The piercing bug bit me once again, and I had Friday night off. My friends and I gathered up all are money, put a full tank of gas in the Saturn, and drove 3 hours south until we got to Omaha (we do this about once or twice a month. This is what happens when you have a car with such good gas mileage AND live in a town where everything closes after 9 o'clock). My boyfriend wanted to get a couple piercings and I was still undecided. We had considered going to a piercing studio here in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, but then remembered that they all overcharge and treat their customers like shit. So down to Omaha we went.
At A Glance Author XskagirlX Contact skagirl241@excite.com Artist Colin (Smitty's Apprentice) Studio Big Brain Productions Location Old Market Downtown Omaha, Nebraska Once in Omaha, we drove straight to the Old Market. We parked and walked the couple blocks to Big Brain Productions, a tattoo/piercing/studentartgallery. We walked in and were greeted by Colin, Smitty's apprentice. He said that he had time to do a couple piercings as Smitty was out of town. I didn't mind at all. I have been going to Big Brain since October, so Colin has been there at least since then. I also know that Smitty is an excellent piercer who takes pride in his work and he wouldn't let just anyone do piercings while he was out of town. I also like Colin because he's friendly and hasn't gained the elitist attitude so many piercers seem to have. He's humble and immediatelly puts me at ease. I also figured that he has to practice somewhere, why not let it be me? (That may be stupid reasoning, but I trusted him.)
Jason, my boyfriend, decided on getting his lobes pierced at an 8 gauge. He was disappointed because Colin placed 8 ga CBRs in his ears when he wanted plugs right away. Colin explained (just as Smitty would) that piercings are easier to heal with rings than plugs or barbells, and that Jason would be able to take them out as soon as they were healed and stretch them larger. I knew that rings were better to heal with personally just from trying to heal my bridge, which was pierced with a 14 ga straight barbell. Now I get to battle hypertrophic scarring.
So of course when I wanted a madison pierced with a barbell, Colin refused. I'm glad that he stood his ground, but I really didn't want a captive bead ring. So I scratched that and decided on a septum. All of my other piercings (bridge, nostril, and labret) are symmetrically placed (well, minus the nostril) and I wanted a piercing to keep in with the symmetry. I also have a job at a department store that allows me to have facial piercings. However, each time I get a new piercing I have to deal with a whole new onslaught of stupid Midwestern farmers wanting to know "Did that hurt?" "How does that work?" and "They let you work here??" I figured having my septum pierced with a retainer would allow me to wear it up during work and wear it down during my free time.
Jason's turn was over and now it was mine. I sat down in the chair, facing Colin, as he put on a new pair of gloves and prepped the area. Then he put a pinky finger from one hand up one of my nostrils and the other finger up my other nostril and pulled gently. He explained that he was trying to find the pocket of soft cartiledge that seperates from the hard cartiledge. Then he shined a flashlight up there and made the appropriate markings with his little purple-inked pen. I was surpised that it was going to be pierced so high up in my nose. Next, he removed the clamp from it's package and proceeded to place it over the markings. However, this was where he ran into trouble. It wouldn't clamp appropriately due to the shape of my nose. He decided that it would have to be done without the clamps and I insisted that he took the time to place them correctly. I'm a wuss and I depend greatly on the clamps to take my mind off the sharp pain. He found a smaller pair of clamps and finally got them situated correctly. By then my nose was pretty much numb from all the clamping and unclamping.
He removed the needle from its package and I shut my eyes and clenched my teeth. I was prepared for the worst pain in my whole entire life.
I felt him place the needle against the marks and then...nothing. He was fiddling with the clamp again. Then he brought the needle up and then...nothing again. He fiddled with the clamp a little more (it kept slipping). He requested Jason to hold the flashlight up my nose so he could see better and prepared to pierce once again. I took a deep breath and then...nothing again. By this time I was about ready to hyperventilate. (And I'm known for never flinching).
Finally he pushed the needle through and surprisingly it didn't hurt at all. Yes, it was uncomfortable, but it didn't even sting. My eyes didn't tear up or anything. However, it took forever. He had to make sure that when the needle exited that it didn't get my right nostril in the process. (The middle part of my nose is almost even with the ends of my nostrils). Finally the needle was all the way through and I was smiling and talking. He got the retainer ready and fed it through as he removed the needle. Then then tried to remove the clamps (at this point the retainer was only halfway through) and out popped my retainer. It fell down into Colin's gloved hand (he's a good catch) and in one quick motion he picked it up and fed it back through the hole. I didn't even realize that his was going on because I had shut my eyes again and it didn't feel like anything. He had broken out into a sweat and looked at me with a straight face and said, "I thought for a moment there I would've had to let you kick me in the nuts. I've never even seen Smitty save a septum so quickly." Then we all started laughing hysterically. I had broken out into a rash on my chest from being so close to hyperventilation but that was it. I never feel light-headed after being pierced or anything and my septum wasn't even throbbing. I felt like nothing had happened, really, but when I looked into the mirror I could see the little retainer poking out. Yay!
Colin explained the aftercare (Dial soap 3-5 times a day [and I alternate with sea salt soaks, that's my own personal care regimine]) and we left him a nice tip. I thought that although it was a very time-consuming piercing, Colin did a great job. It's now 2 days later and it feels great. I can't wait until I can start wearing other jewelery besides this little retainer and I will definately continue to drive those extra 3 hours to be pierced by the guys at Big Brain.