Septum piercings have intrigued me ever since I became fascinated with the body modification community at the age of about 12 or so. I remember the first time I saw a gauged septum was when I was about 15. One of the street kids in my town had a 00g bone septum hook and I was shocked to say the least. I could not believe that people where even able to stretch their cartilage that far! Now that I am older I realize there is almost no limit to what you can do in body modification – especially if you start getting creative. I knew then that I had to get my septum pierced at some point in my life.
At A Glance Author Jay McColm Contact chimeshadow@hotmail.com When A month ago Artist Megan Bussart Studio Camden Chameleon Location Bellingham, WA When I was 16 I began to consider getting a 14g ring in my septum. I found great difficulty in figuring out how I would accomplish this because I worked at a job that allowed no facial piercings and my parents were not in support of my choices to get pierced. I had used a fake ID to get my eyebrow, tongue, and ears pierced/stretched underage but it landed me in a lot of trouble with the parental units. Since I already had to take out my eyebrow ring for work, I decided the septum would have to wait until another time (I didn't realize you could flip it up under your nose).
About three months ago I finally made the decision to get it done since my working and living situation allowed me more flexibility with my appearance. After talking to a local piercer in Bellingham, WA I made the appointment. She first felt my septum with her fingers to see where it should be placed. I was informed that I had a really hard septum and a sort of short nose so I might not be able to flip it up and it was going to hurt like hell. I have always enjoyed the piercing process, though, and the pain along with so I said what the hell and went for it. The piercer wasn't the best and took very little time for set up. All she really did was clean me up, try to make sure the needle would go through straight, and then put on the clamps (not even septum clamps). The needle went through, hurt like hell, and then came the externally threaded jewelry. It was bad news altogether. The ring was crooked, I couldn't flip it up, the placement was too low, and even the jewelry wasn't symmetrical. I didn't notice all this at the time so I paid my fee and left.
Within a few weeks I went to a different shop to have them take a look at it and get a second opinion. Megan, the piercer, was APP certified and definitely new what she was talking about. She told me pretty much everything I mentioned above about what was wrong with it and said I should take it out and get it repierced in a better spot. She also mentioned that when pierced correctly, the septum is a painless piercing. Megan told me that in everybody's septum there is a spot towards the front of the nose where there is extremely soft tissue that the needle passes through painlessly and with great ease. This was a relief after the last piercer told me that she actually had to put a lot of muscle into getting the needle through me.
I made an appointment with Megan for later that day (since I was getting pierced in a different spot in my nose healing time was necessary for the old hole). After she set up the needle and all the antiseptic and such, she had me lie down on my back so that I was in a good position to get poked. She probably spent a good five minutes finding the "sweet spot" in my septum (Megan informed me of what she was doing throughout this entire experience). She started feeling around for it with these plastic Q-tip type things, holding one each side of my septum and pressing them against my skin. After she found the spot, she then took one Q-tip out and practiced the motion of bringing it from the outside of my nose to the inside to make sure that when she had the needle she would know where to go. She then took away the Q-tips and held the receiving tube on one side of my nose and the back end of the needle on the other side, once again making sure she had the right spot. After she flipped the needle around, she had me take a deep breath and told me to breathe out. The needle passed through with no pain just like she told me. She inserted a taper after the needle (the same size as the needle though), and finally the jewelry.
The whole experience was absolutely wonderful. It was actually quite a surreal sensation. Having a needle pass through my skin with no pain but still feeling the cold metal slide through was incredible. After we went over care instructions I left the shop with a big smile on my face. After having my eyebrow, ears, lip, labret, tongue, and conch pierced, this was the best piercing experience I have ever had and the smoothest by far. My greatest thanks and appreciation go out to Megan at Camden Chameleon in Bellingham, WA.
I recommend to anyone who wants this piercing to go for it but do your research and find a good APP member! Happy poking!!