In September 2004, after seeing how happy a septum piercing made my boyfriend, I decided to get one too. I went to his piercist, Tony. This would be my first professional piercing besides getting my ears ripped to shreds by a piercing gun when I was nine. We went over to his studio and I started mentally preparing myself. My boyfriend had told me how much stretching his septum hurt, so I was thinking getting it pierced would hurt really, really bad.
At A Glance Author NiteLite Contact NiteLite@hellokitty.com IAM NiteLite When A year ago Artist Tony Studio house Location Asheville, NC Tony started talking to me about what he was going to do. He put his fingers up my nose to feel my sweet spot. He said I had a very nice sweet spot, and I should have gotten my septum pierced a lot sooner. He told me it wouldn't hurt as much as getting my nipples pierced, so I shouldn't worry. He talked to me about cleaning it regularly by soaking it in sea salt with a couple cotton balls. I prefer a more natural way to heal my piercing, and he said sea salt would be the best option. He told me to wait at least a month before I even thought about changing the jewelry. He reminded me that a septum is probably the least painful piercing to pierce, but the most painful to stretch. His septum was up to at least four gauge, so he definitely knew what he was talking about. He had to take out his jewelry to blow his nose. I thought it was cute, but he said it was annoying. He warned me about getting sick. It can be one of the worst things that happen to a fresh septum piercing. It had happened to my boyfriend the year before. Two weeks after getting jabbed with the needle he caught a cold. He had been miserable, so I was determined not to get sick in the next month.
Everything he used that day was sterilized and he changed his gloves like a mad man every time he touched something that wasn't 110 percent sterile. The needle and jewelry were in their own separate little happy packages. I felt completely comfortable at his mercy. The jewelry was a nice 14 gauge CBR but I had decided to wear it without the bead. I like septum jewelry being open at the bottom, like pincers. He gave me the bead anyway and I stashed it in my pocket.
Now it was time to bleed. He put his freshly gloved fingers up my nose again and got the needle in the position. After assuring him I was ready I let out my breath completely and closed my eyes. The needle slid through in one quick motion. I opened my eyes and asked him if it was all the way through. I didn't feel anything but a little pinch and I didn't believe him that it went in that painlessly. He picked up the ring and it followed the needle through the new hole in my nose. I picked up my hand and poked the tip of my nose. Tony told me that it wouldn't hurt much at all until tomorrow. And damn, was he right.
The next day my nose was slightly swollen and it hurt to move the jewelry to try to clean it. I carefully shoved two sea salt-water soaked cotton balls up my nose twice a day. The warmth felt very nice and I think it helped the swelling go down just a little. I never did get crusties on the sides of my piercing and I didn't get sick for a while after getting pierced. Since the gauge of my jewelry in my nose is still so small I don't have a problem with my piercing smelling. Tony said that the weird funk that a piercing can get that kind of smells like bellybutton will happen to your nose too, but you won't notice it until the gauge of the jewelry is much larger. My friend calls it septum cheese.
My septum healed up very nicely and a little while ago I stretched it to 12 gauge. Not that big of a stretch, but it still hurt a lot. I'm waiting to put a pincer in it until I'm up to 10 gauge because 12 gauge pincers just look stupid. A few months ago I found out that Tony had recently killed himself. I still don't know why, I don't think anyone does but Tony. I miss him like hell and wish I could have done something to keep him around. He was a great friend and an even better piercist. I almost feel like I'm turning my back on him by finding another piercist to do work on me. I'll never forget him, and I'll always have the last gift he gave me.