Starting my junior year in high school, I decided I wanted to get just a small nose stud. I wasn't positive, as this would be my first body modification, so after pondering it for two months and then working on my mom to take me to get it done (because I was only sixteen at the time), we agreed I could get it done.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When A year ago Studio Cold Steel Location San Francisco Finally, I convinced her to take me to Good Vibes in Redwood City, CA to get it done, a shop where several of my friends had gotten their noses pierced. It looked very sketchy from the outside and the inside was filled with weed paraphernalia and t-shirts and posters and then a large glass case with jewelry. We walked to the counter and there was a nice young woman who said she was the piercer. We gave her our IDS and my mom signed the paperwork for me. The lady said we should go eat and then come back so that I wouldn't get light headed.
We went and ate dinner and then returned. I picked out a small stud and she told me and my mom to follow her to the back, the place looked pretty clean (the mirror on the door was dirty and crooked), but the table was cushioned and with the sterile paper like in a doctor's office so I felt safe.
I watched her clean the needle and then I held my mom's hand as the lady told me to take deep breaths as she counted and then on three she pierced me. It seemed very slow and but not that painful. But then all of a sudden the pain hit me, immediately sending waves of heat throughout my entire body. I thought it was all done so I opened my eyes only to see the needle sticking out of my nose while this "piercer" lady was still cleaning the jewelry!! Even though this was my first piercing it did not seem right at all. I closed my eyes again and she pulled the needle out, thrusting the jewelry into my nose, only the jewelry wouldn't go in my nose. She tried to push it in several more times, and the concluded that "my nose was not cooperating." She said it was no big deal, it happened sometimes and she would have to re-pierce it. At that I fainted, and I have only fainted one other time in my life. By the time I was conscious again I felt very nauseous and my mom was really angry.
The piercer said we could come back the next day and have it re-pierced, or she would give us back our money for the piercing. We decided on the second option and left, me feeling a bit woozy and very sad.
After much convincing and four months later, my mom agreed to take me to a different shop to try again. This place, Cold Steel in San Francisco's Castro district came recommended by my mom's colleague.
Upon entering the shop I knew everything would be fine. The decorations and atmosphere was ridiculously clean and appealing to the eye. It smelled great and we were immediately greeted by someone behind the desk. We told them what I wanted and so I picked out the jewelry.
Kenny, the piercer, told my mom and I to follow him, and I swear their piercing rooms are exactly like a doctor's office. I told him my story of what happened and he said that that was the result of a bad piercer, because it had obviously been their fault yet they blamed my nose! He cleaned the spot, marked it and I checked it out. Count to three, with deep breaths and on my last out breath he pierced me, pulled the needle out and stuck the jewelry in. Done. Finito. I couldn't believe how painless it had been and was so sorry that it hadn't worked out that way earlier.
I have since gotten my industrial, monroe, and navel done by him and will never trust another place to pierce me as professionally and well as Cold Steel in the Castro.
Anyone thinking of a nostril piercing should definitialy not worry about the pain (I clearly have a very low pain tolerance, but as long as you find a great shop and trusty piercer...you should have no problems enjoying what I think to be one of the most attractive piercings a woman can get).
I have since found out that I am a slow healer and it took about seven or eight months before it fully healed, even though I was following all the cleaning instructions I developed the dreaded "bump" in my 5th month of having my nostril pierced but it went away after I went back to Cold Steel and got the cleaning solution they sell there (antimicrobial stuff, which I swear is magic!)