From Booking to Home, Some Things You Should Know

Getting my nostril pierced for the first time was a big move for me.

I used to have a terrible fear of needles, but after years of being poked and jabbed for medical purposes I decided I was finally ready to become my most alternative authentic self and get the piercings and tattoos I’ve always wanted, regardless of the pain.

However, my experience could have had less complications.

Getting a piercing in your face is pretty daunting, and I unfortunately had to have my nostril pierced twice.

The second time I had my septum done at the same time to “save time”.

But since then, I have become a more educated pierced nose person, and I realised, had I known what I know now, I could have avoided some issues and made the experience more comfortable.

Booking Ahead

 So you’ll definitely want to book ahead, no matter what.

Piercing places also have rush time and periods with a lot of foot traffic, sometimes lines become blurry or people don’t know what they want yet, this can leave you waiting for ages to get your piercing which means more time for you or your friend to angst over the decision.

Having a booking means no matter what you get the rough time slot you booked, and staff usually appreciate this as well.

Preparations

You’ll also want to bring some things with you:

Tissues

Sanitary Wipes or Hand Sanitizer

Something sugary

Water

The Process

You will probably feel a little anxiety going into the room and getting seated, remember to keep your breathing steady and let staff know if you have any concerns, questions and most definitely tell them if you’re feeling light headed.

You’re going to be a face full of fluids, once the needle goes through you’ll probably notice your eyes tearing up or streaming, and you’ll probably be a mess of snot if you’re anything like me.

This can feel very embarrassing but lets hope the staff are used to it.

Afterwards you might feel a bit sick or lightheaded.

This is where your preparations comes in.

You can use the tissues and sanitizer to clean yourself up and feel like you have a bit more dignity after the whole experience.

The sugar is also good for the nausea and lightheaded feeling.

Sometimes staff have cordial and water on hand, but you never know, so it can be good to be organised just in case, especially if you’re going alone.

Post-Piercing Fun

If you only got one nose piercing, you’re going to find that area is very sensitive to knocks or brushing. This will go away in a few days, becoming only sore to the rough touch, and eventually after a few weeks wont feel too sore at all.

If you get multiple nose piercings at once that area is probably going to be pretty inflamed, and it might take a bit longer to feel safe touching your nose.

Either way, fair warning, blowing your nose will feel like a really bad bruise at first.

Once you’re healed enough it will be fine, but then comes the other problem…

Always check your tissue for your nose piercing, the septum ones are usually fine because they are sealed at both sides with little screw in balls, but the nostril piercings are just itching to escape your brand new nose hole.

I swear, its easier for my nose piercing to come out in a tissue then if I actually try to take it out with purpose.

Your Nose Piercing Will:

Fall out in tissues

Get snagged in your towel after a shower

Get snagged on lace and knit pieces

Scrape your nasal canal when you have an unexpected itch and scratch your nose.

Will make your life a living hell during a flu if its not healed enough.

Babies can and will pull out your piercing if you let them touch your face.

Healing and Changing/Removing Your Nose Jewellery

They tell you that anywhere between 6 and 12 months is enough time to leave your piercing in to heal.

I’ll tell you right now to be skeptical, some people like myself seem to have insane healing abilities.

After 6 months of having my nose stud in I tried to take it out and put a new stud in, I was already running late for a party and I couldn’t get this new stud to go in so I went back to the original. When I tried to put it in I couldn’t and my nose was getting crazy sore from the attempts, so I left it all and went to the party without a nose stud.

When I came home I still couldn’t get it through, then the next day I found that the piercing had almost completely closed over. I was too scared to plunge it back through and ended up getting a new piercing a few years later on my 25th birthday.

Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night to find that my piercing is missing, it’s a get out of bed and search thing, because the likeliness of my nose piercing closing over is way too real.

Another pro tip, don’t just get the jewellery that goes in your nose, get some others for replacements just in case.

You don’t know what can happen, and if you find yourself at work having just flushed your nose ring down the toilet after you blew your nose, you can rest assured knowing there is another ring or stud at home you can pop in.

I do not recommend getting a piercing twice, its sooo unsatisfying to go through the pain just to replace what you already had done.

Its also not a great idea to get multiple nose piercings at once, it gets very crowded in there and your nose will already be sensitive from the first piercing.

That being said, I did it that way and I was fine.

However, if anyone says septum piercings aren’t that bad, I have to say the nostril piercing was far less intense than the septum.

Maybe I just hated the tool they used, but I didn’t love it and really don’t want to experience it ever again.

These events were a bit painful, but it was mostly over in a few minutes which is very little time if you think about it, and I would encourage anyone thinking about it to definitely go for it.

I felt so great seeing the little metal pieces decorating my nose, and it also feels like a tiny moment(s) of bravery.

Life is short, get the piercing.