At A Glance
Author	strawberry
Contact	strawberry@bme.anon
IAM	strawberry
When	A week ago
Artist	Myself
Studio	Il Negozino
Location	Siena

Preface

I'm rather erratic when it comes to keeping my mods. I like getting new piercing and removing old ones and it allows me to experiment without getting too much metal on my body -not that I'd complain, mind you, but the need of a job and the importance of keeping my parents and boyfriend quiet are often stronger than my urge to get pierced. Over the past few years I've got pierced about 30 times, but retired most of the stuff. I tend not to be too emotional when retiring a piercing, because I know I can always have it done again, and usually get a new one quite soon after having retired the old. With my septum it was different. I lost it on an especially bad day. I had put a retainer in because I had a job interview. It stayed there safely for a couple of days, then I found myself crying for some reasons which I can't remember now, and when the crying fit stopped I found myself sans retainer and, worse still, it was a Saturday night and shops were closed. I made a mental note of getting some stud on Monday, but ended up forgetting and putting at the back of my mind. Maybe, I thought, it's meant to go away. And I let the hole close, not touching it for a couple of years. It had been in for only 9 months, but it had been my favourite piercing ever.

After a long and difficult summer I decided to have my septum repiereced. I toyed with the idea, but never found the courage. After all, it had also been the most painful piercing ever, far worse than anything else I'd ever had. Even getting my tongue split open had felt better. One morning I found myself on the piercing chair at my local piercing studio, where my boss Manu was testing new "septum positions". While I was sitting there, my head bent, full light on my face and my nose facing the ceiling, I asked her is she could still see my septum scar. She said that she could see very little, but that if I wanted, she could try to re-open it with a taper. I agreed. It was an almost painless process, a second and the steel taper was in immediately. I put in a 14 ga banana and was happy and content to have my lovely piercing back. As if.

New sensations

I enjoyed having my septum back for a while. I had different studs, rings and bananas, I took some funny pictures and made the most out of it. The one day last week, about one month after having re-opened it, I got a new bug. I wanted to stretch it. I never thought I'd want to get a bigger septum at first. Even when I first got it, I didn't really contemplate the idea of stretching it, partly because I hadn't developed a taste for larger gauge piercings, and partly because I thought it would have hurt like hell. But now I really, really wanted to give my hole a new meaning.
I have been inspired by a very important person for this new mod, someone so special and so wild, who's given me the courage to get through the hardest time of my life. If she could go for it, then so could I. After all, imitation is the highest form of adoration, too.
One morning, I was on duty at the piercing studio. Manu, the piercer, was not there. It was a very rainy and cold day, and no customer seemed to be coming in for ages. Ann, the other girl at the counter, was having her midmorning fag, while I was deciding what to do. I told her I was going to the piercing room for a while and she said, give me a shout if you need anything, as if she could feel I was up for something. So I locked myself in there, opened the taper box, got my gloves on, and started measuring the tapers to find which one I should have got first. Armed with vaseline, I inserted a 12 ga taper in my septum, which went in surprisingly easily. There was little pressure and little to no pain, just a mild burning sensation.
I was thrilled. Thrilled is not enough though. For some reason, I didn't think that 12 ga was good. Part of me had anticipated pain of some sort, and was disappointed.
Maybe I should go up to 8 ga, I screamed to Ann, who was on the other room, having probably another fag. I could only hear a noise of disgust. Even if she works in a piercing studio, she's not too keen on piercings herself - you do strange things when you need the money, but she's nice and helpful nonetheless.
I oiled the taper that was supposed to get me to 10 ga, and pushed it in. It simply didn't go. I guess I didn't push hard or fast enough, but it didn't really give any sign of going in. At that point, I decided to do it differently : I pushed it really hard and it went in, eventually. That was a bitch. The actual septum piercing had been painful but this stretching thing was a bitch. I could almost feel tears in my eyes, and my nose felt tender and sore. But I was very happy, coz the taper was in. The worst had yet to come.
The fool of me, I had forgotten to get some appropriate jewelry. That resulted in me having to get out of the piercing room, the taper still in, in some sort of primitive fashion, my nose all red and my gloves still on, smearing vaseline all over the windows, trying to find a ring that would fit. I only found a large bar with immense, 6 mm balls. It was not very nice and the balls almost closed my nostrils, but it was sterile, it was surgically steel and, more to the point, it was the only 10 ga thing I could get hold of.
Back in the piercing room, I removed the taper and tried to insert the bar: problem is, the bar wouldn't go. I should have inserted it using the taper as a guide, but I just couldn't be bothered. It resulted in me pushing harder and harder again my swollen septum until the bar eventually went through. I screwed the enormous ball on and looked at myself. I looked tearful and my nose was of a nice magenta color, but I had done it. The balls were very, very big and looked a bit odd, but it was a minor problem. What mattered to me what that I had my new, beautiful, bold big septum.

One week later

I've had my bigger septum for about one week now. I have kept it clean with sea salt soaks and nursed it with some mild antibiotic cream. I did this as a precaution, because the area was very red and sore, and I didn't want to risk having any problem with it. After the first couple of days, it's stopped being so tender and I have been able to change the jewelry to a circular bar that Manu ordered for me. It looks and feels a great deal better now, and I can breathe properly - 6mm balls don't allow much breathing space really, and please don't laugh, because it's true!
I'm only just got started, though. I want to stretch my septum further and go to 7/8" eventually. I know it will take time, possibly more than one year, but I'm determined. First thing, I have ordered some good jewelry so that I don't have to risk getting oversized balls again, second, I want to be patient this time, and go, say, half a mm at a time. I'm also aware that it's going to hurt more, and the bigger the septum, the more it's going to hurt, but I'm not scared because I know which kind of pain I have to expect. But I just know I will make it in the end.

Afterword

I hope you're not laughing at me now, for calling my 8 ga septum, "bigger septum" and submitting this experience to the bigger septums section. For e, this has been a major experience which I enjoyed very much. Also, it's been a "huge" stretch, if you consider that you should go much more slowly. I'm not saying how good I have been, and I advice everyone willing to stretch to take their time and allow the hole to rest for a few weeks between stretching sessions. Aftercare is also important, even if there's very little or no blood involved, because a fresh stretched area is vulnerable to infections, too and this shouldn't be underestimated.
So, to everyone who considers stretching their septum, I say, go for it and have a great time. It's a very intense and powerful mod.
Happy stretch and watch this space for "bigger" news!