Ever since I was 16 years old I have been into body modification. I come from a straight-laced Christian family whose main concern is what society thinks of our "Family Name". I always told my mom I was going to start getting piercings when I turned 18; she threatened to kick me out. Well anyways on down the line...
At A Glance Author Kris Contact Kris@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist BlackWork Studio 23rd Street Piercing Location Oklahoma City, Oklahoma After my fourth facial piercing, I was lucky enough to have some dumbass back into the front of my car; giving me an extra hundred or so dollars. Of course my mom wanted me to put it in the bank and save it, but I had other things in mind. By now everyone knew me at 23rd Street Body Piercing, seeing that I was the only one that had bright electric blue hair at the time that went in there. I stood there asking prices for the different piercings and decided I would ask about the septum piercing. I had seen it around a lot and always liked the way it looked. So I asked how much it cost, how much it hurt (which is a really stupid thing to ask seeing that everyone has a different tolerance for pain), and what was involved with the after care.
I spent about twenty minutes pondering what I would look like, and more importantly, how much my mom would want to kill me, I decided to go for it. I filled out all the little papers saying I wasn't drunk or on any kind of drugs and sat down while I waited for the next available piercer. I was always nervous or excited when I go to get a piercing, but this time I was actually scared out of my mind. I had heard that the septum was one of the most painful places that you could get pierced. I started having second thoughts and right then they called my name. It was time to go 'in the back room.' (Note: I always felt completely safe getting my piercings done there, it's a very clean and sterile place and everyone is extremely nice). Sitting there in the back room on the table that resembled the ones I had seen in the hospital, I started shaking. The piercer (don't remember his name, just that he had really cool black work on his right arm) came in and just started talkin g to me about different stuff. I guess he could tell that I was nervous. One thing you should NEVER ask a piercer while they are prepping the needles is "has anyone ever passed out while you were giving them a piercing?" Very, very BAD idea! I asked that and he said yes, my nervousness shot up about four points. By the time he had the needles all ready and turned to face me, I thought I was going to pass out from breathing so hard. He told me to look up while he marked where he was going to pierce me. Then he told me to take a deep breath and let it out. After the count of three, I took the biggest breath I could and let it all out. I was so shocked! It only hurt for about five seconds, my eyes were watering really bad but that's the only thing. He thought I was crying and he felt really bad. I just had a big dumb grin on my face, so proud of myself that I didn't pass out!
Thirty minutes later I arrived at my house trying to hide my nose from my parents, but with my luck my sister was there and she notices everything about me and flipped. She ran outside and told my parents, I got the "you're going to regret this one day, what do you think the rest of the family is going to say" and "you have to conform to society or your just going to be a misfit for the rest of your life". They got over it in about a week; they still don't like it though.
I always tell everyone that wants to get a piercing is to make sure you know how important the after care is. How well you take care of your piercing effects on how it will look and heal in the long run. To me it wasn't that hard since I had no life at the time. All I had to do is take care of my piercing three times a day for one month. It is mandatory that the employees at 23rd Street Body Piercing use suggestive sales techniques to get the customer to buy some pure sea salt and Provon medicated soap. They will tell you to wash it thoroughly. For every eighth of a teaspoon of sea salt you add eight ounces of lukewarm water. You need to get some cotton balls, dip the cotton ball in the water and place it on your piercing for 10 minutes (try to keep the cotton ball soaked with the warm water). I did the stupid thing though and only took care of it for a week. I was lucky though because it turned out okay.