BME article

Last year my friend got her nose pierced, and I thought it looked brilliant, and wanted one myself. However, me and my parents have always had this rule of: 'No facial piercings', and I'd always been ok with it, because they'd been ok with my tattoos & stretch piercings.

But the urge to go out and let someone stick sharp things through my nose was becoming overwhelming, and I was sure that it would suit me, and hopefully not hurt..

So over the Christmas holidays last year, I called my best friend (who is like my piercing buddy, we always go along with each other) and we went to Tribal Bodies in Hull; which has the reputation for being an amazing, friendly piercing salon. I personally wouldn't go anywhere else (except Hype in Newcastle, see my other article about my new tattoo).

Filled out the form saying: yes- I had eaten, no- I wasn't pregnant, you know the drill. Sat in the piercing room, Paul with a look of amusement on his face as I return for the.. um.. many-enth time. As for price, I can't fully remember, but I think it was about £15, including the stud (which was a nice one)

I was a little anxious, because I had absolutely no idea what it would feel like, or how much it would hurt. I have many other piercings, but they're all in my ears/bellybutton and I knew this wouldn't compare. But when Paul put the needle through my nose, I was surprised to find how little it actually hurt- I guess there isn't much feeling in your nose cartilage, and it was more just a 'weird', cold feeling, also odd to see a metal thingy out of the corner of my eye!

[There's this thing that happens when they stick the actual stud in the hole, where the eye on that side waters suddenly; apparently it's just a reaction triggered, so if you ever get your nose done, don't wear too much mascara or eyeliner!]

For some reason, I always seem to get piercings at really cold times of the year, and when I walked outside it seemed really heavy and obvious- I was worried that I'd just be able to feel it and see it all the time. My friend who'd come with me had explained that the reason why he took his eyebrow piercing out was that he saw it every time he looked in the mirror and got sick of it after a while. But when I saw it for myself in the mirror later, I knew I loved it, and couldn't wait for it to heal so I could put a little ring in it. As you can see in the photo, I have quite thick framed glasses, which actually stop me from seeing the piercing out the corner of my eye; when I wear contacts, I keep getting flashes of this glinty thing! This is something to consider for non-glasses wearers- would you find it annoying?

Went home, and my mum- the one who would absolutely, never ever allow me to have a facial piercing- thinks it looks nice... And my dad said that he 'didn't dislike it', which is praise coming from him about this sort of thing, believe me!


^This is what it looks like now.

It healed very well; I used a combination of salt solution & antibacterial cream on it- was pretty much sorted within a week!

HOWEVER, because of the shape of the piercing inside (a spiral to keep it in), I kept getting really irritated by it, and it became sore from me constantly poking it/playing with it- also the constant feeling that I needed to sneeze was getting on my nerves. I got around this problem by taking a very small BCR and squeezing it into shape with a pair of thin-nosed pliers (if you don't have any already, get some- they're an invaluable tool for people with piercings!) I don't use the ball- it stays in fine without it. That's what I'm wearing in the photo. Whenever I do exercise like surfing or climbing, I put in a little stud, which is ok to wear for a few hours without getting annoying; I find that without jewellery in it, it starts to heal over in a matter of minutes. I would recommend carrying a spare stud with you in your wallet or whatever, in case it falls out and you lose it. The friend I mentioned earlier, who got it done before me had this problem in a club, but I was able to lend her mine and just stick one of my own BCR rings through mine. I know, I know- it's a bad idea to share piercings, but in this case I knew that we were both safe to do it, and there was no risk!

It's definitely my favourite piercing, and I do think that I look better with it. Reactions to it have all been positive, or people just haven't noticed! I think that if the stud or ring is small enough, nose piercings can be very discreet and attractive. The fact that they heal up so incredibly quickly (friend eventually took hers out after having it repierced for a second time, and you can't even tell it was there) make it an ideal piercing for those who want something 'different' to ear piercings, but don't want anything too extreme.