At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist my boyfriend Studio his bedroom I always thought that bellybutton piercings were for teenage girls who wear too much makeup and say "like" at least three times in every sentence. Of course, I wound up getting one. The decision was very spontaneous. In September, my boyfriend and I were cleaning out his room and stumbled across some 14ga needles. I had been begging my mom to let me have a second hole in both of my ears but she said no. I don't know what I expected, seeing as it took her about 5 years and some convincing from my dad to give in to my asking for the first holes. So in a classic burst of one of those "teenage rebellion" moments, I asked my boyfriend to pierce my ears again for me. He had new jewelry that he never used, and we were bored with nothing better to do. He said no, because as he put it "your parents like me and I don't think they would like me as much if I stuck needles through their daughter's ears against their wishes."
Couldn't argue with that. Disappointed, I was about to get over it when he added, "I could pierce your bellybutton though, they wouldn't see it." Probably due to a combination of sheer boredom, being slightly mad at my mom for not letting me get my ears done again, and a craving to get pierced, I said yes. So I lay down on my back on the floor and he looked at my navel. He grabbed at the bottom of it and said, "You know, it would actually look better on you if we pierced the bottom, it's perfect for it." I thought about it, and really liked it. Just a simple barbell. None of that annoying dangly stuff that is probably the only thing I really dislike about navel piercings (and it isn't even the actual piercing, just the choice of jewelry by the person who has it).
We cleaned off my stomach and everything else involved- his hands, the jewelry (the needle was sterile and in an unopened package). I honestly cannot remember what he used, but I know we didn't just do it without cleaning everything. He marked the entrance and exit and told me to just like back, look at the ceiling and try not to move. I remember singing a bit to get my mind off of it because I sing when I am nervous. It did take some effort, only a little bit of pushing really, to get it through (I vaguely remember my boyfriend asking, "GOD why aren't you fatter!?") but it did not hurt a lot. And it would be over a lot faster if you got it done by a professional. I felt some pressure and pinching but that's really it- at the most I would have called it uncomfortable. I've heard people say it hurt like a bitch and that it was terrible, but I didn't get that. Of course, this could also be because I am very tolerant of pain and needles. We got the jewelry in easily and I walked over to the bathroom to check out his spur-of-the-moment work in the mirror.
Suddenly, I was in love. I adored how it looked and was extremely happy that I had decided to let him do it. The only problem was that we used a straight barbell instead of a curved one. Of course, at the time we knew this was pretty stupid, but we figured we could just replace the jewelry later that day. To make a long story short, trying to change the jewelry later is really the part that hurt like a bitch. At this point, I also became aware of the fact that the entrance and exit holes were the tiniest, tiniest bit too far apart for the jewelry to fit comfortably, and it would have been too snug. After trying for a bit and getting nowhere I gave up. Defeated, I went into his friend's bathroom, cleaned off my stomach and shmeared on some Neosporin. It bled very little during the whole experience now that I think about it, only when we tried the jewelry switch.
But after it was closed, I started to miss it. I had it pierced for all of three or four hours but I became very attached. I would look at those two, tiny scars, barely visible unless you knew to look for them, and want the piercing back. After a lot of convincing and deal-making, I managed to get my mom's approval and I'm happy to say that now, in April, I will be getting re-pierced in two days. I could not be more at ease about the piercer either, after watching him pierce my friend recently. Incidentally, when I told him what I wanted and he asked to see my navel, he told me that it was perfect for piercing on the bottom. So I guess my boyfriend knew a bit of what he was doing... hm.
Anyway, that's how I came to appreciate navel piercings, or at least inverse ones. Looking back it was a dumb idea to let him do it instead of a professional, but being a teenager is very much about having dumb ideas and going through with them. I would not recommend doing it yourself of course, because it is really not a good idea to do something potentially dangerous to your body without really knowing how to do it. However, no one was injured or infected, so I don't regret my experience at all and impatient me is very excited to get my piercing back after months goddamn waiting.