My obsession with septum piercings had been around for a long time, back when I was young I used to love the look of "freaky" people who had a "bullring". They just looked so cool and not TOO many people have them, they aren't nearly as common as tongue piercings for example, although they are becoming more mainstream.
At A Glance Author Jordan Contact jordanc_17@hotmail.com When Three months ago Artist Jenna Studio Instincts Location Kamloops, B.C. Canada This was my fourth piercing, I had my tongue, nipple, and ears stretched to around 2 gauge when I got my septum pierced.
So this all happened in march of 2004, I told my girlfriend at the time about how I was thinking of getting it done and of course as almost ALL girlfriends do, she politely told me no. She told me that it would look gross and she didn't think I should get it done, later that day I phoned in to make sure the shop was going to be open on the day, the day came around and I got into the shop right before it closed. The piercing was done by the woman who has done all my piercings that I haven't done myself, including my prince albert.
So my girlfriend came into the back with me, while my sister waited in the front as we were going to see a movie that night and I might add that my sister didn't like the idea of a bullring either. In the back I was told about the aftercare and how long it should take to heal and all that stuff that I have heard a million times. So the piercing was done at 16 gauge and it hurt a fair amount and made my eyes water quite heavily.
2 weeks later, I stretched it to 14 gauge with a ring. The ring was kept in for around a month and a half, enough time to sort of heal, while it was still very tender. The came the inside of a pen, which is almost EXACTLY 8 gauge, I used wraps of tape on my retainer till I could fit the almost 8 gauge clear tunnel. That lasted a couple days when I started wrapping tape around it until I got it big enough to fit an actual 8 gauge tunnel in.
That tunnel lasted a week till it calmed down a little bit, even though it still hurt very bad and whenever it got bumped my eyes would well up. Then one night I was talking to my little brother on the phone, we were talking about piercings and what we wanted to get done in the future, I told him that all this talk made me wanna pierce or stretch something! So while I talked to him on the phone I slowly pushed a 4 gauge taper through, not good to skip gauges, and not good to stretch un-healed piercings, I KNOW I KNOW. But I figured if I stretched it too fast and it wouldn't shrink back down it was a well hidden hole. So as I put the taper through my eyes watered a lot and my nose started to run even though I didn't have a cold!
So after the tape I fit a straw through which was exactly 4 gauge, thank god for the household items that are perfect gauge sizes. the straw lasted a while until it got stinky, then I bought an acrylic plug from the local dollar store for a cheap $5, not very good quality but better than a straw. That lasted a long time until that started to smell, then I decided this was my final gauge so I should buy some quality jewelry, so I bought a glass tunnel from instincts for $30, kind of expensive but worth it since my septum no longer smells.
So I went from fresh 16 gauge to 4 gauge in less than 3 months, not really a good idea, but I've been at 4 gauge for around 4 months and haven't had a single problem. Although it is generally much less painful to get a piercer to stretch your piercings, I'm learning a lot about my body and my limits, as I have done 4 of my piercings and have stretched a couple other on my own. I do not recommend any of these procedures I have explained, and the reason I do lots of my mods is because there is no piercer where I live and it hardly seems worth it to make a 45 minutes drive to get a plug put in when i can do it myself, but if you have a piercer in your community go there, as you will most likely end up with a much cleaner and less crooked piercing. Good luck to everyone, and keep safely putting holes in yourself, in less than dangerous spots, let's keep these mods safe and looking good.