i guess technically this is the story of two piercings. the horror part of it all has to do with my septum though. about a month ago, i went to cold steel, a piercing and tattoo studion on haight st, at the recommendation of many people i knew, to get my septum done. i filled out the typical paperwork and was taken immediately. my piercer's name was mic- i was friendly with him from before because my friend indigo used to work there so i was instantly more comfortable. he was extremely professional about the entire process. he took everything out of the packages in front of me so i knew everything being used was fresh. he explained to me he was going to set everything up and then he was going to poke around my nose a bit and find the right spot. when he was going to do the piercing, he'd tell me to take a deep breath in. deep breath out and he'd do the piercing. it took him awhile to decide on the spot but i figured that was normal. deep breath in. deep breath out, needle through. not a big deal.
At A Glance Author sexy phone Contact sexy phone@bme.anon Artist mic Studio cold steel Location san francisco i didn't think it hurt much at all. in fact, at that juncture, it felt amazing. when it was over i felt.. refreshed. he gave me a troubled look after the jewelry was fixed. 'ah, well. its slightly crooked. you can fix this by moving the jewelry to the other side in quick motions a few times ago. do this (he showed me) and it will train it to lay straight.' it didn't look that crooked in the mirror. he told me 'any piercer who says he hasn't done a crooked septum is lying.' and i didn't want to make a big deal out of it so i left.
he gave me so ear care solution and told me to clean it out with that twice a day with a qtip. the first few days my nose was incredibly sore and it became crusty on the inside. it became hard to rotate the ring sometimes and the exercises i was supposed to do irritated the piercing i believe. by now, everyone that saw me pointed out my septum was crooked and i began to be a lot more bothered by it.
after two weeks i didn't feel like the exercises were helping at all and i went in and said i wanted to do something about it. he said to take it out and they'd repierce once it was healed. i really wanted my money back but i backed down and i decided, ok i'm being too hard on this person. no one is perfect. of course it will be fine the second time.
i went back to get it redone yesterday. they didn't have the jewelry i wanted so i resigned myself to another selection for a few weeks. tried to argue my money back but without my receipt, it was useless. more of the same paperwork. sat and waited amongst a gaggle of girls deciding between chinese symbol tattoos.
back in the room. same process. he explained it all over again though. i was more nervous this time, i guess because i was worried it would turn out bad again. it took him even longer this time to pick where to pierce it, which made me even more nervous. deep breath in. and it felt so wrong when the needle went through much worse than before. jewelry through. my nose was in so much pain and i looked at myself. the jewelry was in there at this horrible angle and anytime i moved my nose, the jewelry moved in the most uncomfortable way strangling the middle of my nose. it looked horrible. it was way too high up and of course it wasn't straight. it hurt just to have the jewelry in normally. i made him take it out immediately. at that point, i only had the choice of another piercing.
i'd always liked the monroe and originally thought that was going to be my new piercing. and they did have the jewelry i wanted- the white gold stars, not too big, not too small. i had to pay an extra $25 and wait another half an hour to get the monroe. i was so frustrated by this point. the monroe at least went smoothly though. the worst part was finding the perfect spot for the dot so it would be perfectly symmetrical with my lip ring. he told me the same thing, showed me everything as he was setting it up and the procedure was the same. when the needle went through for the monroe, it was nothing at that point. my eyes watered horribly with the septum but i was visibly unaffected after the monroe. he asked me if i remembered the care for the lip ring and said it was the same. that was it. no paper instructions, explanation of the healing process, additional information.
cold steel, although it came highly recommended, is not where i'd advise anyone to go ever. my septum is still in incredible pain today much worse than it was the first time i got it done.
at least i have a cute monroe star though right??
i don't know how to feel about the entire experience except that i'm glad it didn't turn out much worse.