blurred, I got dizzy, and stumbled my way back to his bed, where he asked me what was the matter, and I told him to shut up and wait for a sec. After about five minutes of pulling myself back together I was alright again. Since then, it's just felt like a constant pressure in my muscles, and occasionally I get a sharp pain. A warm saline soak last night felt like heaven, so I'll definitely be doing that way more often.
I Love the way it looks, but my experience cleaning it yesterday made me second guess myself on whether or not it was all worth it. Although all I really do is complain about the pain, I'm VERY happy with it, and i love my little additions. I just can't wait until a week or two from now when it's not always bothering me. From everything I saw, I would recommend Ed at simple dreams. His bedside manner was fantastic, and of all the shops I called, this was the only one that wasn't incredibly rude to me over the phone. He was a great guy, and I can't wait to go back and see him. However some of the things that he told me were contradictory to a lot of the things I have heard in my travels.