If you went back in time 3 years and told old me that I'd have 10 piercings I'd have thought you were crazy. I've always had an interest in body modifications, but didn't think they were for me for a long time. Now I have 4g lobes, 18g lobes, rook, normal upper cartilage, navel, nipples and now my septum.
At A Glance Author Kelly-Ann Contact bad_luck_13_@hotmail.com When N/A Artist Alicia Studio Lucky Devil Location London, Ontario I was ready to get my septum pierced but I needed to find somewhere that did them with retainers. After calling 2 places and being told they don't carry retainers I called Lucky Devil tattoo and piercing. I'd been there with my friend when she got her tongue pierced so I knew it was a nice, clean and friendly place. They did have retainers said the woman on the phone and she asked when I wanted to come in. She said that she was more experienced with septum piercings than the other piercer and I told her I'd be in on Tuesday after 4pm.
The big day arrives and I head downtown for 4pm. Gee, do I ever get nervous about piercings. About 20 times on the walk to Lucky Devil I was tempted to just run away. I get in and say hello and tell the person at the desk what I'm there for. They get Alicia and have me fill out some paper work. The back side of the paper has questions like 'are you afraid of needles?' (I'm afraid of medical needles more than piercing ones), 'do you have a metal allergy?', 'have you had anything to eat in the last 5 hours?'. I like that they have those questions because it shows they want wants best for me. Alicia and I head to the back room and she starts setting up while we talk about this and that. I sit down on a chair that you can push the back down on.
She marks my nose and asks if that's good. I say it is. Clamps on. ow. I was shaking a little. Alicia explains that septum piercings can be hard to get straight and if it isn't perfect she'll re-pierce it again and if it's still not perfect she'll have me come back in a week or two to get it redone for free.
'Breath in....breath out...breath in...breath out' she calmly says. Needle through! It is the most interesting feeling ever! You feel the needle through the skin, cartilage then skin. It's the first time I heard the little crunch with a piercing. She put the jewelry in and I didn't feel that. I think it looks good and we talk a bit more and I leave.
When I get home I notice that it's crooked. The right side is closer to the outside of my nose. I stared at my nose a whole lot the next two days. Turns out one of my nostrils is bigger than the other one. After 2 days I call Alicia back up and say that the piercing is crooked. She tells me to take it out, keep on cleaning it and call her in a week or 2 to schedule getting it redone.
Easier said than done. Trying to remove the retainer was more painful than the actual piercing because of how long it took me. I got dizzy it was so painful.
The 2 weeks are up and I'm back in super nervous state. I get there and after Alicia auto-claves the retainer we get going. I re-fill out the papers so they have record that I got it redone. We head to the back room again and she sets up again. a big friendly guy that knows everyone in the shop asks if he can watch me get pierced. I say sure because he is nice and makes me a bit less nervous.
She looks at my cartilage piercing and says there is a bit of a keloid there :( It's cool that she mentioned that and how to fix it because she knows I got all my other piercings done somewhere else and she still was concerned about how my piercings were healing.
Deja view: in chair, clamps, ow! But not as bad as the first time. The first time I asked for the piercing to be a bit lower down and this time I had it at the normal higher placement. I felt the jewelry go in this time though. This time it looks even better, although harder to see since its high up. We chat a bit more and I leave so happy.
I wanted to hug my face all evening. I love getting new piercings, I love the 'high' that comes from it. I was smiling as I walked down the street just knowing that I have a facial piercing and no one knows it but me.
I've blabbed enough. Here are the important bits:
1- It doesn't hurt as much as everyone says (and I have low pain tolerance-I cried for 45 minutes when I broke a toe)
2- Sleeping is no problem and I move around a lot in my sleeping
3-when you eat apples or drink from a can you hit your nose. That hurts a bit. Straws are good.
4- Go somewhere that will re-pierce it if it's not even since it's a hard piercing to get perfect.
5- It's the day after and my face still hurts a little but not a lot.
6-it was less painful than my nipple piercings
7- All you people who've had braces: you know when they tighten the braces? My face feels a little like that. But not so bad :)
So what are you waiting for? Go get your septum pierced! Now! It's awesome and you'll love it.