When in Rome...
Okay. Okay. I know I am not in Rome BUT the same theory applies and so "When in India - Well, today I did something very Indian...I got my NOSE pierced! OH, YES, I DID!!! Not with a gun either! I went with my friend, Heather, (she's a Minnesota gal, btw....Don't ya love her already) and we got it done the traditional Indian way. With a SHARP gold wire!
So here's the story. When Heather emailed me with her plans of getting her nose pierced the "old fashioned" way, I immediately told her I was "in" and that I wanted to go along and witness this whole procedure! I have toyed on and off with the idea of getting my nose pierced I just always figured it would be with a piercing "gun"....so I really wanted to check out how this whole process works here in India.
Heather also invited our friend, Yvette, who's a great photographer to catch all the action, Leah - who already got her nose pierced years ago (in the States with a needle!), and Glynns, another gal who wasn't 1oo% sure she'd actually go through with the piercing but like me didn't want to miss out on the opportunity to watch Heather get hers done!
Once we were inside the shop they explained the plan for the piercing and I REALLY wasn't sure I wanted to do it (b/c I'm a HUGE wimp!) but I tell you what, I have found Indians to be the most INCREDIBLE sales people on the planet. Somehow the sweet woman behind the countertop convinced us that it would make sense to just put some of the "numbing cream" on our noses "just in case" we decided to do it b/c you have to let the cream sit on your nose for 1/2 hour. Okay. Why not. I mean that makes sense, right? I mean if and I stress the word IF...IF I were to get my nose pierced I'd want it to be as numb as possible so I was up for putting some cream on my nose. Glynns also agreed to a dab of cream on the side of her nose but we both insisted that Heather would go first and she would be the gauge of whether or not we'd consider going any further down this piercing path.
The lady that would proceed to do Heather's piercing had quite a glowing record. In fact, she showed us her little book filled with all the contact information of the people that have had piercings done by her and an MD follows up on her feedback that she receives to make sure her clients are happy etc or she would not be able to continue working at this shop. She trained for SIX months to be able to do what she does! Her youngest piercing was on a 15 day old baby!
After mulling around the shop waiting for our noses to start to feel tingly, it was finally TIME....Heather bravely took her post. Calm. She really wasn't worried at all. I on the other hand, made the entire room sit silent at one point because I wasn't sure if they all heard drums beating or if it was just the sound of my heart pounding....Yep. It was music beating and not just my heart pounding out of my chest! YIKES! I was so nervous! The woman wiped off Heather's cream, opened up the sterile package of utensils and then put the temporary ink dot on her nose to determine the exact location of the piercing. Once we all weighed in that we thought it was in a good spot, the lady told Heather, she'd "feel a little pressure." I wanted to throw in the towel right there and raise up my hand and say "Halt Right There, Sistah! The last time somebody told me I'd "feel a little pressure" was when I birthed my children and had my wisdom teeth pulled. Yah. Right. "A little pressure!!" That is just a ridiculous lie that people use to try to keep you calm when you about to experience something quite unlike anything you've ever experienced before! For instance: in the medical community when a patient thinks she's on her death bed, use a calm and soothing voice and reassure her that they will feel "a little pressure." Pa-shhhhhaw! LIAR!!!! Deceiver! You Falsifying-Fib-Forming-Fabricator!!!!"
You can't make it up because literally as this lie was falling from her lips she said to Heather, "I won't do the piercing until I warn you." She didn't even finish her sentence and Heather started to say, "Oh yah, whatever. She's so piercing it!" BUT!!! As quickly as she had begun - She was done!! With a poke, tug, and a wiggle-wiggle wiggle - Heather officially had a pierced nose. WOW!
Now the pressure was on Glynns and I. So!?!?! Who's next? Glynn stepped up to the plate and said she'd go next and I started to think, "Who am I kidding?! I'm not going to come back here by myself and do this...now's the time?!" So, I whipped out my wallet and presented my rupees for the piercing payment and with that they disappeared out back to "sharpen" Glynns and my piercing wires! Oh, Good Grief! Well, I guess, make it as sharp as possible so it just slides right through that cartilage, right?! Glynns nose ring went in a little more slowly then Heather's but she too barely batted an eyelash. I think she maybe muttered a couple, "Ow. Ow's." and that was the extent of the drama.
