After having my nostril pierced many years ago with a gun(nostril piercing MK1) and a few months later loosing the piercing I decided I would be brave and head to my piercers to get my nostril pierced again. I had lots of metal on my ears at this point but was still very apprehensive about my nostril as I could remember the pain and discomfort from all those years ago. I went to my favourite place who are sadly no longer in operation due to being crippled by the high rental rates that came with it being in the centre of Edinburgh.
At A Glance Author vixstar Contact vixstar@bme.anon IAM vixstar When Five years ago Artist Shirley Studio Urban BMS Location edinburgh
I had phoned ahead and made sure Shirley would be working as although I adore Joe I really needed the assurance I knew I would get from Shirley. I went in and as Shirley was busy, I did my usual and talked about tattoo designs and more piercing ideas with their receptionist Matty. My turn came and Shirley gave me the very familiar consent form to fill in. I explained to Shirley why I was so nervous and she re-assured me after having so many other piercings and going through the whole procedure so many times it would be a breeze. Haha! We went through to piercing area and Shirley explained to me exactly what she would do and told me that yes there would be a nip or a sting but with using the needle it would/should just glide through my nose. She then got me to pick my nose stud and I opted for a pink sparkly stone. Already there was one big difference! No stupid butterfly back stuck up my nose for me. It would be a nice neat simple wire. I definitely liked the sound of that.
So Shirley got into her vigorous routine of cleaning the work surface AGAIN! (Anyone who has read my past experiences will know that this place has BIG thing for being clean!) She asked me to hop up onto the bench and got her skin marker out. We discussed placement and agreed I should get my left nostril pierced incase I had scar tissue from my previous piercing on my right nostril. Done with a nasty evil piercing gun I might add! I picked the placement I liked the best and chose it keeping in mind I might later on get another piercing in the same nostril. Shirley then asked me to lie down knowing I can be a little bit woozy directly after piercings. I lay down and Shirley came over with the needle in her hand. We went through the standard breathing technique and on my third breath out I felt a sharp prick as she pushed the needle through my nose. She told me that was the needle through and I would then experience some tugging as she put the jewellery through. There was some more stinging and the nose wire was put through. My eyes were watering by this point now and its safe to say my nose was throbbing too as I think this might possible have been the most painful piercing I have had. I sat back up slowly and Shirley got me a nice cold pad too over my now very sore and hot nose. She also got me a lollipop for my bravery. Not that I felt I deserved it.... My eyes were STILL streaming! She got the mirror for me and showed me my newest addition and it was lovely. All red and sore understandably but lovely and the pink stone sparkled in the light. Shirley gave me my aftercare instructions and told me to pop back in or phone if I had any worries or problems.
The only time I did get discomfort was when I caught my nostril stud on my towel if I was getting dried after a shower or that kind of thing. I also had to be a little more careful when I was getting changed and not catch the stud on my clothes. But remarkably the piercing healed very quickly and I could tug on the jewellery (don't try this!) after about a week and not have any discomfort. I did try to change the nose wire myself after the 6 weeks healing period but I found that I couldn't manage it and had to go in the piercing studio to get them to change my jewellery. That did leave my nose quite sore after that jewellery change but it settled down quickly enough after that my nostril piercing has been absolutely fine and quite happily obliges to jewellery changes. Its one of my most favourite piercings and has been one of my mothers too as its been one of the least 'scary' ones as she calls it!!!