My name's Alex and I guess to most people I'm quite mainstream but have always felt a need to be different, right now I'm sitting at my PC in a main stream velour tracksuit, messy hair and fake nails, noone would even guess I was any different from them unless they took the time to look up my nose.
At A Glance Author Alex Contact alex_grierson@hotmail.com When It just happened Artist Sean Strange Studio Steel Beauty Location East London I've always thought that the septum was a majorly ugly part of a body, it was pointless, OK so it separated your nose into two parts, big deal???! My nose is not one of the most attractive in the world, actually far from. I'm mixed race so, yes I inherited my dad's rather large nose, ever since I was young I had been bullied for the size of my nose and I've always been self conscious about it.
There's a guy who used to get on my train on my way to school in the mornings, he was an original punk, the green mohican, patchy jeans, tattooed arms and of course a septum ring, my friends and I used to think it was ridiculous then all of a sudden I changed, I loved it, I was now in that scene, no one was the same and I now felt the need to be different.
The main idea of a septum piercing was through a programme I watched a few months back, this guy followed tribes around for a couple of months and lived their lifestyle, one particular tribe in Papua New Guinea had a complete array of piercings and one of them was their septum and at the end of his stay, they pierced his, using a thorn and a twig, when I saw my mum squirming, I found myself saying "WOW!!" it was incredible, it brightened up his face and suddenly became beautiful, that was what I wanted done.
Fast-forward a few weeks....
I've just entered exam period so have some time on my hands, I work as a waitress and my tips have been particularly good lately so with money in my jar I started revising my options. On Friday night my mum got decidedly pissed and I told her I was going to get my septum pierced and she was fine with it. I had emailed Gemma Strange the week before, inquiring about prices and whether I could be pierced with a retainer due to my work and college, she told me it would be £25 and yes, it could be pierced with a keeper, I didn't make an appointment because they only make appointments for tattoos and I also didn't know when the best day to have it done would be.
With the exams over for the week and half term looming, I decided I had to get poked today (25/5/05) as it would give me time to adjust before work or school. I had been shopping and hopped straight on the bus with my friend who was also spur of the moment going to get her tragus pierced.
I walked into Steel Beauty and spoke to Gemma, who luckily remembered me and asked Sean if he had time to do a septum right now, Sean took one look at me and said "how many piercings do you have right now or have you had?" I reeled off my usual spiel and he replied "right so you're ok with pain, just to let you know this is the most painful of piercings I've ever seen done or done and I won't have it done to myself purely because of that", I was fine with that, at the end of the day, it's gonna be with me for as long as I want it and why shouldn't I put up with a bit of pain? I was told to go downstairs and my friend followed. Sean had me lie on the bed and told me a few horror stories, one was that his friend had it pierced and straight away had passed out on his face and smashed his nose and ended up with two black eyes, but I was determined to do this. While I was lying down, Sean put a keeper to my nose, his face said it all, it wasn't possible for me to have it done with a keeper my septum itself was just too wide, we looked at the possibilities of having it done with a ring but it just wouldn't be feasible to flip up, I was downhearted actually I was broken hearted and I think Sean knew that I really wanted this done, so he suggested a straight barbell, it wouldn't be as easy to hide but at least I'd have it done.
Sean did the piercing free hand, well what's the point of marking out a place that you cannot see? He felt around for my sweet spot and started twisting and feeling places inside my nostril with clamps, boy, I won't lie this hurt....a lot!! The needle was a slow process and unusually I felt every...single...layer of skin, and it got more intense towards the middle of my septum, my friend by the point could not watch and the jewellery was then plugged in and this really really hurt it felt like my nostril hair was being plucked out because all I felt was tight pinching. I have a 1.6mm bar in at the mo which I think is about a 14gauge, Sean said that I could stretch a bit bigger if I wanted to later, but I don't quite think I'm ready for that! As I stood up Sean was like "are you OK do you want to sit down are you going to faint?" HELL NO!! I was beaming from ear to ear, I was ecstatic, the pain was extremely minimal and I could barely see it, as I walked up the stairs after my friend had her tragus pierced I was just beaming, the adrenaline kicked in and hadn't died yet.
Don't get me wrong the procedure hurt a lot but I was put at ease, everyone in Steel Beauty is so friendly and made everything so nice for my experience, I think secretly they know I'm hardcore! In my area you do not see many people with this particular piercing unless they are true rockers and although I may not wear the clothes, I am a rocker and always will be, I'm unique and this is me, metal boogers and all.
Two rude boys in the waiting room took one look at my nose and were like "eerr das nasstttyy" but like I told my mum after she'd sent me a text consisting solely of "why? Why? Why?", it was done for me, nobody else, I broke the boundaries, I am different....I AM HARDCORE!!
I woke up this morning expecting to have streams of puss in my nostrils, but to no avail, there is nothing, even when I cleaned it with salt water and cotton buds, nothing! Let's hope the healing goes well!