The whole septum piercing thing came about a year ago, when I went to see about getting it done just after Christmas. I didn't get it done because Sarah, my fabulous piercer, didn't have the jewellery I wanted in the right size, so instead of having jewellery I didn't want, I had my lip pierced.
At A Glance Author Sophie Contact Sophie@bme.anon IAM MyDaydream When A month ago Artist Sarah Studio NPNG Location West Yorkshire The urge to get it pierced went away again through summer, but a couple of months ago I started playing with my nose *as you do* and decided that I needed to get my septum pierced. Although it was coming up to Christmas I had the money to spare, and I e-mailed my friend to see if she would come and lend me her moral support at the end of that week. She agreed, but eventually pulled out, leaving me supportless, but still as determined. So I thought I'd travel over to see Sarah the next day.
Well, I had a crappy day, but I kept smiling because nothing was going to stop me getting that piercing. And I casually mentioned it to my fantastic friend Danni and she asked if she could come along. I said she could, I had my support.
I put the piercing to the back of my mind as we travelled over to Shipley, I let Danni talk to me about whatever was going on with her at that time, just so I didn't get super nervous and back out.
I bounced through the door and knocked timidly on the door to Sarah's room and shuffled into the waiting room until she came out and greeted me in her usual smiley way. I told her what I wanted, pointing to my nose as if she'd never have guessed what a septum was otherwise, and she agreed and we went into the room, leaving Danni outside to read the gossip magazines in the wall rack.
Once inside the room I was hit with the heat from the fire that I desperately needed, it was winter in the outside world, and I was freezing. We caught up on things a little as she tidied her desk up and pulled out a form for me to sign. I whizzed through it, I'd filled it out and read it a million times before so knew what was going on. We talked a little more about other things, and then she explained the procedure.
She explained that she'd have to sit quite close to me to do it, and then wheeled her stool over and adjusted it to the right size. Then she pointed at different parts of my nose, and explained just where it'd be going, and what would happen. She then jumped up and went to the drawers that held her jewellery, where she asked if I wanted a ring with a ball, or one with a clasp like all my other facial piercings. I went with the clasp and she pulled that one out for me.
Then on go the gloves and we're ready to go. I asked her a few more questions that she answers for me and adds a few more things about the clamps and tells me a story about the time that she got her septum pierced. It relaxed me. She took the ring out of the bag and put it into a little dish on it's own. I sniffle, the coldness of outside was making my nose run, and I'd already discarded my glasses because they were too steamed up to be of any use. She hands me some tissues to blow my nose with, changes her gloves, and now we really are all set to go.
I'm shown the needle, for which I put my glasses back on to see, and everything is good. She leaves it in its little plastic case and places it into another dish that holds nothing. Then the clamps are picked up from a can type thing she keeps on her table and gets into position. She tells me that there is no real way to tell it's straight, but she'll judge it the best that she could with the clamps. When she's trying to get the clamps into place I ask timidly if she'll have to remove my nose ring, she says that she probably shouldn't, which was replaced with a "yeah, I might have to take it out actually" only a few seconds later. I stopped breathing and my eyes widened, I didn't want her to have to struggle to get it back in, and she laughs and promises that she'll try her hardest to do it with it in. The clamps were uncomfortable, bordering on slightly painful, and when she pulled it down I flinched which forced her to ask if I was going to be all right with this. I nodded, so she took the needle out of it's case and tells me that I can close my eyes if I want to, and that it shouldn't hurt, but will make my eyes water. I watch the needle approach my nose, and before I could even think it was through my nose. No counting, no saying ready, no nothing, and I'm now looking at a needle going into one side of my nose and emerging the other. I laugh. I'm a little disappointed, there's no pain, or blood, even my eyes were dry.
Then comes the hard part. The ring is picked up and threaded through the new hole, and it bloody hurt. This is where I let out a whimper and a little "ouch" and all those other things you go through when something hurts. Sarah sits back and tells me that it's in, and now all she has to do is get the little clasp on it. It goes on relatively easy, with little pulling on my new piercing, which is always spiffy wonderful. I'm told to go look in the mirror to see what I think, and I'm unsure. I love it, and I can see that it will be perfect, but it's just so...noticeable. But after a minute I jump up and down and thank Sarah. I handed over the money and thanked her.
We talked about jewellery change, and she said that because I'm quite a good healer I could probably go down to a ring that sits closer to my nose the next week, but it's up to me. I agree and thank her again, and then run out to get judgement from Danni. Who gives her stamp of approval with an "oh wow, it's so cute".
It started raining really heavily on my way home, and by the time I'd got there I had water sloshing around in the bottom of my shoes, and my trousers had decided to soak up ever inch of water they could find. But I was happy, and even happier to find an empty house when I got home, which meant that I didn't have to hide the piercing straight away, I could think of a good way to attempt it. But of course that's not possible, but no serious comments were passed, and my family are terrible at insults, so the worse I got was my grandmother calling me "ringy" and my mother asking if she could moo at me!
Cleaning was difficult at first, and even stood in front of the mirror it took me a while to find where I was meant to be cleaning. One side hurt more than the other and I could feel every little twitch of my nose as a sharp pain that lasted a couple of seconds, although really the healing was no worse than the last few days of a bad cold. The worst thing of all was washing and drying your face, because even touching your nose slightly hurt like hell.
When I returned to college Danni kept showing it off, interrupting people mid-sentence to say things like "and you've not even noticed she's got a big ring through her nose". I got a lot of compliments and a lot of people looking at me like I was a little crazy, but mostly people didn't say anything at all.
Now it's pretty much stopped hurting, and I can touch the tip of my nose again, which is good, because you don't realise how often you do it until it caused you pain. I do love it, and decided that I'm going to keep the ring that I was pierced with in for the time being, because it's not as noticeable as it was when I first got it done.
It's been one of my nicest piercings to heal, but maybe that's because I expected it to be a lot worse than it actually was. It's given me a lot to think about, because now I'm thinking I need a facial piercing on the top half of my face to balance things out a little.