Just in case you were wondering.....
At A Glance Author seahorse girl Contact seahorse [email protected] IAM seahorse girl When Ten years ago or more Artist Mitch Studio Four Roses Location Adelaide, South Australia My navel piercing turned 10 years old this year, whilst I turned 24. I remember seeing my friend's sister navel piercing before I knew anyone with anything apart from their lobes pierced. I thought I was cool for having two sets in my lobes, but she blew me out of the water. I asked about how it was done and the thought of using a needle horrified me. I still wanted that piercing though. A few months passed and I attempted one of the most horrible DIY attempts you had ever seen. If I had ever taken a photo of what a crusty safety pin looks like in the shallowest navel piercing you have ever seen, I'm sure it would have been added to the BME/Risks Glossary long ago. Although I was only 13 at the time, somehow I realized that this wasn't the way to go. Safety pin out, and my navel was on its road to recovery. (Please go to a professional people!!!)
This incident must have got the self piercing bug out of my system, but it took me a while to find out where I could get one of these mysterious needle piercings and end up with a ring in my navel. Fate showed its hand after I went to a party and found someone who was going to get their eyebrow pierced. How the hell I got the courage up to ask a stranger if I could accompany them to a piercing and tattoo place in Hindley Street of all places (note to anyone outside of Australia � think of the street in your town that has strip clubs, sex shops and seedy bars and that's the equivalent to Hindley Street).
The following Friday, Nathaniel (stranger from party) called me to arrange a place to meet in the city and get this over and done with. I had just started working part time and had the cash all good to go. My parents had no idea, and I would have never had asked them. I always wonder what that conversation would have turned out like.
We both arrived at Four Roses Body Piercing and Tattooing Studio and walked up the narrow staircase of the piercing shop, which had been open for less than a year at that stage. Mitch and another woman were in the shop and greeted us with smiling faces. It all seemed pretty simple, we told them what we wanted and we followed dutifully to the room out the back.
Nathaniel's eyebrow piercing went smoothly, and I had just had my first introduction to real professional piercing. I don't remember being overly excited, but fear does come back to mind. Being 14 and staring at a photograph of a penis with at least 20-30 piercings and a matching pierced vagina, definitely opened up my mind and undoubtedly left a permanent mark with me.
I laid down and Mitch got the clamps ready, I also must point out that I had no choice of jewellery, and there was no huge selection of jeweled navel barbells to choose from. I had a choice of a 14g CBR or nothing. The needle felt hot and slow during the actual piercing, but it did seem to be over and done with quickly. I admired my new jewellery and got my aftercare sheet and solution (diluted tea tree oil mixture). I was happy and complete. I was ready to go home, and never saw Nathaniel again.
I don't remember the piercing taking as long as the usual 6-12 months to heal. I used the solution religiously and to my eye, it appeared to be healed after about 4 months although I didn't change the jewellery for over a year. I loved having that piercing when it was not so common. I spent the next several years, accompanying friends back to Four Roses to get their navels done and giving them advice on the procedure.
I never really had any problems during that time, and always kept the same jewellery in there, occasionally I would get some new beads but that was about it. After about 7 years had passed, I started putting on weight for the first time in my life, and wasn't so happy about the navel piercing anymore. I was quite thin, and even the jewellery didn't seem happy anymore. I took it out and moved on. It didn't really seem significant at the time, and I know if you asked me to take out any piercing that I have currently, you would be looking for a fight.
After six months, you could tell that the piercing was a lot shallower than it was originally, although there was no rejection or migration scar line that usually accompanies this type of occurrence. Maybe it was the weight, but the scar wasn't horrible. It almost looked as though there was a faint stretch mark behind some of the piercing but the dimpled little holes still seemed to be evident.
Fast forward to earlier this year and I joined a modification forum where I helped give advice and often the topic of 'How long does it take for your piercing to close up?' would arise. Over and over again people would ask, and this got me thinking about my navel. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that there were tiny bits of sebum still coming out of what appeared to be an open hole at the top of the piercing. I had never thought about doing any sort of aftercare on a piercing with no jewellery in it, I had just assumed it would close up.
Okay, so curiosity got the better of me and I had to investigate. I cleaned up some 16g jewellery (I could see some sort of hole, and it definitely wasn't a 14g hole), had a shower and got ready to put the jewellery in. I had already resigned to myself that it was going to hurt if I pushed too much to try and reopen the piercing.
The taper and lube were ready and I slowly lined up the taper with the top hole and gave it a slight push. It went straight through and the taper was slowly appearing out the other side of the piercing. I had not had any jewellery in there for over 2 years and it had only closed up to 16g? I know everyone is different and it was an old piercing, but it kind of left me scratching my head for a while. I had some minor irritation that day, but it was like doing a small stretch on your lobe in comparison.
Somehow, this miracle navel piercing has helped to re-spark my interest in modification, I have since collected several different holes since this little discovery. I don't wear jewellery often, probably just on special occasions because it is only a 16g piercing. I worry about it getting caught on something and ripping out. I am worried about stretching it because it does appear to be shallow. There hasn't been any major scarring that I can notice. You can feel the 'flesh tube' inside the piercing and if I really wanted to help it close, I would start some Vitamin E rubs to help break down the scar tissue.
Funnily enough, my partner also lost his navel jewellery about a month after I rediscovered my piercing. His had also migrated to some extent over time and he decided to leave his out also, all he has now is a tiny red scar. The piercing itself seemed to literally close shut overnight. Looking at it now, it almost looks as though he was pierced in the past week or so and has retired it already.
Another learning lesson from this experience has also been that I think we should take more care of our piercings, even long after they have healed. We recommend Vitamin E oil rubs as helping to take care of our stretched lobes, but why don't we recommend things like that for all other piercings more heavily? Look at all those skin care products that are available. In comparison to the piercing industry, there is little for you to look at for when you piercing is totally healed. I don't think anyone can argue that a Vitamin E Oil massage around any piercing area will help keep it healthy and increase circulation to the area. Blood flow and oxygen is good for piercings!
I also heard someone say the other day, 'You only get your navel pierced so you could wear the dangly sparkly navel jewellery,' this statement got to me so much it was unbearable. For starters, to lump all modifications and the people who receive them into the same basket is totally against one of the fundamental reasons I get mods to begin with. I don't want to look like Britney Spears or walk around with an exposed midriff. Its not that taboo anymore either, even clothes for 8-10 year old girls come with mandatory midriff exposure. All it reminded me of was that I didn't even know that you could wear a barbell in your navel.
Even though I didn't care about taking the piercing out initially, now that I have rediscovered it, I don't think I can let go. It represents the beginning of my modifications, the beginning of thinking for myself and the beginning of my own little personal journey of which I am still on.