My parents have always stressed to me the importance of looking appropriate for the workplace. For example, I was never allowed to dye my hair, get a crazy haircut, get any additional piercings, or get a tattoo. Since I was always being told I couldn’t have these things, obviously I grew up wanting them.
Once I got to college and I was away from my parents, I started trying to do things to make me happy rather than keeping them happy. I dyed my hair for the first time, though just the bottom half of it. I haven’t gotten a tattoo yet but I now know that I will get a small one in the near future. I will also get a double ear piercing, though my mom has told me no to it in the past.
During my second semester at college, my good friend Sophie got a nose piercing. I thought it looked amazing on her and I wished I could have the pain tolerance to get one, too. Eventually my roommate, Kelly, who is also friends with Sophie, decided she wanted to see what she would look like with a nose piercing. Kelly ordered a pack of four fake nose rings on the Internet and once they arrived, she gave me the black one. She felt that she didn’t look good with the black one because it was too dark for her face. Once I tried on the black nose ring, everything changed.
Okay so that sounds pretty dramatic but once I wore the nose ring I immediately felt different. Although it’s just a small hoop in my nose that people barely notice unless they get close to me, I felt so much more confident. The nose ring made me feel edgy and different. It was a change to myself that I for so long searched for. Growing up with low self-esteem made me slowly more and more unhappy with my appearance, which is something you can’t drastically change easily. I’ve worn makeup for years and I dyed my hair in college to try to be different. Both have worked, but wearing the fake nose ring added another change that I needed. I received many compliments on it, especially when I posted about it to my Snapchat. People seemed to like how it looked on me, which made me like it even more.
There are a few reasons as to why I want to keep the fake nose ring as opposed to getting a real piercing. I have a very low pain tolerance, so I’d rather not have a needle poked through my nose. I also seem to have a perpetually runny nose, which may get annoying when I have to blow my nose with a nose ring. This was proven already because when I was wearing the fake nose ring, I forgot I was wearing it and I blew my nose. I had to take the nose ring off and clean it off, which I wouldn’t have been able to do if it was real.
Some days I want to look more edgy than others. Now I can just slide on the nose ring in about two seconds and my outfit is complete. However, I find myself putting on the nose ring every day no matter what outfit I am wearing. I have grown to love it and I almost feel empty without it. When I wear it, I have to take more caution when scratching my nose, so now even when I’m not wearing it I’ll still take that caution. If I forget to put it on, I’ll end up feeling weird without out and occasionally try to readjust it on my nose even though it isn’t there.
Something as small as a nose ring truly has the power to change your confidence and I will continue to wear it until I tragically drop it on the ground and can’t find it.