Unfortunately when you're only 16 and living at home with your parents under strict piercing rules, there isn't a hell of a lot that you can do about it. Ever since I had battered them down to allowing me to pierce my tongue back in March, I had an insatiable craving to be under the needle again. Shortly after my 16th birthday, I brought up the idea of getting my septum pierced. I even pointed out that this time I had the money so they wouldn't have to pay for it. Of course, their first response was "Why would you want to look like a cow?" I explained to them how I could flip it up into my nose when I was around them so that they would never have to see it, but they still wouldn't cave.
At A Glance Author Jeri Contact patheticcube@gmail.com When It just happened Artist Matt Studio To The Point Location Abbotsford, B.C. Obviously, that didn't stop me. I brought up the idea to my friend Jess and she told me to wait until she had money so that we could get pierced together. Let me tell you, that was probably the longest two weeks in my entire life, the money I had stuffed away was burning a hole in my pocket without even being there! Anyways, she finally gets some money to get herself jabbed as well and off we go on an adventure to make our school-free Friday just that much better. When we got there, we discovered that Matt was doing a tattoo.. so we asked when we could come back. He said around three or four, but unfortunately we already had plans for then. We then stamped our names in for Saturday after his other tattooing session and stomped out of To the Point. Lesson one: make sure your piercer is free unless transportation isn't an issue. Because of our excitement and forgetfulness, we were then stuck downtown in the pouring rain for a good two hours with no where to go.
But that's besides the point. Saturday finally rolled around and I was practically dancing while I waited for three o'clock to roll around. Jess came up in the driveway and I skipped out the front door to get on our way. When we walked in for the second time we were ecstatic to see Matt lounging around, very unoccupied. I smacked down my money and signed away my soul while he prepared everything in the other room. Unfortunately, somewhat, the guy who was taking my money had had a not-so-nice experience with his own septum. He told me tales of forgetting it was there and experiencing grand amounts of pain because of it. Soon enough Matt rescued what was left of my nerves and called me back. Jess came with me to take some pictures and hear "the talk" since she had never been pierced by Matt and I'd never had anything facial. He gave us the walk through of what to expect, do's and do not's and all that jazz. He then had me lie down and started cleaning me up, shoving cotton balls doused in cleaning liquids into my nostrils and turning them around and around. Then came one of the most awkward moments of my life... Matt checking for the placement of my piercing. Have you ever had someone else's fingers up your nose? Even if you have, it's quite odd. Soon after this he cleaned up and put on another pair of gloves and brought over the lavender and some other oil to calm my nerves and such while showing me the breathing exercise we were going to use. By that time my nerves were pretty shaken up, but I knew that I wanted to go through with it. Standing over me, Matt asked if I was ready and started counting to four. Even though I was expecting it, the actual piercing was.. well, nothing. Even while Matt brought out the ring and such there wasn't as much as a dull throb. Before I knew it I was being told to hop off and take a look. Before I could even see myself I was greeted with a wonderful "You look like a cow!" from my oh-so-best buddy. I checked the placement in the mirror and turned my head this way and that with a "\Ãw"ë big grin on my face. Walking out to the lounge there were a few people arriving and ooh-ing at my new septum. I bought myself some saline solution for cleaning the bugger and went back to watch my friend get jabbed.
I think I'll leave that experience to her, though. Soon after we were both pierced, we tipped Matt and nearly skipped up to 7-11 for a slushie. Unfortunately about an hour later I had to go home, though luckily the first cleaning and flipping-up of my ring wasn't difficult at all.
I would definitely recommend this piercing to anyone who does as much as considers it. Unless you forget about it and start smacking yourself in the face it's relatively painless and easy to take care of. Thanks for reading, and happy piercing!