I have wanted to have my nose pierced ever since I was a little girl and I saw a picture of a woman from India for the first time. I thought "Oh, she is so beautiful. When I grow up I want a little diamond stud just like that in my nose." Well, when I was a teen it was the 80's. Body mods were pretty much restricted to earrings, & guys that got them were still concerned about which side was "right" and which was "wrong." Then in my early 20's my life wasn't the sort that leant itself to that kind of thing – married young, having babies, etc etc. Now in my 30's I have been married to my second husband for nearly 10 years, and he has helped me to become so comfortable in my skin, helped me blossom into my full potential. So a few months ago the idea of piercing came up again, and I decided the time had arrived, despite the fact that I'll be 33 next month, I have 3 kids and I work as a legal assistant in the largest office building in downtown Little Rock.
At A Glance Author sinnamon Contact sinnamon@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Angie Studio 7th Street Tatoo & Piercing Location Little Rock, AR I went and checked out the only studio I really knew about. It's downtown and close to my office. The place was immaculate. You could eat off the floor. The piercer wasn't in, but I talked to the receptionist girl in general about piercings, and she was nice and pretty helpful. I took a look around and looked at a few piercing pictures. I was impressed with the place overall. I went home & talked about it with my husband.
A couple of weeks later I went by after work (yes, in my business suit) and talked to the piercer, Angie. She was nice enough, but not overly friendly. On the other hand, I wondered if it was because I didn't fit the description of her typical customer. Maybe she didn't think I was serious. She looked clean and confident about her ability, and that was good enough for me. One thing that concerned me though was that she gave me a very dubious look when I explained that I didn't want my piercing in the crease but more towards the top of my nostril. She told me she didn't know how that would look. Now, I've had a picture in my mind my whole life about what I wanted it to look like, and I knew what I wanted. She did say, however, that she would put it anywhere I wanted.
So I made plans to go after work the next day with my husband (for moral support). I had a rhinestone that I kept on my nose all day, adjusting it, readjusting it, looking in the mirror and getting my friends' opinions. I knew I had to know exactly where I wanted it because I was going to be telling her exactly where to put it. At 2:37 I started watching the clock tick by. By 4:00 I was a nervous wreck. At 4:45 I already had a buzz going, and my husband called and said he'd gotten hung up at work and it would be at least 30 more minutes. I could have died. Finally at 5:45 we were ready to go.
We pulled up and parked, and my husband had to come around and open my door. I felt like I was glued to the seat. I managed to get out and walk in. The receptionist was very unfriendly that day. She had actually been nicer the first time. That kind of rattled me. I had to hand over my driver's license (which I thought was a riot) and sign a form. The piercer came out and said she'd be with me in a minute, again not very friendly, and took the jewelry I had picked out back to autoclave it. Then the receptionist asked how I would be paying. Now, I never had thought about it. I was just going to write a check – you know, like adults do when they're paying for their stuff. They didn't take checks. I didn't have the cash on me. So I pulled out my credit card. I couldn't believe it when they ran my credit card first, I guess to make sure it was good. This annoyed me a little bit, and I left the tip part blank. I'm not tipping before I know whether or not you deserv e it.
We waited a few minutes and the piercer called us back to the piercing room. She had the medical table seat sitting up very straight and told me to sit down. My husband sat on a bench across from me against the wall.
The girl wiped some stuff on my nose and said "Now where did you want this?" I pointed, and she made a dot there on my nose & then kinda raised her eyebrows and shrugged. This was really undermining my confidence in my decision. But I was on such an endorphin rush everything was a little surreal anyway.
I was really expecting the "this is what we're going to do..." "count to three breath in and out" She took the receiving tube, stuck it in my nose and then ...the needle... and *thud* it hurt like a MUTHERFUCKER. Then, that fast it was done – just faster than I could even think about it. I was so high I wasn't even aware really that she was putting the jewelry in, just knew there was some tugging going on. I felt kinda faint and a little queasy. Then I heard her say "Oh, we have a bleeder." She kept the gauze on a while trying to get the bleeding to stop. Then she handed me the gauze and I put pressure on it for a while. I looked over at my husband and he was just beaming. He said, "If it helps any, it looks *really* good." That did help. I smiled back weakly.
They asked if I wanted to see it, and I just shook my head no. I was trying to be really cool, but I was feeling way woozy, and I was worried I was going to pass out or puke. Then she started talking about the aftercare. This made it worse. I had brought a bottle of water, but that wasn't helping. Finally I said, "What I need to get is a Coke."
Well there was a Coke machine there, but neither my husband or I had a dime of cash on us. Angie pulled out her purse and dug out her own money to buy me a Coke. I was so embarrassed. I sat there and she brought it to me. I felt so bad. I hadn't even tipped her. Then I asked if I could add the tip to my ticket and she said "No! Don't worry about it. It's just a Coke!" After the piercing was done she just started being so nice and chatty while we sat there and talked and waited for me to get my head and stomach under control. The sugar did the trick and I started feeling better pretty quick. She showed us some pictures of other piercings, like the outer labia piercings that I eventually want. While I was looking at the pictures I said "Oh I should have brought my camera" and she said "Yeah I wish I had mine. I would like a picture of this one." I think she was surprised that the placement looked as good as it did, and I was pleased about that.
When we left my nose was sore for about and hour, and I actually was second guessing my decision and wasn't even sure I liked it. I hardly looked at it because my stomach was still a little iffy. We stopped at a friends house to pick up the kids and I took some ibuprophen. That helped. On the ride home and the pain was just about gone. I looked in the mirror and all the sudden I just loved it. I was so excited.
The kids' reactions were pretty funny. My thirteen year old at first looked horrified and couldn't believe I would be such a freak. A little while later he thought it wasn't so bad. Then eventually he said, "Actually it looks pretty good on you." My eleven year old daughter was stoked about it immediately. She loved it. In fact she's the one that took my picture. My eight year old son was unfazed.
I took ibuprophen before bed last night just in case. It was a little sore when I woke up, probably from laying on it, but it didn't bother me all night long. It gets a little sore when I'm messing with it to clean or something, but nothing major.
Today I came to work, and the reaction has overall been very positive. Nearly all the other secretaries in the office just love it. I love it. I'll catch sight of myself walking by a mirror and just catch my breath when I see it. I feel so beautiful.