At A Glance Author ellie Contact ellie@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Graham Studio Thou Art Location Sheffield On an incredibly dismal, and I mean dismal, I'm talking raining, windy, downright freezing, Saturday afternoon I made my way rather begrudgingly into Sheffield city centre with one of my best mate's Callam, who was getting spider bites the same time as me, with the intention of putting a rather lovely new hole in my nose. I had never really been drawn to septum piercings before recently, with them reminding me of cattle, I decided when I first started getting mods, that a septum wouldn't be added to my ever growing collection. What a difference a year makes! For me, it all changed when I saw a girl who had the most dainty little half ring in her septum, I decided I had to have it.
So when payday rolled around, me and callam set a date. The 8th of December 2007, we decided to go for it. Now the week prior to the 8th I had been doing some serious reconsidering, after reading countless horror stories on BMEzine and other internet sites, not to mention several rather harrowing videos that depicted a rather big butch guy actually wincing in pain put me off. But when the day came, I was ready for it. Or at least I thought I was.
Im not a person that can deal fabulously with pain, in fact, I'm quite the opposite. So having a 1.6mm metal tube shoved through your nose wasn't sounding terrifically appealing to me! But I persevered with myself, and when you really want something, no matter how much pain is promised, its worth it. So, after a rather wet trek round good old Sheffield city centre, which actually forced me to buy legwarmers because I had been stupid enough to wear a skirt, we grabbed a quick lunch from Boots, and relished in 4 cans of Red Bull just to make sure we didn't keel over.
Callam and myself soon found ourselves outside Thou Art in Sheffield, ready to sign our lives away, so to speak. Upon my very first visit to the shop, which coincidentally was the day I was getting pierced, I was shitting myself. We had a look at all the jewellery laid out in the glass cabinets, not to mention the rather snazzy collection of ace t-shirts and tote bags for sale, and made our way to the front desk which was being manned by a really tall guy with ace dreads. I inquired into how much it would cost, what sort of jewellery I would have to have put in it, and the price. Now, being 17, I didn't need parental consent, which is all good, because my dad actually said he would physically remove it with pliers if I had it pierced, so me being the little rebel that I am, went for it regardless. So after signing all the consent forms and paying the £25 for my septum I was all set.
We were met by an awesome piercer called Graham, who had the most amazing dental work fangs I've ever seen!, and took upstairs to the piercing area. Callam went first to have a second lip ring in, giving him spider bites. And the 15 minutes I spent waiting were the longest 15 minutes of my life so far! Needless to say, if I hadn't have seen callam walk out of the room with the hugest grin on his face I'd have waltzed straight back down the stairs and out! That's how nervous I was.
Graham came out to tell me that he couldn't find any retainers in the piercing room so he would have to run and grab one from the glass cabinets downstairs, and just to wait ten more minutes while it was being sterilised. Callam wasn't particularly reassuring me, which I almost hit him for, but I proceeded to follow Graham when he asked me if I was ready, with Callam in tow to hold my hand(!), and sat myself on the comfy bed chair. The room was incredibly well kept and clean. The autoclave, a shiny new looking one, was kept in an annex room, but even from a distance of a few meters, I could see that it was in pristine condition.
Now onto the process, I was told to sit up straight and tilt my head slightly upwards. Now, by this time, I was silently freaking out. But Graham was incredible and did the best job of keeping me calm and collected. He cleaned the area with an antibacterial wipe of some sort and had a poke around to find my 'sweet spot'. I was then informed that he was going to do it freehand, as clamps could distort the piercing and make it wonky. I could feel him prodding about with a cocktail stick dipped in some purple pen to mark the placement and needless to say, the thing was bloody sharp! Next came the needle, I could feel it go in, but to say I was shitting myself, it didn't hurt half as much as my industrial did! I was pleasantly shocked! And my eyes didn't even water enough to smudge my mascara! But, however, this was where the fun began.
Graham, as fabulous as he is, had a spot of difficulty getting the jewellery in! He followed it through after the needle, but the needle slipped out just before he slipped the retainer in! After a good few minutes of pulling, and tugging, it was decided that it wasn't going in. We were left with another option, to taper the hole, and then put the jewellery in that way! Graham introduced the taper and after a few seconds of deliciously sharp burning sensations, the retainer was slipped neatly into place, and tucked upwards to keep me from knocking it.
Graham explained the aftercare to me, telling me the correct amount of salt to water I would need to use, but he also explained that I could quite easily use Savlon Spray too. He told me to keep the retainer tucked up for 2 months, but to flip it down once a week to give it a thorough cleaning. He also mentioned not to mess with it with dirty hands as it was likely to get infected if I did so.
Overall, this has been the best piercing experience I have had so far! And having my lip and navel done not to mention a rather extensive collection in my ears, I have a lot to choose from! The septum piercing is one that I feel only suits a certain face shape, but is really diverse and easy to adapt at the same time, so it gets total 100% thumbs up from me! Thou Art Tattoo and Piercing shop is one I would recommend to anyone, its clean, its friendly, and the staff are fantastic! Anyone wanting to have their septum done there ask for Graham, as from what I can tell, he knows exactly what he's on about and your pretty much guaranteed to have an excellent experience there!
Happy Piercing!