By Brittany, from La Puente, CA
I have wanted my belly pierced ever since Britney Spears debuted her newly pierced navel in 2000 at her televised concert in Hawaii.
I gave it a lot of thought off and on over the years, and started thinking seriously about it in July 2009. In September, I finally decided to go ahead with it.
I had my then-boyfriend do the piercing, which I regret. Instead of doing it quickly and getting it over with, he went really slow because he was scared he’d hurt me. Well, it hurt A LOT more than I thought it would. We did use a sterile piercing needle and a 7/16″ titanium barbell. I have allergies to metals, so I decided to go with titanium.
I took care of it with daily saline soaks. After about two months, I noticed some problems with it migrating. I was worried it would reject, so I removed the jewelry. There was a lot of blood that came out of the piercing when I took out the jewelry- I think I tore some skin while removing it. After doing a bit more research on rejection, I decided to try a shorte, 3/8″ barbell instead. The longer one was moving around too much, causing the migration.
Now, 4 months later, my piercing is mostly healed. The migration has seemed to slow down, although I keep a close eye on it. It also migrated slightly to the left, so its not quite centered, but its not like anyone sees it except for me, anyways.
I was worried it wouldn’t look good because I’m overweight, but I love it. Everytime I look at it in the mirror, it seems like its a part of me, and I don’t regret it. It was a personal decision, I did it for me. Its not something that anyone knows about unless I tell them, and that is empowering. I like the navel piercing for that reason. I’m 21, so while my parents couldn’t say no, its not something they need to know about because they would disapprove.
Overall, even with the problems I encountered, I definitely love this piercing, and it was definitely worth it. It made me feel closer to my childhood idol, and while that may sound silly to many, it means a lot to me.
Good for you… so happy to hear your migration has been minimal… sometimes, navel piercings just move around till they find a place where they want to be. Mine has migrated some, but it’s all okay. And migration can happen after many years of being pierced. Mine was done in 1999, and migrated many years later.