septums are for girls too

At A Glance Author mandy Contact volkswagen7@cs.com Artist bill Studio physical graffiti Location bridgeport, connecticut

a sequel to "i'm cool because i have a car emblem on my back"

well, i had just got my tax return back. about $150 if i remember correctly, and i was in the mood for something new. my job doesn't allow me to have anything more than a tongue ring (which i have) and a tiny nose stud, which didn't appeal to me much. other than that, if the customers can't see it then it can't hurt them. so my only option was my septum. i had read just about EVERY experience on BME and as long as nothing was botched everyone had reported the pain to be minimal to nonexistent, seems like a pretty sweet deal. so the journey begins...

my mom had been having problems with her car so my father and i were driving her back and forth to work. i got out of work at 3 and had to pick her up by 6, so i didn't have time to go to my shop of choice which was about 20 minutes in the other direction. so i go to the one around the corner from me. i just couldn't wait until that night when i was actually GOING to my shop of choice (which is atlantis in milford, CT by the way) for my friend to get her tattoo. but alas, i'm impatient.

so i head over to physical graffiti. i walked in and the owner asked what i was interested in and i told him a septum, he then asked if i had ID and was 18 and i confirmed that yes i was, but he never asked to see my ID. he said he'd call the piercer and it would be about 10 minutes. so i sat around waiting (impatiently of course) while filling out the release forms. then bill shows up on his motorcycle. he comes in and greets me with the usual chit chat, then we get down to business.

he took out a receiving tube, 14 gauge needle, and retainer (wrapped up of course) and put on gloves. as he was setting up he explained the receiving tube to me but i already knew because of reading so much on BME :) he made some crack like, "no offense..." smiled, and handed me a paper towel with a blow-your-nose type gesture. i told him i didn't blame him and cleaned myself out. he then cleaned my nose with whatever that bad smelling stuff is and marked inside my nostril. he gave me a paper towel to hold and said that my eyes WILL water and i may feel like i have to sneeze but to warn him before i try to wipe my eyes because i'll have a needle sticking out pretty far for a few seconds. i don't really remember if much happened along the lines of asking if i was ready and whatnot but the next thing i remember is an oh-so-slight pinch and my eyes watering up and i started shaking my hands around and i was about to wipe them off and he started laughing a little then i said something like, "forget it just put the retainer in!" so he slipped the retainer in and flipped it up for me.

he then discussed aftercare, which i didn't quite like. he said to use the ear care solution like you get at the ear piercing booths and gave me a bottle of that. i later found out from a friend how full of shit he was and never to go back there. he gave me his aftercare sheet which i then followed (mostly the salt soaks, they do WONDERS! my nose was sore for a few days after the piercing and when i started soaking it, it was better almost instantly) i gave him a tip none the less and took off to pick up my mom.

i had flipped down the retainer because of course, you have a new piercing, gotta show it off... keep in mind my mom works at a nursery school. so i walked down the hall to her classroom and she was standing in the doorway and she squinted and gave me some weird look as i said something to her. she then asks, "what is THAT now??" so i told her about my new ornament. she then made this relieved type "ohh" and said the first thing that ran through her mind when she saw me coming was, "oh great she's got something hanging from her nose!" i get that a lot now though.

this was all a couple months ago and it's now healed perfectly. it looked a little crooked at first but i later learned that the exit hole can swell up some and make it look crooked. i can yank on it and hit it and all that with no problems. i have a 14 gauge circular barbell in it and i think it looks adorable. i recommend this to anyone. i had always heard that the tongue was the least painful of all piercings, but i must argue that... i went through over a week of agony when i had my tongue pierced over three years ago. you move your tongue a LOT more often than your nose! haha. i love my piercing because of the fact that you don't see girls with them! to tell you the truth, you don't see much of anyone with them... but it's usually a guy anyhow.

hope i didn't bore you too much! and i said this last time, if you're in connecticut, definitely check out atlantis in milford!