| At A Glance | |
| Author | Hannah |
| Contact | Hannah@bme.anon |
| When | A month ago |
| Studio | Cold Steel |
| Location | Camden |
I've always been insanely jealous of everyone I see with that little stud on their nostril.
For years I've considered it and imagined it, I've bought fake ones to see how it would look, I've read countless stories on this website, even walked into places a few times and then got too nervous. I'd always been so nervous about pain, as I don't have a particularly high pain threshold. Anyway for years I went through phases of wanting it really bad and then forgetting about it.
And then in the last few months something changed in me and I decided I would just go for it; I think it was partly to do with the fact that I started seeing way more people with the piercing, particularly in my school, and I began to get pretty angry that everyone else was getting what I wanted! Also it gave me courage to think that this many people had been able to deal with the pain.
I'd just like to state now that it is SO WORTH WAITING. Seriously. When I was 13 I was desperate to get it done [the legal age in England is 16 in most places] but I can't tell you how glad I am that I waited until I was 16, actually I'll be 17 in a few months. I've had a long time to think about this.
I'm also glad that I didn't spend ages planning to get the piercing, where I'd go, who'd come with me – I never imagined it to go how it did; I was just on my way back from a friend's house, and we'd been talking about how I should have got my nose piercing before everyone at my college started getting it. Anyway, on my way home I was going through Camden Town on the tube, and I just thought, why not?
There are some really dodgy places in Camden, it's true: there are also some really awesome places there.
I chose to go to Cold Steel; I'd been in a few times in the past and even spoke to the guy about nose piercings before. At first I just wandered in, only about 60% sure that I was actually going to go through with this. I was on my own. I'd already taken out the £30 in my bank account that had conveniently not been spent the night before.
Nervous and unsure of whether to talk to the guy or just bolt out the door, I waited for him to get off then phone and then casually inquired as to how much a nostril piercing would cost. £25. Without really thinking about what I was saying, I asked whether they could do it today. Before I knew it I'd booked an appointment and given a deposit.
I was buzzing.
He told me to wander around Camden, grab something to eat, not drink or take any drugs and then come back in an hour.
I left in a daze; one side of me was thinking YESSS FINALLY and the other was in a state of disbelief. I didn't eat, cause I'd just had a fry-up at my friend's house. I was slightly worried about the alcohol thing, as I'd got drunk the night before and had two Limoncello's before I left my friend's house; I know it thins your blood and this can have an adverse affect on the piercing experience.
I shrugged it off. Camden was crowded so I walked up to Chalk Farm, not really knowing what I was doing.
I still hadn't told ANYONE about the piercing, it felt exciting to be doing it on my own, so spontaneously. I hung out around the Roundhouse for about half an hour and watched some amateur bands before it was time to return to Cold Steel. The whole time I couldn't believe what was happened.
When I got back the guy was really friendly, he even remembered my name!
I think the worst part of a piercing is filling out the consent form. Yet, even by this point, I wasn't feeling nervous at all. I casually filled out the form and handed it back. He told me wait a few minutes.
There was a group of about 5 other people waiting with me, but I soon deduced that only one of them was getting a piercing. She disappeared for a while and then returned with, to my surprise, a small stud on her nose!
It was stunning. But I was sort of put off by the fact she seemed quite shaken and was explaining to them that it hurt and stung etc.
I still kept wondering why I wasn't totally panicking and going crazy. I was expecting some scary guy with loads of tattoos and a faceful of metal to yell at me to come through. While I imagined the most terrifying piercer I could think of, still feeling weirdly relaxed, a pretty blonde woman appeared out of nowhere and asked if I was Hannah.
I said yes. Then I followed her upstairs.
I was still thinking, is this really going to happen?!
She started looking for the jewellery. Even all the little nose studs in their individual packages couldn't convince me that this was actually happening. I'd originally told the guy I wanted a blue one, but I suddenly realised that I wanted a clear one; I have purple glasses and wouldn't want the jewellery to clash.
Anyway, we sorted out the jewellery type and I followed her into the piercing room.
It was big and spacious, with all the necessary equipment etc that you'd hope to find in a piercing place; a bed, autoclave, gloves, needles in packages and all that. There was a big mirror in front of the bed that I sat in front of while we chatted.
It still didn't feel real! I was getting angry with myself; why wasn't I scared?! I'm usually such a wimp.
She started cleaning my right nostril, and I had to point out to her that I wanted the left done. She laughed and said she'd done loads of nose piercings that day.
I looked at the mark on my nose where my piercing was going to be. It was perfect! I've always hated the shape of my nose and thought a piercing wouldn't suit it at all, but I actually thought it looked pretty good.
And then she was telling me to lie back and shut my eyes, and for a split second I felt a slight panic, like was I actually going to do it?!
I lay back and shut my eyes, squeezing my hands. She told me to move my head towards her, and then to take a deep breath.
I breathed in. I felt a pressure on my nose and a tiny scraping sensation; but it definitely didn't hurt. I've heard so many horror stories about piercings; one girl even told me that it "felt like being punched in the face".
My experience was nothing like that.
I couldn't believe it when she said it was done!
I then panicked a little cause she said she still needed to put the jewellery in; I thought that would be the painful bit. I didn't feel any pain, seriously; I was aware that something was happening in my nostril but it wasn't painful at all. Not even hot. And my eye didn't water.
Then she was telling me I could sit up and look in the mirror. I was thrilled! I love that feeling after a piercing where you're just so excited about it. It looked fantastic to me. I thanked her about four times and told her it had been totally painless; she seemed happy with the result.
The rest is a blur; I was so happy about it, and it wasn't hurting at all! I went back downstairs to say thankyou to the guy at the desk, and tell him how impressed I was and how professional their place was.
As I walked back down the street I was so excited; I was conscious of people noticing it on my face and it felt awesome. I texted the friend I'd seen earlier and told her I could meet her. She's always wanted me to get my nose pierced and I hadn't mentioned getting it to anyone recently.
Everyone I showed it to was totally thrilled, surprised that I got it but happy for me.
The first few weeks of healing were perfect; however I'm having some trouble with it now. It's about a month on and I think it may be a little infected. I was doing sea salt soaks every day but I think they dried out the piercing too much. So now I'm just using a cotton pad soaked in hot water to clear away the crust etc, and then using a cotton bud soaked with Metal Morphosis cleaning solution to clean the piercing site.
If anyone has any suggestions that would be really hopeful, and I hope my story helped you in some way!
