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I've wanted my navel pierced for a while. The summer after 7th grade, in camp, I pierced it myself with a safety pin and, after a day, put a thin hoop in, maybe 18 or 20 ga. It was really bruised and no one would give me anything to clean it with, so I took it out. I must say doing that was a bad idea, although it left only a tiny external scar. A couple months ago (it is now about 5 years later) I bought a curved barbell in a store in the mall near me. It is 14 ga. and looks about an inch long and has a tiny ball on the top but a big one with a (fake) diamond on the bottom. I was just intruiged with it so I bought it. I went to Montreal last weekend and my friend and I went to a body piercing shop to get our navels pierced. For starter jewelry, they had small 18ga hoops, but I thought this was too thin. I asked to look at their curved barbells, but they all looked exactly like mine. So I just asked them to sterilize mine and use it, which they did. The guy who did it used triangular forceps clamped with a rubber band and a new 14 ga needle. I watched him do it and I don't think it hurt that much. I didn't watch him insert the jewelry though, but that hurt only a slight bit more. But what hurt was...the bottom, larger ball on the barbell didn't fit back through the head of the triangular forceps. So he had to take it off (which I didn't know was possible - it is removable, but it's on there pretty tight). He had to hold the top ball with pliers and yank on the bottom one, all with the forceps dangling from it. It still wasn't that bad though. I think that my adrenaline rush just ran out. They gave me a little bag of sea salt to soak it in, and my friend and I were laying on our beds with hotel glasses on our stomachs - a pretty funny sight. I like the barbell. Mine is a little long, I think. When I sit down, the bottom of my belly button pushes the barbell up so about 1/4 inch of the top is sticking out. And since I'm sitting in school a lot, it gets stuck like that and I know I shouldn't move it before it's healed. I'm hoping eventually it'll be able to move more, so when I stand up it'll adjust. Now it's 12 days later. It doesn't hurt unless I bend down funny or I hit it, but it's a little red around the top hole. I think that's because he had to squeeze the forceps tightly when he yanked the bottom ball off. But it's not pussing or anything.
Experience Added 03/11/99