It all started at my local tattoo studio. I asked my tattoo artist if he would pierce my septum and do an industrial for me. He told me that those were two piercing he was not very comfortable doing and he would rather have me go to some with more experience. That's when he recommended Tim at Aardvark Tattoo. Aardvark was about 30 minutes from where I was, so I called to set up an appointment. A week later I was in.
At A Glance Author whiteboy Contact whiteboy@bme.anon When A year ago Artist Tim Studio Aardvark Tattoo Location St. Johns, MI I talked a few of my friends into going with me (moral support) so we all piled in the car and we were off. We arrived at the studio with no problems. We walked in and were greeted by Tim and an employee. Tim assumed that I was his client so he had me sign-in and I had a seat. After a couple of minutes Tim offered to give me a short tour of the studio. He showed me his autoclave and his latest spore test (good sign), the bathrooms, his piercing and his tattooing rooms. The shop was very nice and I felt like I was in good hands.
While Tim was getting all of his equipment around I decided to make small talk with his employee who had his septum pierced. I asked him how the procedure went and how it felt. He just said it would make my eyes water. His remark didn't settle very well and I got a bit nervous. I sat down with my friends and flipped through Tim's portfolio. My friends could all see that I was nervous so they laughed at me (what are friends for right).
Within Fifteen minutes Tim called me back into the piercing room. He told me to have a seat on the table so he could line up the piercing. He felt around on my nose for a second so that he could locate the "sweet spot" as he called it. He had me lay down on my back; he then drew two small dots on my septum. I was sweating bullets on that table. So much so I felt somewhat light headed. Right as he was about to out the clamp on my nose I flaked. I asked him if I could go get a glass of water and walk the blood back into my legs.
I returned to the piercing room and I was ready this time. He wanted to sure I understood the entire procedure so he took the needle and the jewelry out of their packages and showed them to me, He showed me the clamps and told me how everything was going to go. I lay back down on the table and took a second to relax. I was ready. He placed the clamp on my septum and then he told me relax and count to 3. 1...2...
Hey what happened to 3? He caught me so off guard that I couldn't even get a breath in. I guess that was the point though because the next thing I knew I had a huge needle going through my nose and I couldn't see a thing. My eyes were watering so bad my friends' thought I was crying. Tim leaned in and started putting the ring in. That was sort of uncomfortable but not bad. Thirty seconds had gone by and I had a new septum ring.
While we were still in the room Tim handed me a care package containing a bag of sea salt and cleaning instructions. He went over all of the cleaning instructions with me and made sure I understood that the better that I take care of the piercing the faster and easier it would heal. He said it would take about a month to heal and a little more time to toughen up. We both walked out of the piercing room and up to the counter so that I could thank and pay him for his services. And home we went.
It was one of the most awesome piercing experiences I have ever had. It took about a month and a half to be fully healed and cleaning it was the hardest part. I had to do salt water soaks twice a day for about a month straight. Tim and his staff made me feel very comfortable. I am so glad that my tattoo artist recommended the folks at Aardvark. I felt as though my artist made a very cool decision to send me to Tim (client before mod).
It's been about a year since I got the piercing and I'm totally happy. I stretched it up to an 8ga. and back down too a 12ga. circular barbell. I plan on stretching again soon but that will be another story. My parents hate it but they love me, my friends love it but they hate me (jealous I guess). More stories to come I hope.