Oh god, where to start,
At A Glance Author kittybastard Contact kittybastard@bme.anon When A week ago Artist forgot to ask his name but he was lovely Studio celestial ring, abbey street Location Dublin, Ireland I've been enthralled by septum piercings since I was little, flicking through pages of National Geographic that my parents had bought me and being fascinated with the piercing at first, then when I was older, I was amazed by the rights of passage that exist in other cultures, but that my culture is sadly lacking.
Anyway, when I first saw septums with ball closure rings and circular barbells, to be honest, I thought they were a bit big and bulky and never considered getting one (I didn't like them at all) but then, when wandering through BME as I do so often these days, I saw and fell in love with the septum piercing, I saw a pic of a pretty girl with a septum pierced with a slightly curved barbell in it. It was beautiful, it wasn't making itself known, it was just there a subtle hint of metal. I wanted it. I began to count down the days until I turned 17 and would be able to get it in a respectable piercing studio.
However, I hit my first problem when I realised I wouldn't be able to hide my piercing in school. My school is fairly strict and my septum is lower than my nostrils, I was screwed. I gave up on it, but I wanted it soooooo bad. I began to post on every piercing forum I know searching for people who have noses similar to mine who have it pierced and can hide it, but to no avail. Then I struck gold in BME when in the Q&A section's infinite wisdom, I was reminded of the existence of blackened niobium retainers. I was saved.
I planned my trip to the city to get it done; I photocopied my passport and stuck it in the book I was reading at the time for safekeeping.
On arriving in Dublin, I realised that I had brought the wrong book; therefore, I didn't have ID. I went to to Celestial Ring to see what the story was when i found a membership card that had a photo and my details, i was begining to think that my septum piercing wasnt meant to be, but when i described my predicament to the piercer he replied confidently that he could make it ignorable.
After filling out the forms, he brought me back to the piercing room and laid out all his instruments (needle, clamps jewellery) unwrapping them and taking them from their sterile packages and placing them on a tray beside us. I was nervous at this stage for two reasons, 1. I had heard a lot on BME in regards to the piercing being very painful and 2. I was wearing an orange shirt that I rather liked, and I knew that septums have a tendency to bleed, and returning home with a bloody shirt would lead to undesirable questioning from my parents. He replied that everyone who has had it either says its very painful or not at all so there's no way to know until its done, and that it will bleed a bit but not a lot, he also noted that my eyes will water due to messing about with the sinuses.
Happy with these answers, we proceeded with the piercing, he marked the spot and showed me, then he applied the clamps, I felt a bit of pressure but no pain, and then I felt the sharpness of the needle at my nose, he started to push, it stung a little bit and my eyes started to well up and I was giggling at it and I could feel him pause at the thick cartilage, then push through. I couldn't believe it, it wasn't that painful at all, and it hurt a lot less than my anti-helix or helixes. I just stared at the mirror when he was getting the jewellery ready and I couldn't believe that I had a big needle sticking out of my face, he put the jewellery in with no problems and instructed me on the aftercare. I paid and left, I was so happy and I couldn't help but glance at it every now and again when we passed reflective surfaces.
My parents didn't notice when I got home, and when I showed my mum, I had to tell her what she was looking at despite the fact that she was staring up my nose.
I had no problems in school, but after a few days it started to sting a bit more than It did before. When I got home from school I checked it out in the mirror, and my fears were confirmed, it was getting embedded in my nose. The jewellery was similar to a labret stud and the blunt end was getting embedded. I called into my local piercing studio after school the next day and he changed it to the staple shaped septum retainer. Within an hour it was feeling better.
Now I can walk around with it out, and still hide it when I needed to. Its great.
I love my septum piercing to bits, its easy to clean, it feels nice to press the bar against the cartilage in my nose(which really shouldnt be done but its one of my downfalls), and its painless. Is also just awkward enough to prevent me from playing with it(which I do way too much with myu piercings), firstly because its fairly high up my nose that it's too much effort to get in the habit of touching it, and secondly, you get a lot of funny looks if you walk around with your fingers in your nose.