by Victoria
(Beaver, PA, USA)
The pen ink was smeared when the piercer tried to screw the ball on, which is why there’s purple gunk everywhere.
First off, I am currently 16. I have seven piercings, which include four ear lobe piercings (two in each lobe), one ear cartilage (left ear), right eyebrow, and now, my navel.
When my former piercer left to move to New York, my piercing parlor of choice (Flesh Mechanics) replaced him with an apprentice. I had been wanting my navel pierced for quite some time, and if the apprentice did the piercing, it would be half off. (Price was originally $40, and I paid $20, not including tip.)
I convinced my parents to let me get it pierced (not hard, as they knew I had been wanting it for a while, and they knew I take care of my piercings.), and set a date. However, it turns out the parlor was closed that day, so instead of waiting a week to get it done with my boyfriend (he wanted one too), I went in on July 2nd, 2008. It was pierced with a 14 gague surgical steel curved barbell. As always, the most painful part was inserting the jewelry–the piercer had a hard time screwing the top ball onto the bar, which hurt a lot.
I wash it three times a day with clear dial liquid hand soap, and for the first three days, use the bacitracin they gave me after every cleaning. I also bought a can of H2Ocean, and I love it–it works wonders. I’ve only used it twice, and the piercing is noticably less red and swollen, and less irritated.
If you are thinking of getting your navel pierced, first research the piercing, then make sure you go to a reputable piercer with a clean, sterile parlor!