Tried and True... Mostly

It seems to me that many of my modifications have been the cause of some duress, if not later some humorous afterthought. Throughout the lives of many of my piercings, events occur that either put them at jeopardy, cause me some sort of harm, or result in putting me in a bad position. For the most part, I can look back on these experiences and laugh.

I have had my nostril pierced for probably a little over three years now. It was my first piercing that really went against my parents' wishes. Previously I had only had my ears and navel pierced; anything on my face was completely off limits, taboo even! I had wanted my nostril pierced for a while, and for whatever reason, I finally decided it was time to get it done. Off I went with my two best friends to directly disregard (and surely in my father's eyes, disrespect) my parents' request.

My friend, Brian, drove me and my other friend, Marcy, to Tattoo Lou's in West Babylon. Per usual, I filled out the paperwork, had my driver's license photocopied and headed back to get pierced. In the back I met Cassi who pierced my nostril. While I wanted a high nostril piercing, Cassi refused to do it any higher than just slightly above the curve of my nostril cap. A bit disappointed, though not deterred, I had my nostril pierced regardless. I was expecting it to be a quite unpleasant experience. With a slight pinch, the needle was through and quickly after the nostril screw was in my nose. I was donning a lovely tissue for probably about two minutes until I stopped bleeding (and I will not forget Cassi telling me how I was quite a "bleeder"). Swollen, but elated, I walked out to my friends, who both found my new nostril screw to look rather good on me, even cute, as Marcy had put it.

We headed out, and drove back to our hometown. Marcy had to stop at the bank, so while Brian and I stayed in the car to wait, I went to double check I had my license. Unfortunately I did not. As I began to panic and wonder where I could have left it, Brian called up Tattoo Lou's to check and see if I left it there. As it turned out, they forgot to take it out of the photocopy machine and I forgot to ask for it back. Thankfully I have some pretty awesome friends and we drove back another fifteen minutes or so to get my license.

For the most part, my nostril healed with no problem. The only dilemma I recall having would be a result of having a break out. I do not have bad acne, in fact have been quite fortunate to only have breakouts once in a while, otherwise leaving my face clear. Originally I had thought that with having a hole in my nostril, there would never be a problem with a pimple coming to that exact point ever again, lest I remove it. This was not the case. In reality, when I did get a break out, that is where the biggest pimple would form. My nostril would be engulfed by this huge, red, disgusting zit. No, it was not infected, no it was not scarring, it would only happen when I had a break out and would go away with the rest of the break out; unless I have some very, very crazy coincidences going on with my nostril and face, I would indeed say it is linked. When my nostril was completely healed, my piercing would stay zit-free; sadly I cannot say my face shared the same joyous fat e.

While that leaves healing and piercing problems aside, that does not mean that was the only type of issue I have encountered with this lovely little dot upon my nose. To start with minor problems, one of aesthetics, it must be noted that I wear a nostril screw for the most part, and it tends to turn in my nose. I can swear up and down that I will not have touched the thing, yet simply the functions and consequences of life result in its spinning in my nose, resulting in a portion of it sticking out of my nostril. While I try to comfort myself by believing that many people have nostril screws, and many must have the same problem and will surely know that there is nothing gross inside my nose, simply metal. Honestly, that rationale fades quickly as I realize that the majority of people do not have their nostrils pierced and even if they do, that is certainly not the first thing to come to mind. Multiple times a day I can be seen lifting my nostril screw up from the top, sp inning it and then tapping it back down. I will do this while I am in the middle of a conversation with someone; though I do admit it is pretty weird of me - in my defense, it is only with people I know fairly well. It is a minor problem, but one that can get a bit bothersome.

Additionally, I have my septum pierced. I currently wear a retainer, but I did wear a circular barbell quite often. For whatever reason, my nostril screw and my circular barbell, when turned up, inside of my nose, would latch together. Somehow the barbell would pull down on the nostril screw, as if trying to pull it out of my nose through my nasal cavity, and would leave me feeling a horrible pressure on my nose. Of course when I would try to fix the problem, it would only make it worse. Sometimes I would manage to untangle the two, but often I had to remove one to have a successful solution.

Now, perhaps the worst experience I have ever had with my nostril piercing occurred a little over a year ago. I suppose we all go through our amorous stages where being somewhat sexually involved with someone is just the thing to do. As it turned out for me, this involvement one night resulted in my going home missing a butterfly backing to an earring, and as I realized while I was driving, and was midway home, my nostril screw falling out/being knocked out of my nose. I imagine my nostril was jewelry-less anywhere between two hours to a half hour, and that was apparently enough time for it to start closing up. Creeping into my house at around 1:30 in the morning, I headed up to my room to find a CBR I had bought a year or so prior to put in my piercing. Expecting everything to be fine, I went to put the CBR in my nose. There was only one, slight problem - it would not go in. Being the ever-so intelligent person I am (and by intelligent I mean stubborn and stupid, as I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror and said something along the lines of "I am NOT losing this piercing...!"), I forced what must have been an eighteen gauge CBR through my nostril, fastened it as best I could and went to bed.

The next morning, I woke up with my nose feeling sore. Either later that day or the next day, I had work. Where I work, it is a rather classy, conservative place - I can get away with a nostril screw, but absolutely not a CBR clinging to my nose. Off I went to the mall, to a Piercing Pagoda stand where I got a variety of nostril screws. Intended to be a temporary fix, I ended up wearing the same, loose, nostril screw for anywhere between a year and six months until I finally invested in a decent nostril screw again. Since that point, my problems have waned with my delightful little nostril piercing.

I quite adore my nostril piercing, as it is quite versatile. With a somewhat quick jewelry change, a nostril piercing can go from a cute, facial adornment to an edgy appeal. Through negligible aesthetic problems, to an unpleasant yanking sensation, and even to a bit of an embarrassing situation, my nostril piercing holds much appeal to me, if not a slew of memories and experiences.