I love large gauge septum piercings and have wanted one for as long as I could remember. Just after my eighteenth birthday I got my septum pierced. Unfortunately, the only retainers the shop had were 14ga. I didn't want to wait so I went ahead and got it done. This meant there would be an awful lot of stretching in my future. I stretched my lobes rather irresponsibly and I didn't want to make the same mistakes with my septum.
At A Glance Author Whitney Contact Whitney@bme.anon IAM Fuzzybeast When N/A I waited over three months before I finally decided that I was ready for my first stretch. I went down to see Matt Cottrell at Planet Ink and he picked out a 12ga SS steel retainer for me. Matt started by taking out my 14ga retainer. That was really, really strange. I had NEVER taken out my jewelry before and my nose felt so sad and empty. My face was incomplete, and I didn't have to see it to know. Even when my septum is flipped up it gives me that same confidence. With that jewelry out I just lost that feeling.
Matt lubed up the taper with Technicare surgical scrub and told me to lay back and just breathe. He begin to feed it through my nose. Because it's impossible for me to shut up while pain is being inflicted, and Matt knows that, he started asking me how it felt, and how I was doing. I happily rambled on about crusties and how it stung. And it did sting... Not so much at first but by the time the taper was about half way through I started to feel it. Towards the end it started to feel like a mild burning. My eyes filled with water and the hot tears started flowing. Matt got to the end of the taper and I scrunched up my face all scared. The transition to jewelry was fast and smooth but still a little uncomfortable. But it was in place within seconds and I was free to go. Hurray!
As I left the room my nose felt heavier. This was probably partially psychological because the difference is so minimal I'm sure I didn't actually FEEL it, and maybe partially just from the extra pressure going on. Afterwards my nose throbbed for a few minutes, but nothing too bad. The day after, my nose was a bit tender, but not too bad at all. I am anxiously looking forward to my next stretch.
Most piercers will recommend that you wait at least 6 weeks between each stretch for most piercings. This is because your body needs time to heal from the trauma of the last stretch, and then get used to the new jewelry and 'relax' around it. I figured that if a normal fleshy piercing (like a lobe piercing) needed six weeks, a cartilage piercing (my septum) should have a bit longer. I learn the hard way what happens when a piercing is stretched too quickly and I did NOT want that happening to my septum, especially because I was planning to stretch it to quite a large gauge and I didn't want anything inhibit future stretches.
I had begun looking for a 10ga retainer almost as soon as I stretched to a 12ga because I wanted it on hand whenever I was ready. I never did find one, but I did manage to find something else. I went to Future Skin (which is not my regular shop but tends to have a better jewelry selection) to see Eric, the piercer there. He found me a 10ga internally threaded circular barbell with a diameter that would fit my face perfectly. He put the jewelry in some cleaning solution and set up his tools. If this were a fresh piercing I would have insisted that the jewelry be sterilized in an autoclave but didn't bother because it was going into a well healed piercing and I figured that a good cleaning would be sufficient. After ten or fifteen minutes the jewelry was finally ready.
My friends and I trooped to the back room and I hopped up on the bench. Eric removed my 12ga jewelry (I love the smell and feeling of latex gloves in my nose). This is the second time my retainer has come out since I was pierced (the other time was for the first stretch) and it feels so damn weird. Like my nose is empty or something... Eric came at me with the lubed up taper and I was shocked by how huge it looked! He gently began to push it steadily through my nose. He spoke to me the whole time and managed to predict exactly what I was feeling at each moment (spooky!). The first part of the taper wasn't so bad. About half way through it started to sting and burn a little but it wasn't unbearable. My eyes filled with tears but I didn't actually cry them out. Then he told me the taper was through. It surprised me because it seemed like I should have much more pain left (judging by my first taper experience). He quickly hooked the internally threaded circular barbell through following the taper and I was all set.
I checked it out in the mirror and was awestruck by how great it looked. If any thing was going to make me cry it would be the feeling of absolute beauty as I saw the larger jewelry in my nose. I thanked Eric profusely, chatted for a minute or two, then left the shop feeling as though a weight had been lifted from my chest. The air was cool and crisp and I felt so damn alive I could have cried out of pure joy. Cheesey, I know. But I was on top of the world!
The bigger my septum gets, the more I love it. I can't say for sure how far I'll take this piercing but this was not my last stretch.