Oh dear. Yes, this leaves just me. I think at this point I might have been slightly dazed and confused by all of the sparkly jewelry surrounding me in the shop! HOLY SMOKES! Absolutely-amazing-stunning-gorgeous Indian gold jewelry adorned the walls, shelves and cabinets of this intricate store. How's a girl to keep her focus when you've got glitzy-sparkly-things coming at you from every direction!? Okay! My time had come. I figured if she was going to give me the "a little pressure Ma'am" speech and then I would use some of calming breathing techniques from my child birthin' days and as it came time for the sharp wire to make contact with my nose....I did just that I let out a deep breath and YOUCH! Okay. That maybe shouldn't have been such a HUGE YOUCH I wrote right there....just a medium-sized youch. It really wasn't all that bad. My eyes watered a bit like when I was in junior high trying to learn how to play volleyball and when you haven't quite got the whole depth perception thing mastered and you get belted in the face with the ball (oh, should I mention with my Coke bottle glasses on my face too!? Yes, I was a real LOOKER if you know what I'm sayin'! HAHA!) Yay. So you get belted in the nose and for whatever reason that starts the waterworks....You're not crying but your eyes won't stop watering. So, that's kinda what happened today with the piercing... I had to dab my eyelashes a couple times but that was IT! Then she trimmed off the excess wire and formed it into a nice "ring" shape. Wow! So cool!
We all went home with instructions about how to care for our new adornment and a little bag with the excess piece of "gold" that was snipped off the end of the wire. We can bring it back to the shop and when they cut off the "trainer" ring that was put in today, they will let us turn that in at the store along with our little gold remnant and we can put that towards the cost of a stud. The remnant and gold trainer nose ring will be melted and formed into something new (I wonder who will be wearing a ring or pair of earrings made from my old nose gold?! Lucky Ole Soul! Hehe!)
Nose piercing is common-place in India. The left side is preferred b/c they believe it is supposed to make child birth easier. It is also seen as a mark of beauty. I am very glad that I not only accompanied Heather, Leah, Yvette & Glynns but that I also decided to go through with the piercing!! Wow! What a day of memories...."When in India"...and I feel like it's just one more way I've decided to embrace this country, these people and their culture. Incredible India!!
Okay. Okay. I know I am not in Rome BUT the same theory applies and so "When in India - Well, today I did something very Indian...I got my NOSE pierced! OH, YES, I DID!!! Not with a gun either! I went with my friend, Heather, (she's a Minnesota gal, btw....Don't ya love her already) and we got it done the traditional Indian way. With a SHARP gold wire!
So here's the story. When Heather emailed me with her plans of getting her nose pierced the "old fashioned" way, I immediately told her I was "in" and that I wanted to go along and witness this whole procedure! I have toyed on and off with the idea of getting my nose pierced I just always figured it would be with a piercing "gun"....so I really wanted to check out how this whole process works here in India.
Heather also invited our friend, Yvette, who's a great photographer to catch all the action, Leah - who already got her nose pierced years ago (in the States with a needle!), and Glynns, another gal who wasn't 1oo% sure she'd actually go through with the piercing but like me didn't want to miss out on the opportunity to watch Heather get hers done!
Once we were inside the shop they explained the plan for the piercing and I REALLY wasn't sure I wanted to do it (b/c I'm a HUGE wimp!) but I tell you what, I have found Indians to be the most INCREDIBLE sales people on the planet. Somehow the sweet woman behind the countertop convinced us that it would make sense to just put some of the "numbing cream" on our noses "just in case" we decided to do it b/c you have to let the cream sit on your nose for 1/2 hour. Okay. Why not. I mean that makes sense, right? I mean if and I stress the word IF...IF I were to get my nose pierced I'd want it to be as numb as possible so I was up for putting some cream on my nose. Glynns also agreed to a dab of cream on the side of her nose but we both insisted that Heather would go first and she would be the gauge of whether or not we'd consider going any further down this piercing path.
The lady that would proceed to do Heather's piercing had quite a glowing record. In fact, she showed us her little book filled with all the contact information of the people that have had piercings done by her and an MD follows up on her feedback that she receives to make sure her clients are happy etc or she would not be able to continue working at this shop. She trained for SIX months to be able to do what she does! Her youngest piercing was on a 15 day old baby!
