So, one night I was bored. I hadn't gotten a piercing since the day before my tenth birthday, and I had quite a hankering. I wanted to pierce my nose, but I knew it wouldn't be smart to just go ahead and snick a needle through my nose without experience piercing any. I just had one hole in each ear, while I rarely employed. I had always wanted my second hole, though, and was annoyed that I couldn't get my ears pierced at the mall without a parent with me. When did I ever go to the mall with my parents?
At A Glance Author elli Contact elli@bme.anon When A month ago I had mentioned to my mom maybe a year ago that I wanted my second hole done, and she just said, "Why don't you pierce it yourself? That's what I did."
I wasn't too into the whole inflicting pain upon myself thing, so I pushed the whole second hole idea to the back of my mind.
But then I became interested in piercing my nose. I didn't really express this wish to anyone other than my best friends, and since I hadn't talked to my mom about even my ears in over a year, I didn't really feel like discussing this with her. Plus, my school doesn't allow them – not that that would really stop me or any of the many other people at my school with their noses pierced.
I researched online all about piercing your own nose, as I didn't really plan on getting it done professionally. I know, I know, getting it done professionally is ALWAYS better, unless of course they use a piercing gun. But getting it professionally done would be complicated, as I'm only fifteen. I found out that it was definitely a bad idea to use a sewing needle, even worse to use a safety pin. Where was I supposed to get a hollow needle? I didn't know. I would have to use a sewing needle. So I figured a good form of practice would be to piece my second hole in my earlobes.
I had to be discreet. I knew my mom wouldn't actually mind if I pierced my ears again, but I really didn't want to make a fuss. If I told her, she would be over my shoulder the whole time, and I decided that I'd rather do this by myself.
I often had a cup of tea, so I filled the kettle with water and set it to boil. Then I quickly ran upstairs, frantically searching for a needle. I wanted to find it before the kettle started to whistle. I looked in my closet, in various sewing boxes and craft kits. No needle. I looked on my desk, on my dresser, on my vanity. Still no needle. I often sew, so this was pretty odd. I knew that I definitely had needles in a box in my dining room, but that would cause awkward questions about why I needed a needle. I didn't want to lie, I'd rather omit. I also knew there were needles in my laundry room, but that put me in the same predicament of awkward questions.
I realized I was going to have to resort to using a safety pin. Great. I found one in a drawer in my kitchen just in time for the water to boil. I turned it off and took out a mug. After I filled the mug with the boiling water, I ran upstairs holding it, with the safety pin in my pocket. I set it down on my bathroom counter, and went into my room to find the earrings I had gotten my ears pierced when I was almost ten. They had the special safety back that would hide the sharp point, which would definitely be beneficial. Luckily, I hadn't thrown them out or lost them. I took of the backs, and tossed them all into the mug along with the safety pin. The wait was pretty excruciating. I just wanted to pierce my ears and be done with it. I figured fifteen minutes was sufficient, so I dumped out the water and caught the earrings, their backs, and the safety pin.
I didn't bother to mark my ears where I wanted to pierce them, I figured it would just complicate things. So I opened the safety pin, pressed it lightly against my ear where I wanted it to go through, and slowly, slowly pushed it through, while I stared at the wall to take my attention away from the process. Was that a pop? I had pierced my ear. Surprisingly, it hadn't hurt one bit. I barely felt it. I left the safety pin in for a pretty short amount of time, maybe five or ten minutes, before I quickly but carefully pulled it out and tried to put the earring in. It went in...but not all the way. It got a little stuck in the back. Since they were the sharp type of earrings, I pretty much had to re-pierce the back. It still wasn't at all painful, fortunately. I put the back on the earring and then repeated the process on my other ear. This time, I was quicker when I took the safety out and put the earring in, so I didn't have to worry about it closing up. After I had the earrings in, I realized that I never numbed my ears. Oh well. Obviously, it hadn't been necessary.
My ears were a little sore the next day, but that was all. No infection or irritation. A month later, they're pretty much healed. My mom found out the next day when I wore my hair in a ponytail, probably subconsciously hoping she would realize. She didn't mind.
While I was lucky that I didn't get an infection, not everyone is so lucky, especially when piercing with a safety pin. If possible, always get piercings done professionally.