Friday, August 29 2003
At A Glance Author A Morbid Beauty Contact morbidbeauty_84@hotmail.com When It just happened Artist Jacqui Studio Adictive Tattoos Location London Ont. Today, I tried to get my septum pierced. TRIED being the main word here.
With plans to go to London to get back to school clothes for my two younger sisters (Krista,15 and Summer, 8) We decided that we'd see about getting a couple piercings since we were in the area.
I made the mistake thursday night to go out to the bar with a bunch of my friends since they were all going off to school on Sunday. I was out really late, until about 3a.m and had Krista banging on my door at 7 a.m. I rolled out of bed and was so tired I felt like I was going to puke.
We get to London around 9a.m, and discovered that the mall didn't open until 10a.m. I tried sleeping in the car, but the girls wanted to go get something to eat. Despite my feeling crappy, I made it through the day of shopping, having to leave a couple of stores because I was getting claustrophobic, but made it through non the less.
After the mall, we headed downtown to Addictive Tattoos. We walked up the long staircase, and were greeted with a warm smile. The girl at the counter asked how she could help us, and I told her I wanted my septum pierced, and Krista asked about her eyebrow. She asked for I.D, and said that Jacqui would be out in a few minutes to talk to us. We sat on the couches in the lobby and she came out and explained that she couldn't pierce Krista because she's not yet 16, but she'd be happy to pierce me. She explained she had one more person to go before me, so it would be approximately half an hour. The four of us sat in the lobby looking at portfolios, and flash collections, my 8-year-old sister showing me all the different tattoos and piercings she wanted. One of the girls at the counter had me fill out the release form while i waited for Jacqui.
About 45 minutes after we arrived I was being ushered into the piercing room, with my Krista, her friend,Lorren, and Summer following close behind. Jacqui asked me to sit in the chair, and she took a stool beside me, and we chatted about my piercings. She told me she sees I've been pierced before, but since she has never pierced me, she wants to make sure I know everything that she knows. Hearing her say this, made me feel at ease, that even though she's sure I know what I'm doing, she wants to make sure we are on the same level. She told me about all the instruments she'd be using, the needles are disposed of after every use, and all the non-disposable items go through an extensive sterilization process, finishing with an autoclave. Out of the three different piercers I've been pierced by, she was the first to mention the autoclave to me, without my having to ask. This made me feel really comfortable with her. She told me about how she'd like me to care for my piercing, as well as highlighting the aftercare sheet. After the aftercare explanation, she warned me that since this is a 'blind' piercing, there was the possibility that it could come out crooked. She said it didn't happen often, but there was the possibility. She also said that if the first one wasn't straight, she would remove it, and wait a few minutes, and then try it again. If, after the second try, it was still crooked, I would have to come back after a week or so to try again. Then she asked me to face her and she shoved some iodine soaked gauze up my nose. She warned me of the smell, and I tried not to breathe it in. It smelled gross! Then she wiped the iodine out of my nostrils with Q-Tips. She then told me she was going to use a taper to find the soft spot on my nose so she could get an idea of where to slide the needle through. She told me to make a mental note of where the taper is in my nose, so that when she had the needle in my nose, I could help her make the placement perfect. She also warned me that if I looked up toward the ceiling, if my eyes should water, the tears wouldn't run down my face and my make up wouldn't get messed up. God I love this woman hehe. anyway.. When she found the right spot, she told me to remember how it felt, and grabbed the receiving tube, and placed it on the other side of my septum, and told me to take a deep breath in, and out.. and *pinch* it was done. "okay sweetie all done" and she slid the retainer through. She stood back and got a look of disappointment on her face. My heart began to sink. She told me it was a little bit off, and that she wanted to try again. "If you're going to have this piercing, I want it to be perfect." She looked up inside my nose, to see if there was a deviation in my septum, but she said it looked good! so she tried again. The receiving tube, the needle, Deep breath in... and out...... *PIINNCCHH* a little more than before. The retainer in, and it's even more crooked than before!! *sigh* (from both of us). "Aww I'm sorry sweetie, it's just n ot straight enough." She says. She's as disappointed as I am. She tells me she knows I'm disappointed, and I agree, telling her it's better to wait a bit, and have a perfect piercing, then to leave with something unsatisfying. She apologized, and told me to come back as soon as possible, but wait at least a week to let my nose heal up a little from the double piercing. I thank her for all her help, and we headed home.
As of right now, my septum is a little sore, and a little swollen, but since there's no jewelry in it, I keep forgetting that it's hurting and bump it a lot. Other than that, I can't even tell I got it pierced, twice. heh. It's going to be one hell of a long wait until I can go get it tried again, but a perfect piercing later, is better than a crooked one now.