After mulling around the shop waiting for our noses to start to feel tingly, it was finally TIME....Heather bravely took her post. Calm. She really wasn't worried at all. I on the other hand, made the entire room sit silent at one point because I wasn't sure if they all heard drums beating or if it was just the sound of my heart pounding....Yep. It was music beating and not just my heart pounding out of my chest! YIKES! I was so nervous! The woman wiped off Heather's cream, opened up the sterile package of utensils and then put the temporary ink dot on her nose to determine the exact location of the piercing. Once we all weighed in that we thought it was in a good spot, the lady told Heather, she'd "feel a little pressure." I wanted to throw in the towel right there and raise up my hand and say "Halt Right There, Sistah! The last time somebody told me I'd "feel a little pressure" was when I birthed my children and had my wisdom teeth pulled. Yah. Right. "A little pressure!!" That is just a ridiculous lie that people use to try to keep you calm when you about to experience something quite unlike anything you've ever experienced before! For instance: in the medical community when a patient thinks she's on her death bed, use a calm and soothing voice and reassure her that they will feel "a little pressure." Pa-shhhhhaw! LIAR!!!! Deceiver! You Falsifying-Fib-Forming-Fabricator!!!!"
You can't make it up because literally as this lie was falling from her lips she said to Heather, "I won't do the piercing until I warn you." She didn't even finish her sentence and Heather started to say, "Oh yah, whatever. She's so piercing it!" BUT!!! As quickly as she had begun - She was done!! With a poke, tug, and a wiggle-wiggle wiggle - Heather officially had a pierced nose. WOW!
Now the pressure was on Glynns and I. So!?!?! Who's next? Glynn stepped up to the plate and said she'd go next and I started to think, "Who am I kidding?! I'm not going to come back here by myself and do this...now's the time?!" So, I whipped out my wallet and presented my rupees for the piercing payment and with that they disappeared out back to "sharpen" Glynns and my piercing wires! Oh, Good Grief! Well, I guess, make it as sharp as possible so it just slides right through that cartilage, right?! Glynns nose ring went in a little more slowly then Heather's but she too barely batted an eyelash. I think she maybe muttered a couple, "Ow. Ow's." and that was the extent of the drama.
Oh dear. Yes, this leaves just me. I think at this point I might have been slightly dazed and confused by all of the sparkly jewelry surrounding me in the shop! HOLY SMOKES! Absolutely-amazing-stunning-gorgeous Indian gold jewelry adorned the walls, shelves and cabinets of this intricate store. How's a girl to keep her focus when you've got glitzy-sparkly-things coming at you from every direction!? Okay! My time had come. I figured if she was going to give me the "a little pressure Ma'am" speech and then I would use some of calming breathing techniques from my child birthin' days and as it came time for the sharp wire to make contact with my nose....I did just that I let out a deep breath and YOUCH! Okay. That maybe shouldn't have been such a HUGE YOUCH I wrote right there....just a medium-sized youch. It really wasn't all that bad. My eyes watered a bit like when I was in junior high trying to learn how to play volleyball and when you haven't quite got the whole depth perception thing mastered and you get belted in the face with the ball (oh, should I mention with my Coke bottle glasses on my face too!? Yes, I was a real LOOKER if you know what I'm sayin'! HAHA!) Yay. So you get belted in the nose and for whatever reason that starts the waterworks....You're not crying but your eyes won't stop watering. So, that's kinda what happened today with the piercing... I had to dab my eyelashes a couple times but that was IT! Then she trimmed off the excess wire and formed it into a nice "ring" shape. Wow! So cool!
We all went home with instructions about how to care for our new adornment and a little bag with the excess piece of "gold" that was snipped off the end of the wire. We can bring it back to the shop and when they cut off the "trainer" ring that was put in today, they will let us turn that in at the store along with our little gold remnant and we can put that towards the cost of a stud. The remnant and gold trainer nose ring will be melted and formed into something new (I wonder who will be wearing a ring or pair of earrings made from my old nose gold?! Lucky Ole Soul! Hehe!)
Nose piercing is common-place in India. The left side is preferred b/c they believe it is supposed to make child birth easier. It is also seen as a mark of beauty. I am very glad that I not only accompanied Heather, Leah, Yvette & Glynns but that I also decided to go through with the piercing!! Wow! What a day of memories...."When in India"...and I feel like it's just one more way I've decided to embrace this country, these people and their culture. Incredible India!!
Numbing Cream!
Positioning of the location dot!
Although it wasn't unbearable, I cannot imagine what this would have felt like without having our noses at least partially numbed. I would have called a cease-fire and would have just had to live with a Sharpie® Dot on the side of my nose! I mean, that wouldn't have been so bad, right!? Sharpies® come in a rainbow of colors nowadays?! ;0)
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She Fearlessly went First!      |
Posing with our new piercings!!
