When I was in 9th grade (I'm a freshman in college now.) I pierced my own nostril out of boredom. I knew my dad wouldn't care, but that my mom would freak out. My mindset was, she didn't really pay much attention to my everyday life back then and had kinda bad vision so I figured that I might be able to get away with it. After a about a week of turning my head when talking to my mom so she wouldn't see the side of my face with my piercing, and pretty much just trying to avoid her, she finally noticed it on a shopping trip to the mall. After yelling, "What the hell is in your nose?" and making a huge seen in front of tons of people, she pretty much gave me the cold shoulder. I took it out that night, but my mom didn't talk to me for about a week...I won't go into how psychotic my mom can be.
At A Glance Author Eryn Contact eryn@eboarding.net When Six months ago Artist Me Studio My Bedroom Location Albuquerque, NM I vowed that as soon as I moved out or turned 18, I'd get my nose pierced since I loved the way it looked on me. So when I moved away for college about six months ago, pretty much the first thing I did after unpacking was prepare to pierce my own nose again. I honestly don't know why I decided to do it myself, seeing as how I had the funds to do it professionally, but I guess I just figured that I'd done it before and hadn't messed up so why not do it again? I went to the mall to pick out a teeny silver stud that I liked, and picked up some cotton balls, rubbing alcohol, and peroxide at walgreens. (Yes, I know better than to use peroxide on piercings now.) I found the biggest sewing needle my boyfriend's mom had, probably about a 20ga, and cleaned it off with the alcohol. Next I numbed the inside and outside of my nostril for about half an hour. I began to SLOWLY stick the needle through my nose. I had to get it pretty far past the tip of needle, because sewing needl es taper, and the hole had to be big enough to accomodate the stud. Little by little, I kept pushing it in deeper and deeper, only as long as I could take the pain, which wasn't that bad, until finally it was in until all I needed to do was poke it through that last layer, which I knew would be one of the hardest parts from past experience. After giving myself a pep talk while staring at the sewing needle stuck almost through my nose, I got up the courage to just give it one final push and force it through...FINALLY! Due to my delaying and the fact that my nose was very numb, I can't say that it hurt too terribly much, but the process of getting the needle through took probably about 45 minutes.
Pulling the needle out wasn't too pleasant, but I can't say it hurt. I knew I had to get the stud in relatively quickly, and this was the second hardest part. I just had to make myself do it, and it didn't hurt that much seeing as how it was just a bent earring and wasn't nearly as long as a normal nostril screw.
I cleaned it with peroxide and put neosporin on it because I didn't know any better and just when it seemed like it was starting to get infected, a friend who had her nose pierced recommended saline solution which really did the trick. It healed in a little less than a month with regular cleanings.
A few days ago I decided I was tired of the fact that I didn't have options besides earrings to put in my piercing since it was about a 20ga and decided to stretch it to 18, since there are all kinds of cool nostril screws I can get in that gauge. I bought a cool little stud with a green stone, cleaned it off, lubed it up with neosporin, and just sort of forced it in...which wasn't very hard at all. I expected it to be sore, but I haven't had any problems at all. The only problem is I wish I could've done my piercing a little bit higher, because I'm sort of bugged by the fact that I did it too close for my liking to the edge of my nostril...just a tiny annoyance. It's all good though, I love my piercing and my face isn't complete without it.The funny thing is...everytime I talk to my roommate about getting a new piercing and being afraid of the pain, she tells me if I can pierce my own nose, I can take anything. Let me tell you, piercing my own nose was a walk in the park compared to getting my nipples pierced. Now that I can look back on it, I can honestly say that I don't regret piercing my nose myself, but there's NOTHING else that I'd trust myself to pierce, and I was lucky that my nostril came out nicely. I would recommend doing things professionally though, seeing as how things are much much much more clean that way.
If you're in Albuquerque, go to Sachs. Joe rules!