Whenever things are not going in my favor, I sit back and think about what might improve my mood. Usually the answer is getting a tattoo or getting a piercing. Generally getting a tattoo takes a lot of planning and money saving, but a piercing is something that can be done much more spontaneously. The past few weeks have been pretty up and down emotionally for me and I decided that what I needed was a new piercing.
At A Glance Author danielle Contact danielle@bme.anon IAM danielle When It just happened Artist Corey Robert Studio Adorned Precision Body Piercing Location Calgary, Canada There were several things I wanted to get done, so I had to narrow it down. For years I have been discussing with my body piercer, Rick Gilmour about scalpelling my navel to a 2 gauge. I even have the jewelry picked out and waiting for me to take that jump into the world of big gauge piercings. Another option was dermal punching my right conch, also at a 2 gauge. When I had this piercing before it never healed and Rick and I had often discussed dermal punching out the scar tissue. I had discussed it with Rick's co-piercer Corey and we had determined what jewelry would look best and that he would do the procedure.
The third choice was piercing my left nostril. Rick pierced my right nostril in the spring of 2000 and I had thought I would leave it on its own. Recently though I decided that it would look really good to have a matching pair.
As cost was a factor in my decision, I decided to go with the nostril piercing. I was feeling very full of energy and wanted to get right to the shop, but I knew I should eat a good breakfast before I went. I had a big meal and was at the shop just after it opened. It was a gorgeous day out and lots of people were walking around, window shopping. Rick and Corey had a bit of a lineup so my roommate and I sat down and chatted with them while we waited. They were expecting an appointment at 12.30 so we waited.. and we waited. Finally Rick decided that should the appointment show up, she would have to do the waiting as she was already 10 minutes late.
We battled back and forth for a little while, trying to decide who would do the actual piercing. Rick has always been my piercer. I had never even considered getting pierced by anyone else but now that he had a trusted friend working in his shop with him, I thought I should branch out.
Corey and I have been friends for a long time but he has never pierced me. This was a new role we were embarking on as he led me back to the piercing room. He sat me on the bench and started to wash his hands. He gloved up and double checked with me what jewelry I wanted in the piercing. Then Corey began to assemble everything he needed to do the piercing. Some things I noticed being put aside were a toothpick for marking, clamps, a cork and several blobs of some sort of lubricant. Corey also squirted some fluid onto the tray which he would use to mark my nostril with.
Corey then took some iodine wipes out of a package and wiped my nostril. After it had a dried he started to mark my nostril. He had to make several marks on the top of my nose and along my nostril, in order to line up the two nostril piercings perfectly. He kept asking me to look straight forward, then to look down. We went over this for about 10 minutes and finally he was satisfied with the markings. I lay down on the table and he wheeled the tray over with all of his supplies. Throughout this whole time, Corey was talking to me in a reassuring voice, telling me that I should ask all the questions I wanted and that he would explain absolutely every part of the procedure as it was happening. I was very used to pretty much everything that was happening, as I had been pierced many times in the past. I was slightly nervous though because I hadn't been pierced in about 2 years. Finally Corey leaned over me and explained that I would feel some squeezing as he placed the clamp ove r my nostril. I asked if I should remove my septum ring and he inspected the inside of my nostril carefully. After touching my septum ring he quickly changed his gloves again and said that he didn't need to remove the septum jewelry. I felt the clamp close around my nostril but it wasn't too uncomfortable.
Corey then told me that his pace would be determined by my breathing. Rick and I have always joked that I am a chronic breath-holder. As soon as the piercing happens, I hold my breath. It's much easier to relax when you breathe throughout the procedure and consequently it hurts much less. I mentioned to Corey that I always hold my breath and he again reminded me to try not to.
Now with the clamp in place, Corey asked me to close my eyes and to start breathing deeply, but regularly. I felt the initial poke and tried very hard to keep my breathing regulated and for once I was successful! The needle slid in and I hardly felt a thing! I just kept breathing and Corey congratulated on how "tough" I was. He then slid the cbr into the hole. The feeling of jewelry being slid into a fresh piercing is always a bit odd. It feels as though the jewelry is far too large for the hole! With the ring in, Corey wanted to curve it and shape it so it would sit most comfortably on my nose. I described this renching feeling to Corey; "it feels as though you're putting your entire fist through that little hole" and although it was uncomfortable; I let him do it a few times before it was perfect. He snapped the ball on to the cbr and I was done! It was so much less painful then I remembered my first nostril piercing being. He told me to check it out in the mirror so I sat up and checked it out. I felt a little shaky but great! The cbr looked great and I was in awe of how easy the whole process was. If I had known it would be this easy I probably would have had it done a lot sooner.
As I walked up front to pay Corey, I passed my tattoo artists room and showed him the new piercing. He asked how it felt and I told him that after 10+ hours of tattooing, getting your nose pierced was nothing!