I'm not sure this is the right time for me to write about my septum piercing. For one thing, I have had it less than 24 hours so I won't be able to tell you about a healed piercing or much about aftercare tips. Secondly, I went about getting this piercing all the wrong ways.
At A Glance Author DirtyPrettyThing Contact DirtyPrettyThing@bme.anon IAM DirtyPrettyThings When It just happened Artist Scott Studio Black Widow Tattoo Location California For all my piercings, I have always gone to the same person at Legacy Imports in Stockton. I'm very comfortable with him and his technique, and have never had problems with his piercings.
The past few months I have been longing to get a septum piercing. My boyfriend doesn't think they're attractive, so that was one thing that was holding me back a little. Also, I don't want to make waves at my place of employment with a non-profit agency, where the administrative staff is very conservative. A few of the younger social-workers might have various covered tattoos, standard ear piercings, unnoticeable tongue rings, and there is one girl with a nostril piercing, so other than that, I'm pushing the envelope a little more than others.
I would love to be free to change my appearance as I wish, 24/7. But I would also like to keep my job, so I've been mostly content with getting navel, ear, and tongue piercings that are inconspicuous and easy to conceal. I have some very small tattoos that may show depending on what kind of sleeves I wear, but since I'm not the only one with visible tattoos, this is a non-issue for now.
I checked out pages and pages of BME pictures on septum piercings. I read as many stories as I could without getting cross-eyed. My desire for this piercing increased with every article I looked at.
Much to my boyfriend's horror, I brought up the septum piercing with "my" piercer one day. Mr. Piercer said that a septum would be no problem, but he will not pierce with a retainer (to hide the piercing). He also informed me that the jewelry for this piercing was too big for my nostrils to conceal when I asked him about just flipping the jewelry up into my nose to hide while I'm at work.
So that was that. I respected Mr. Piercer's advice and went with my second choice piercing (10g navel)-which was a relief to my boyfriend.
However, the itch had already been scratched. I couldn't stop thinking about this piercing. I continued to look at photos and stories.
Then today comes along. I'd just gotten my weekly paycheck. My boyfriend was at work. I was all alone and bored. I had an appointment for a tattoo that afternoon at my "usual" place and decided to leave early to get coffee.
As you probably predicted, I made a little detour to a piercing place I have only looked around ONCE. I pretended I was just browsing, but when Scott, the piercer "on duty" asked me if I needed something, I blurted out that I was going to get a septum piercing and just wanted to know if he had any retainers. Scott said he didn't have retainers for septums, but if I needed to conceal it I could pick a smaller diameter horseshoe or CBR and I could just flip it up into my nose. I quizzed him about the size of my nostrils and if it would be a problem for concealing the jewelry.
Scott held up a tiny horseshoe with chrome-blue colored balls at the ends and said that he didn't see why there would be a problem flipping this size of jewelry up. So I made sure it was at least a 14 gauge and filled out paperwork while Scott set up his supplies in the back of the shop.
I felt really nervous. I usually do before any piercings but it wears off after the needle goes in. But this time I was more scared nervous, it just felt weird to march in there without having done more research and asking more questions.
When I lay back on the chair, Scott asked if I wanted to be pierced with the assistance of a receiving tube or with a clamp. I told him that it didn't matter as long as the piercing didn't come out crooked.
"Oh, this shit ain't gonna come out crooked. But you do know that this shit hurts right?" Scott asked me. Ahhhh, well, thanks. But, I don't care if it hurts as long as in the end, it looks good. I think I said that out loud. I hope I said that out loud. At least he's on notice that I expect a straight piercing. Anyway, who really wants a crooked piercing? That should have been obvious.
He cleaned my nostrils out with that dark blood brown Betadine stuff they use in the hospital. He warned me it wouldn't smell too good, but it didn't bother me.
Scott chooses to use the septum clamps for my nose, and they go on snug, so snug they're already uncomfortable. I can't even remember if he counted to three, but he told me to take a deep breath and he pulled the needle through.
Oh my god. Actually, what I said was "Oh my god, look at me crying over here" as the pain exploded through my whole head and my eyes involuntarily started gushing out tears.
Scott tried to empathize with me by telling me he knows how much it hurts and relating a little story about getting his septum pierced with a spike. And he had a huge white jewelry bone in his septum, stretching waaaayyy past his nostrils. Well, at least he was trying to console me instead of saying "I told you so".
As if I weren't having a hard enough time with the pain, he started to thread the jewelry through the new piercing and again, the explosion of pain. He asked me how I was feeling and I told him that it hurt so much I wish I could punch him out for doing this to me. He thought that was funny, I'm sure it was, it just didn't seem so at the time.
After regaining a little of my composure, I looked at my fresh piercing in the mirror. It actually looked really cute. I should have looked harder at the placement, but I was so ditsy I was too busy admiring how this piercing actually looked good on me instead of awkward like it looks on a few people.
I'm expecting Scott to go ahead and flip the jewelry up, but he's already explaining the aftercare procedures. He's pretty happy that I like the piercing after all the pain. I make sure he remembers that I need the jewelry flipped up but he says I can do it myself when I have to go to work.
My nose is stinging, but I feel good about getting it pierced. I drive to the mall and shop around. Since my piercing was a no-no with my boyfriend and even more so with my parents, I decide I'd better flip up the jewelry before I forget. I plan to keep it concealed as long as possible. If we moved back to Orange County where we used to live, the piercing wouldn't be a big deal to my boyfriend. But we're in a situation right now where I have to make nice-nice with my parents, and that means NO piercings or tattoos, even though I'm over 18. Of course, I have them, but my parents can't see them. Or don't really look at me that carefully.
So I try to unscrew the balls, but they're on pretty tight and I start to draw some blood. After few moments of struggling, I got the balls off and tried to flip the ring up. OUCH! It takes a while, but finally I get it up in my nose, and now, horror of horrors, the placement of the piercing is very noticeable.
On my left side, the jewelry is completely concealed. It's hidden so good, I felt around to make sure it was still there at all. But on my right side, you could see a good part of the jewelry. It's crooked, right?
But I'm too hungry, in pain, and have to go to my tattoo appointment. Nobody knows my septum is pierced. I desperately want to ask my regular piercer his opinion about the placement, and to also show him that I WAS able to flip the jewelry up my nose. But I was too embarrassed to admit that I went "over" him just to get what I wanted. Well, now I regret it 'cause I'm stressing about the way I'm pierced.
Fast forward a few hours later, I have eaten dinner with my boyfriend, had a long conversation with him, and he didn't notice anything new about me except my tattoo. I have cleaned my piercing with cotton balls soaked in a salt/water solution. I'm a little sad that I might have to take out the piercing and have it done again if the swelling in my nose goes down and the jewelry is still crooked. But that's what I get for rushing things and going to the piercer unprepared. It's fun to be spontaneous, but not fun to be stupid.