After years of debate I finally got my septum pierced.
At A Glance Author John IAM sadscarecrow When A week ago Artist Didn't catch his name. Studio The Zen Hed Shop Location Clearfield, Utah Yeah so I am no stranger to piercing's. I have 3 piercings in my lip, both sides and the center. I have had my tongue pierced off and on over the past 5 years (currently pierced). My ears are stretched to 1 inch (after 3 long years). I used to have my eyebrow pierced on two different occasions. I have also parted ways with random cartlidge piercings over the years. There was just one piercing left that I really wanted but kept changing my mind on over the years, this being the septum.
I have spent the past couple years playing around with drugs and partying and it didn't really help my mod's over time ending up in jail twice. Last summer me and my girlfriend had a baby girl and life has been more mellow and chaos free ever since. So a couple of weeks ago I made my mind up and decided now that things are going smoothly and I am out of harms way and legal trouble it was time to get my septum pierced. I spent a lot of time reading up on septum experiences, talking to people that had them and learning the positives and possible negatives involved. I have done all my piercings myself or had experienced friends do them for me. It's not that im too young (20 years old here) or too cheap to get them done by a professional, it's just the Utah piercing business is kinda shady. No matter how much I thought about it I knew I had to get my septum done by someone with professional experience and know how with this type of piercing to avoid a horrible crooked hole in my nose.
There are a couple places to get things done around here in terms of body art. However the majority of them have horrible reputations and straight up assholes working there. One of the biggest places in this part of Utah is located in a mall and every single friend of mine or person I have seen with piercing's from there has had nothing but problems. Even my own girlfriend got her tongue pierced there a couple years back and it was completely crooked. They blamed it on a massive vein in her tongue which after being with her for 2 years I still haven't found from looking at it. I decided to just check it out and see about a possible septum piercing from them myself. They were as usual completely unprofessional and seemed like they were in it just for the money. They wouldn't even do it bigger than a 16 gauge.
Monday Night Feb-4-08
Out of sheer luck I was calling around random tattoo shops to see if they would do piercing's (most of them around here are just strictly tat's) and I found one less than 5 minutes from my house that did piercing's as well. The place is called "The Zen Hed Shop" located in Clearfield Utah. One of my close friends has had a couple tat's done by them and they turned out better than any other tat's I've ever seen in Utah, a good sign for me a guy who has little faith in the Utah piercing and tattoo scene. I headed in later that day and told them I was there for a septum piercing. It took about 10 minutes of waiting because the piercer' was getting a piercing. He came out and was very friendly. He had his fair share of holes and tat's and they all looked nice, which made me feel better because I've seen so called pro's around here with really crappy mods. I had originally wanted to do it at 12 gauge because that is the size I think a septum would look really good on me. They didn't have any 12 gauge stuff and I didn't have any to bring so I settled on a 14 gauge horseshoe. I figured in a couple months I can always stretch it up one size myself.
So me and my girlfriend were in the back room and he was setting up and getting ready. I'll admit it was quite intimidating, I mean this was my first pro piercing. He kept telling me it would all be cool and doesn't hurt that bad. Time for the piercing came and I was really nervous about the pain. None of my other piercing's have hurt tremendously but I've seen videos and read enough on septums to notice they tend to be quite painful. The clamps came on and he started marking his spots. Damn I have never used clamps before and they were pretty painful themselves. He made me take 3 deep breaths and on the 3rd breath he stuck me. Oh my god....that was the most painful piercing I have ever had. My eye's filled with water from the pain. After about another minute of putting the jewelry in and cleaning up I had a fresh new septum horseshoe in. I paid him and gave him his tip and went on my way. I have been cleaning it 3-5 times daily for the 3 day's I've had it and it's feeling really good. It came out straight as can be.
In the past I have been extra harsh with thing's I've written about Utah body piercing shops but this septum experience made me realize there was at least one place I could depend on. If I ever need more work done Zen Hed is the place im heading too. I'm extremely happy with the end result. Im glad I waited until the time was right and and didn't attempt it by myself. I just can't wait until it's completely healed and I can stretch it up to a 12 gauge. No need to rush that though, good things come to those with patience.