Waited so long for it!

By Katie, from Doncaster, England.

I wanted my belly pierced since I can remember. I remember seeing all the stick thin girls when I was on holiday with their navel’s pierced, but I wasn’t allowed mine done because I was really young at the time. I had my ears done when I was 6 years old and I thought they hurt, so I was a bit apprehensive to have my belly done.
From when I started in secondary school (year 7), I tried to persuade my mum to let me have my belly pierced. Course, she didn’t let me, so I had to put the idea to the back of my head. Then, my sister wanted her hair dyed, which I wanted to do but wasn’t allowed, so I told my mum that if she had her hair dyed, I would have my belly pierced.

Anyway, she had her hair dyed, so my mum gave into me and allowed me to have my belly pierced, but said that I’d have to wait till the end of February when I’m 16 to get it done. I managed to bring that date forward to Christmas, and then thought about the healing process coinsiding with my leavers day, so I managed to bring it frward again to the 24th October. Near the big day, mum attempted to change my mind about it by saying things like ‘what will happen if you get an infection’, and ‘are you sure you want this done because when you have it done there’s no going back’, but this obviously didn’t work! I researched belly piercing and found out facts about the healing process, what material to have it pierced with and how to take care of it. Also, I found some videos on the actual piercing of the navel and familiarised myself with the process, so I wouldn’t freak out when I felt the clamp or the needle.
So, I’d managed to persuade my mum, but I decided not to tell my dad until afterwards and then he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. All I had to do now was find a piercing studio. I’d heard a lot of good things about Body Arts in town from my friends, who’d had no problems with their piercing whatsoever, so I decided to go there. I rang them up and asked for the opening and closing times and the cost and what materi!
al they pierced with.

I went on the Saturday with my mum. The woman who pierced it was very friendly and sprayed some numbing solution on my belly. I chose my belly bar; it was gold titanium with pink gems. There were loads of belly bars in the cabinet so it took quite a while to choose. She came back, took the bar out of the cabinet, sprayed my belly again and took me through to the piercing room. She took out a pen and marked a dot in the middle just above the button. Then, she got a ruler and measured 1cm from the edge of my navel and told me to check it in the mirror. She told me that the gauge was 1.6mm and the length was 12mm (they pierce it with a longer length to make cleaning easier and so it can heal better). Once I gave the marking the OK, I laid on the bed and she got the clamps and needle out of the autoclave, and clamped my belly. I did the wrong thing of look up to see what was happening, but I soon laid back down again. She kept speaking to me and didn’t tell me when she was putting the needle throgh. It was painful, but no where near as much as having my earlobes done. (earlobes were 6/10 whereas belly was about a 2).

Mum was looking out the window all the time I was having it done. It burned and stung for about 5 seconds whilst she hooked the bar onto the end of the needle and pulled it through, but after she’d screwed the top ball on and I stood up and looked at the gem in my navel, all the pain disappeared.

The lady gave me a slip of paper with aftercare instructions on it, and gave me some savlon spray. She told me to apply it 4 times a day and showed me how to clean it. Moreover, she told me I could change it in 2 months, just in time for Christmas.
Within the first week, I did the WRONG thing by bending over to put my shoes on- very painful. I later realised that my piercing had snagged from the top hole a little bit and there was a patch of blood around it. Altogether, it snagged 3 times, but only tiny little ones(it takes a lot to rip a belly bar out) either by me trying to rip it!
out in
my sleep or whilst doing exercise. I then realised after 2 weeks that 4 times with the Savlon was too much as it was very irritated, so I changed to bathing it with warm water and normal soap, only using savlon straight after changing the bar.

I have had my piercing now for 3 months and there has been no more problems.
I have 12 belly bars including the one I had it pierced with now, so I have plenty of choice to choose from. I bought them from a mixture of Body Art , Argos, Claires, Hsamuel and River Island (my first one was from Hsamuel as the quality is the best)

I love my belly piercing! By the way, on the photo, my navel isn’t shaped like that, its a shadow on the left hand side from the light.

9 comments

  1. AWWH x I love that charm! Were the ones from argos nice like were they real?? I really want mines done i’m trying to convince my mum and i think she might let me and i really hope she does because you have made me feel much better about it. So did it heal properly once you had it done?

  2. hey. it’s Katie. The website isn’t recognising my log in so I’ll just comment on here.

    Thank you for all the really nice comments that you’ve all sent me. I’m so grateful for the high 4.75 out of 5 that you’ve all given me 🙂

    Yes soap works really well for me. I now just clean my belly bar once a day with soap and water, and use the Savlon spray once a month if i remember.

    The belly bar is from argos, and is part of an offer where you buy one and then get one half price. This came in handy as i then got a black gem one as well 🙂

    I now have 17 belly bars now (I did have 15 but then my 2 free belly bars came from the admin of this website for the story)

    love you all
    Katie
    xxx

  3. I love your belly bar! Where did you get it? It looks great on you
    4 times a day definitely seems like too much, but I hope normal soap is ok with you?

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