It’s been over a month since I decided to get my septum pierced. It was a spur of the moment decision but it was also something I was debating getting for about two years.
I got pierced on February 6th, and I only bothered to remember the day because I can’t switch my piercing for three months. I’m counting down the days because while the simple, silver circular barbell jewelry is fine, I’m excited to change it out and wear a rose gold barbell or a rainbow chrome or even a matte black one.
Before I explain the actual piercing process, I want to say that this piercing is the first, and only, one I went for. I got my ears pierced very young, as many girls do, but I never actually cared for earrings or jewelry in general. If you ever see me, I hardly wear any jewelry at all, I find them bothersome somehow.
The septum was different though. It looked so cool and pretty and it was the only one that drew my attention so after mulling it over for years and wondering if I’ll go through with it, one day I decided, yes, it’s time!
It started when I was trying to do research on who should pierce my nose; It’s a pretty big deal and I didn’t want someone inexperienced to touch my nose, especially during COVID-19 times.
When I finally found someone that does them at Lucky 13 tattoo shop in Kutztown, my careful research went out the window as I found out they don’t do the septum piercing with COVID-19. Understandable, but still disappointing, and I worried that I missed my chance a year ago and would have to wait however long before they would do the piercing again.
Then, my friend surprised me. She has a friend who pierced her a few times and was professionally trained. I was worried, but she insisted that her friend knew what she was doing.
So that fateful day of February 6th, I drove myself and my friend to her friend’s house in Reading where I stressed myself out so much from driving in an unfamiliar place that I parked two blocks away and I had an angry man in his car pull away as I parked.
I must’ve stolen his spot.
We greet her friend and then I sit in the chair. The chair where she was going to put a 16 gauge needle in my nose into the sweet spot.
She was very good though. She wore a mask and gloves the whole time, had the tools properly sterilized, and cleaned my nose thoroughly and used this tool to find my “sweet spot” of where the needle would go.
The actual moment where the needle went through was jarring to say the least and it stung a bit and made my eyes involuntarily water. My friend took a video of me getting it done and looking back on it, I looked uncomfortable and dazed- because I was.
Once my head cleared up and I looked at myself on my phone, I was unsure of how I felt about it at first. I worried I paid $30 just to get my nose stabbed but the next day, I looked at myself in the mirror and I loved it!
Over a month later, I still adore this piercing and it’s here to stay. The healing process was uncomfortable for the first two weeks. It would sting anytime I bumped it and I had to clean my nose multiple times a day with salt water, including using a bowl of salt water and dunking my nose in it repeatedly like a carnival attraction.
I also had a mishap where the ball end of my jewelry wasn’t on tight enough the day I got it done and it fell off at the Giant parking lot where I’d definitely never find it. Luckily, my friend had extra jewelry around so I took the ball end of one of them and painstakingly screwed it on, which is incredibly difficult doing it for the first time ever and the day you got pierced because it hurt like hell.
Overall, if you’re considering getting a piercing done, I would encourage you to do research and take the time to decide if you can keep up with the commitment of waiting months for it to heal and of course be careful since COVID-19 is still here, but otherwise, if you think it’s something that will make you happy, then it’s worth it.