i had been tossing the idea of getting my septum pierced around for a while. i wasn't totally sure if i wanted this kind of piercing. i had always thought that it really wasn't a very attractive piercing until i started searching for pictures on BME. i saw several girls with their septums pierced and they were so cute! i would then just fool around with adobe and my pictures drawing rings on my nose to see how i would look with a septum piercing. it didn't look too bad, either.
At A Glance Author lou Contact lou@no0dles.org Artist paul Studio 360 blues and tattoos Location arlington, tx then came the decision on what gauge i should get it pierced. initially, i thought that 14 gauge would be too small of a gauge and for some reason the studio i went to didn't like doing this piercing at 12 gauge. (don't ask me why) so i settled on 10 gauge. it wasn't too big or too small in my opinion. i even posted a poll on my IAM page and the majority of the votes were for 10 gauge.
i waited until i had started my new job and got comfortable with it. i also wanted to make sure that facial piercings were ok. apparently, they don't really care about piercings or tattoos as they didn't say anything about my labret. i then decided that i would get my septum pierced with my first paycheck. all i had to do was wait. it seemed as though the week would go on forever, but i finally got my check.
the next evening (saturday night) james, my boyfriend, and i went out and at what seemed to be the last minute i said i wanted to get my septum pierced. thinking that the studio was closing at midnight, we raced to 360 Blues and Tattoos. come to find out, they were open until 2 a.m. "Yay!" i thought to myself. i had time to get my septum pierced. we walked into the studio and made our way to the "piercing room". danny, the apprentice, was there and i asked if paul was there. he said yeah, and paged him, telling him that he had a septum piercing. i filled out the necessary paperwork and waited for paul to come into the room. danny asked me if i had a high pain tolerance. i sort of giggled and said, "well, i guess we'll find out tonight." i have several piercings in my ears and my labret pierced, but little did i know what i was going up against.
paul walked into the room and saw that it was me and gave me $10 off the price. (right on!!). he went behind the counter and got the stuff ready. he then told me to come on around. timidly i walked over and made my way to the chair. i sat down nervously and quickly looked around the room. there were about 5 other people in there. mostly moms with their 15 yr olds wanting to get their ears pierced. paul got the jewelry out. (by this time i thought 14 gauge would be best). they didn't have any circular barbells so i picked to get pierced with a retainer. paul then felt around for the "soft spot" in my nose and put iodine all in it. then took the forceps and clamped my nose. i felt everyone's eyes watching me. he said he was going to count to three. i closed my eyes. one...two...three. a rush of pain swept through my nose. one mom said,"oh my, i'd never be able to do that." paul put the retainer in and i was all done.
i walked out from behind the counter and tipped paul. everyone in the room said i was really brave. paul even said that i took the piercing very well. he asked me which was worse pain wise. i had to tell him that in actuality, my conch piercing hurt more. wiping the tears from my eyes i said that it did hurt a lot but it was a really awesome experience. i went to the bathroom and looked at it. wow. it looked really neet. then, james and i left. i felt like someone had just punched me in the nose. even the roof of my mouth hurt.
i went to work the following monday and everyone was in amazement. they asked the usual question, "did it hurt?" (of course it hurt! a razor sharp needle going through your skin is going to hurt!)
its been a week and my nose doesn't hurt a bit. i look in the mirror and i love it! its funny because when i have the retainer flipped up in my nose, it feels like i have huge boogers! haha. i don't regret getting it pierced. i love it and i'm so glad i got it done at 14 gauge instead of 10. i don't know if i could handle the pain of a larger gauge. soon, i'll be getting a tiny circular barbell to put in it. i'm excited and happy.
i have had no problems with it so far and it seems to have started to heal just fine. i think my septum piercing is fast becoming one of my favorite piercings.