| At A Glance |
| Author | hazybubbles |
| Contact | hazybubbles@bme.anon |
| When | Two years ago |
| Studio | Rawhide |
| Location | St. Albans, UK |
I had wanted my belly button pierced for quite a few months before I actually managed to convince my mother that I wasn't going to die from this experience! Being 14 of course I had to get her permission, and I have to say this was the greatest ordeal of the whole experience! It wasn't easy convincing someone like her, but I think the fact that it could be easily hidden won her over, as I couldn't embarrass her with any piercing then!
Once she had finally agreed to let me get it done I asked around a few of my friends that had already been pierced to find a good piercing place. I eventually settled on Rawhide as I had heard nothing but good reports, and on visiting before hand to ask a few questions it was spotlessly clean and the guy seemed nice. (I can't remember his name unfortunately since it was so long ago, but I believe he still works at Rawhide)
The day I was going to get it done I felt quite nervous, only ever having had my ears pierced before, and also due to shock tactics being employed by my family to try and put me off, telling me how much it would hurt and that it would bleed loads! Most of this I didn't believe for one second, as I knew plenty of people that had had it done before. I was still a bit worried about whether it would hurt though. However once I arrived at the studio the guy made me lie back on the dentist type chair and relax. He spent about 15 minutes explaining what he was going to do and aftercare procedures very thoroughly, such as using sea salt rather than ordinary salt in water to help faster healing and such.
Next he got me to choose what jewellery I wanted to begin with. He had quite a large selection of styles and colours, which I thought was good. I chose a purple-pink jewelled banana-bar since I didn't want the same colour as anyone that already had it done!
Then cleaned and he marked where the piercing would be and got me to confirm the position, which I did. Next he sprayed my stomach with anaesthetic spray, which numbed the whole area.
I think at this point my mother was more nervous than I was, as he got ready to pierce me. I remember that she definitely didn't want to be there, although she had to as I was under age and because it was shop policy for female piercees to have someone present.
I had been told by a couple of people that the clamping part could be quite painful, but thankfully he didn't use one. To be honest I never actually felt the needle go through my skin, all I remember is the cold metal and then I looked down as he put the banana-bar through and screwed on the ball. It didn't bleed and it didn't hurt at all. He wiped the area over again with and antiseptic wipe and then let me stand up and look at it in the mirror, warning me first that I may feel a bit dizzy. It was all done and looked fantastic and I felt fine! I was so excited, after, probably nervous excitement built up from before. I just wanted to show my friends.
Throughout the procedure my piercer constantly changed gloves and used sterilized instruments and a new needle opened in front of me. Also the jewellery stayed in the sealed packaging it came in until he was about it put it in. If I can recommend anything to others it would be to always check this is being done, as well as the general appearance of the shop. If it doesn't look clean, don't even go there!!
Afterwards he put a patch over it and told me to wait a few hours before removing it, then gave me an aftercare leaflet which detailed everything which had told me before, including what to do in the case of emergencies such as heavy bleeding occurring.
After about 3 months the piercing appeared to be pretty much healed without any problems, although I left the original jewellery in, as I had been recommended to allow 6 months before changing it. As it was externally threaded I though this was definitely a good idea as I didn't want to irritate the piercing. I cleaned it 3 times a day as I had been told with sae salt in water and everything seemed to be fine.
2 years on I am still pleased with the piercing, although I did have a minor infection after it got caught on some clothing.
I would recommend this to anyone and especially using the Rawhide studio, as he is fantastic there. As long as you are prepared to take care of it afterwards there shouldn't be any problems.
