Piercings are a funny sort of thing to me. They hold a specific sort of strength over the "graphic" body mods (tattoos, scarification, cutting, anything that is an image put onto the body). Instead of dealing with an interface between image and body, piercings mark out a single body part. A piercing is peculiar because the result it is literally nothing, just a hole in flesh. Unlike a tattoo, which exists on a sheet of paper before skin, a piercing is nothing without the body, and has no pre-existence. It is the specificity to a body part, this forced consideration to placement, that implies an intrinsic meaning and purpose.
At A Glance Author Lois Contact Lois@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Gina Studio Venus Modern Body Arts Location New York City - Lower East Side The awareness that a piercing automatically talks about the body brings up the question- what does this point on the body mean? Writing an experience about my septum piercing is a meditation on the meaning of my nose. That might sound a bit strange, but I have been walking around for three months now with my septum adorned, given a consciously exalted status. Of course, I wasn't always aware of my nose in this way.
I work in ceramics, and anyone who spends 10-hour days in a ceramics lab will start paying much more attention to their nose, as the amount of dust created in a university studio takes an undeniable toll on inner-nostril health. So my awareness of my septum even existing stated through continually blowing my nose and needing to worry about covering it with a dust mask while working. Not a very metaphorically meaningful realization (though what is more meaningful than health?), but nevertheless I gradually became aware of that location on my body.
Once I gained awareness of my septum, I couldn't stop playing with it! Noses are beautifully awkward things, and very easy to feel self-conscious about. Unlike other facial parts (like eyes), noses perhaps have the least amount of meaning without the context of the entire face. Since my teens I have had an ambiguous relationship with my nose. I was half-convinced my nose was crooked, but thinking about my nose as faulted implied that my entire face was deficient, since I couldn't conceptualize my nose without my face.
Like many other accounts I have read on BME, the idea to get my septum pierced came like lightning and with impatience. Just having the thought meant the decision had been made. Playing with my septum (and consequently looking like I was picking my nose) had reached a zenith. After accumulating a bulk of information about septum piercings, I took off to Venus Modern Body Arts with my boyfriend to get the piercing done.
Venus is very nice and clean, with a knowledgeable staff that has very little "shop attitude". I have had other piercings done there, each by a different staff member, and all have been good experiences. I think it is imperative that you feel comfortable in the place you get pierced, as the experience seems to absorb into the flesh. I am not very outgoing, and I need to trust the place I go, because even if I saw bad procedure I don't know if I would have the gall to speak up about it.
I had a custom 14k gold retainer made up for the piercing, and the man at the counter had me take a look at it to approve. The retainer was what I wanted, but like most body jewelry outside of placement in the body, the retainer looked so small and meaningless (a brief aside- how is it that earrings for lobe piercings often look so self-important where my septum jewelry doesn't? It certainly isn't the quality or the size of the jewelry. I don't have an answer to this question yet, but I suspect it lies in the intention of the jewelry- the retainer for my septum is intended to fill a hole in me, where fancy earrings are intended to do something else, some other function outside of marking my body. Again, I haven't thought enough about this yet to have an answer). While I was absorbed in these thoughts, Gina, a very energetic woman, introduced herself and led me to one of the closed-off back rooms for the procedure.
Everything is very sterile at Venus, and my jewelry was sterilized in a solution after I inspected it and contemplated its meaninglessness. Gina was very upbeat and humored me as I started to get nervous about the piercing procedure itself. She explained what she was going to do and then inspected my septum with a loud:
"Oh my God! You're Deviated!"
My septum is in fact, deviated. I had a moment of letdown as I thought that this meant I couldn't have the piercing done, but Gina assured me she was a deviated septum specialist. My boyfriend took a look and gave me a "yep, it's pretty deviated up there" look, and Gina started marking the placement.
She was a pro. It took her at least 5 minutes of adjusting the marks to make sure that the piercing would be straight on my crooked septum. She even had me talk to see how much my septum would wiggle around, as deviated septums can mean more movement than straight ones, and announced she was going to be able to pierce it perfectly. I asked to be pierced lying down, as I have a history of passing out because of needles, and Gina obliged. The clamps went on after many changes of gloves, a new 12-gauge needle was opened, and the needle was pushed through my septum.
I don't give the pain of piercings a thought until about 3 minutes before it is about to happen. In the light of how permanent the decision I am making is, the half-second of discomfort needed to go through with it seems so meaningless. However, I am not the worlds bravest or strongest woman, so when people ask: "did that hurt", I reply: " a bit". Really, it's not that bad. I always yelp during piercings, but this time I did a "GRREEEEAAAUUUNNN" sort of noise and my eyes watered. With the needle through, Gina had me sit up. I asked to see the needle in the mirror before she put the jewelry in to squelch my fears that emphasizing my nose had made my entire face look worse. It looked great! And it felt great! The retainer went in like a breeze, and I tipped Gina well and was on my way to Hummus Place a few streets over.
Healing was a no-brainer. After about a day I flipped the retainer up and kept it that way for most of the healing process to prevent me from bumping or playing with the jewelry. My nose was sore for a few days, but not red, and after about 2 months I stretched up to a 10-gauge ring. During healing I took a few hard bumps to the nose, and I certainly felt my septum complain about it, but I didn't have any real difficulties. For aftercare I pretty much only did sea salt soaks and cleaned the lymph with a Q-tip after my morning shower. Most sources I looked up pre-piercing said healing is complete after 6-8 weeks, and I would say that this is a reasonable expectation.
Back to my original question: Why this body part? What does it all mean? I am still trying to decode whatever potential metaphorical meaning my piercings - including my septum - have. I would brush it off as "I just wanted it after getting so much dust up my nose" but that seems so weak compared to the amount of consciousness the piercing took. I feel like my septum piercing makes me stronger willed, though not because of the process. The procedure of getting the piercing was not the point, having it is. This wasn't a testing of will power or a coming of age; but a specific need to adorn my nose, and while I do not have the answers yet, I am certain it must mean something.
I will save you the trouble of looking up the places I mentioned. Both are in Manhattan on the Lower East Side.
Venus Modern Body Arts: 199 E. Fourth St. (212) 473-1954
Hummus Place: 109 Saint Marks Pl. Btwn 1st Ave & Ave A