My nose piercing is probably one of my most interesting piercing stories yet. Thus far, I had only gotten ear piercings, and lots of them. One of my friends had gotten her nostril done, and I really liked the way it looked. I thought it might be an interesting alternative to putting more metal through my ears. I skipped the idea over the summer, and got my tragus done instead. I was working for a state park in the ticket booth, so I couldn't really get my nose done while working with people all the time. I didn't think they'd really go for that. So I decided to wait until I got to my first year of college.
At A Glance Author clodia Contact clodia@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist ME! Studio in my dorm room Location boston, ma So I wasn't 18 yet, and I couldn't ask my parents (they would have flipped and said no). I thought I might just wait that couple of months until my birthday. So I looked at some local piercing places here in Boston, and discovered that they were much more expensive than I bargained for... $40 seemed like a lot to me. So I thought about it, and decided that I would do it myself, rather than cough up all that cash.
You must understand that this was not my first self-done piercing. I had already put 5 holes in my ear cartilage and 2 in my lobes. I found that the pain wasn't really that awful, although many people cannot believe that I would actually be able to do it without passing out. Such babies...
ATTENTION: YOU SHOULD NOT DO THIS: I took out my pointy earring, which had already served me quite well. I had saved it from my lobe piercings that were done with the gun. I soaked it in alcohol for a while to kill bacteria. I swabbed my nose with alcohol, and figured out where I wanted it. I knew I had to put it in at a slight angle so that the stud wouldn't come out so easily. I got a facecloth and some ice cubes and tried to numb my nose a little. The time had come...
I put the point up to the place I wanted it and pushed it right in! It slid in so easily that it scared me... I wasn't quite sure that anything had happened. Then came the really painful part... getting it through the other side. I pushed and pushed, then had to stop because my eyes were watering and I couldn't see. Tried again, had to stop, left it alone for a few minutes. Tried to numb it with the ice... that wasn't happening. Then I just put in the final effort... I had gotten this far and I was not turning back... it went through eventually.
I went shopping with some of my new friends the next day, and they asked me when I had gotten my nose pierced... I said, "I did it last night myself." They were totally grossed out, and couldn't believe it. I bought some studs to put in once it had healed, only they never actually went in my nose... they were the nose bones, and I was afraid that if I put them in I might never be able to get them back out. Besides which, I could never get them to go through.
Healing it was fun. I woke up a few mornings to find there wasn't anything in my nose and had to push it back in. I also went home and didn't hold the tissue far enough up my nose when I sneezed... hehe... that stud went flying, let me tell you. My parents hated it, but they were so happy to see me that they didn't care.
They really hated it when I put a 14 gauge spike in it... The guy I had a crush on kept calling me Spike... eventually I took it out for Thanksgiving and put in a more respectable 18-gauge screw in. I decided I was not going to put the spike back in... too painful. I've kept the screw in since. And I recommend not taking the ring out for awhile... even after 6 months I tried to take mine out and clean it... it took me 2 hours to get it back in, and my nose was not very happy with me at all...
Even though nostril piercings aren't all that uncommon, it stills gets you plenty of attention... Every time I see my guy he tells me that he's going to rip it out (jokingly of course). People either love it or hate it. But it's not that painful and just a little different. And when you take it out, no one would ever know that you'd had it done. My family really hated it at first, but now they've gotten used to it... that and the dyed hair and the other piercings. It's funny when I go home and see people I haven't talked to in awhile, and they say, "you look great!... except for the nose thing."
But unless you've had experience, I definitely wouldn't recommend doing it yourself. It's worth spending the money to have it done right and not have to go through the pain. It's a low maintenance, low pain piercing. If you really think you want one, get it.
I have since taken it out because I got tired of it, and I wasn't able to change the stud because it just didn't want to cooperate. But it may return at some point... sooner or later.