I had been thinking about piercing my septum for a long time, almost a year. I read up on it as much as I could, but I was still a little scared of the pain it might entail. Everywhere I read emphasized that it would hurt because there are so many nerves bundled up in the septum. And I also read a lot of accounts of crooked piercings because of the difficult location. But when summer came, I decided to just do it because the piercing shops in Pacific Beach are (most of them) very experienced and professional and I'd trusted them to my ears, nostril, and lips before without any qualms. I had been planning on doing my septum after my trip to Hawaii however, but somehow when I was shopping one day with a couple roomates, I just decided to do it.
At A Glance Author cracky Contact cracky@bme.anon When A month ago Studio enigma Location pacific beach, ca Okay, I am completely blanking on my piercing artist's name, but what I do remember is that he's half Native American and half white, because my extremely curious roomate just had to ask. So basically, I can only say that I recommend the Native American/white guy at Enigma, but he did a really good job despite my inability to remember his name or where I put his card. PB has a lot of piercing and tattoo shops along Garnet, but before you hit that strip of bars and shops, on a little residential corner, is Enigma, looking just like a regular house except with a big sign that says it's a piercing shop. It's a small place, but I like that and how it's away from the crowds.
I told the artist how I was concerned about taking my new piercing to Hawaii and swimming with it, but he said it shouldn't be a big problem, since it's up my nose and not too vulnerable and exposed to the water. I picked out a 14g internally threaded circular barbell and sat down. He cleaned my nose with q-tips and when I said it was pretty weird, he told me I had a pretty clean nose. And I did, the q-tips weren't gross at all. So if you're shy, make sure you pick your nose before you go, so no one will see your boogers.
Then he disinfected me with some alcohol which made me want to sneeze, and felt my septum to find that certain spot of really thin flesh above the cartilage. After he found it, he had me lie down with my head dangling a little over the edge of the examining chair thing and shined a light so he could mark the spot on both sides. He took his time on this part, which I didn't mind because I wanted it to be perfect and straight. Then he set the needle to flesh and had me breathe in and when I breathed out, he pushed it through. This whole time I was concentrating really hard on being relaxed because I've been tense for some piercings and relaxed for others and I know the difference my body makes in pain registry. It must have been the combination of how relaxed I was and how well he positioned the needle, because it hardly hurt at all. I barely even felt it. But it hurt when he was trying to push the jewelry through and when I started saying , "Ow," he stopped and unscrewed the bead. I had no idea that it was going to go through with the bead still on or even if that's normal, but he said that it is and that it wasn't working for me because my cartilage was too thick or something.
Once everything was done I looked in the mirror. I was really scared because it was a little crooked, and even when I tried to straighten it, it was still crooked. He said to wait it out so I said okay and trusted him. I paid the man, thanked him, and tipped him five and went out the door with an aftercare sheet and 2 little baggies of sea salt that I actually ended up never using. I didn't do a single thing for my septum ring except swim in the ocean and I kept forgetting it was there and banging it with a towel, and only then was it sore. And now, it's straightened out and hanging beautifully, except some days it kinda tickles my upper lip. But all in all, this was the best piercing experience I've ever had, with the least pain. And I'm glad I went with the no aftercare route, because I've heard of other people doing nothing for their new holes successfully and soaking my nose in saline every day was going to be a pain. I just kept it clean, didn't touch it, and everything was fine.