baboggongju ;

Belly Button Piercing Update: June 2014

Tuesday, 24 June 2014 | 1 comments

So it's been almost 5 months since I got my belly button pierced. I got it middle-to-end of February this year. This piercing takes from 6 to 12 months to fully heal, so I still got a long way. By the way it's been looking, I know it won't be fully healed by 6 months.

Around the 4th month mark, I started to clean it less, which I shouldn't have done. I use to do sea salt soaks twice a day and clean it with Original Neutrogena every day in the shower. I went down to 1 soak in the morning and 1 cleaning in the shower, to just cleaning it in the shower. This was probably a mistake because I started to get a keloid at the top of my piercing. Keliods are very common with surface piercings, and my cousin's wife even got one while hers was healing. She told me to crush some aspirin and make a paste with a few drops of water. Keep it on the piercing over night and wash it off in the morning. It started working and my keloid went down slowly. I also heard that some people add some sea salt in the mixture, so I did that and it went down significantly! I'm now back to doing 1-2 soaks during the day and a cleaning in the shower at night.

Another thing that happened was that my piercing has migrated a little to the side. Migration is pretty common as well and there's not much you can do about it. It doesn't help that I have a slanted navel, anyway. I don't mind it, but I know others have gotten it redone for this very reason. I'm sure the keloid had some part in pushing it over to one side.

So no real infection yet, other than the nasty keloid which wasn't very pretty at all. I did accidentally knock it by accident sometimes and it has started bleeding from rough physical activity like dancing and working out, but that was about it. Belly button piercings are not a pretty piercing while it's healing, but give it some time and be patient. Remember that the piercing heals from the outside in, so it may look healed on the outside but it's still healing in the inside!

Here's what it currently looks like. You can see the red keloid next to the top ball, but it has gone down significantly from before. It was crusting and scabbing a lot before I soaked and did the aspirin paste on it.

You can see the piercing clearly slants to one side, but I'm hoping that once the keloid goes away, it wont slant as much. It doesn't bother me that much though. I wouldn't redo it just to get it straight again. The same thing would probably happen.

So this is my 4-5 month update. I'll probably do another one in a couple of months just to see where I'm at again.

Labels: belly button, piercing, tips

Wednesday, 9 April 2014 | 0 comments

Today I'm going to be talking about my belly button piercing. I'll tell you my experience while getting it, where I got it done, and some aftercare information for those who want to get it done. Let's start off by showing you my piercing!

This is what it looks like currently. It's in the process of healing still since I got it only about a month ago.

This is taken right after I got it done.

And this is what it looked like the day after.

Why did you get it done?

For many years, I've always wanted a navel piercing. The first time I've seen a belly button piercing, I knew I wanted one for myself. I think it's really feminine and cute! I love wearing crop tops and showing some midriff, even if some people think "that's so 90s" haha. Plus, I have a bit of a special belly button as it is not quite and innie and not quite an outie, which I adore :) Two of my cousins have one and so I was basically next in line to get one too! In addition to that, I think it's because of the whole breakup thing that got me to decided to just go ahead and do something "slightly" rebellious. (I was in a very 'fuck it' mood that week) I hardly consider it rebellious, but other people have told me that's what they think haha. Regardless, I did it for myself and it was long overdue.

Where did you get it done?

I got it done at New Tribe, downtown Toronto. Three of my cousins have gotten their piercings done there too and it's pretty decent place. It's right across from Much Music, on the second floor, so you can't miss it. Fun fact: it was opened the same year I was born!

What was it like? Did it hurt?

After asking several people about their experience with getting their navels pierced, most of them said that the clamp hurts more than the piercing itself. I went into it not nervous or scared, I was more excited than anything else. I'm not really scared of getting piercings, but getting needle shots do freak me out. Strange, I know.

So the guy that did my piercing is named Shayne. He brought me into the room and told me to roll up my shirt just so it wont get in the way. Pro tip: don't wear tight clothing! Then he had me stand up straight with my legs together and hands by my side, looking straight toward. He asked me if I wanted to get the upper or lower part pierced. I don't have much meat on my belly so he said the lower part would be much easier, but the upper part is still do-able so I chose the upper. He marked off the spots and had me make sure it was straight and if the placement was okay. Then I laid down and he started to clamp the area. The clamp did hurt a bit. He had to do it extra tight for me because I hardly had any flesh to grab onto. The pain for the clamp wasn't too bad though. I would say it's a 5/10. Then he took the needle and told me to take a deep breath. I've seen it being done many times and usually they do it pretty fast, but Shayne took his sweet ass time haha! I felt like he was going super slow and I definitely felt the needle pierce through me (not to scare anyone!). The pain level was like a 7.5 or so. To me, it felt similar to getting a needle injection from the doctor, which hurts in my opinion! But everyone is different. After he pierced me, he slide the barbell in and screwed on the top, and then it was over. The whole process only took about 10 minutes. You're literally in then out.

Afterwards, it did hurt a tiny bit; more like being sore. There would be sudden bursts of soreness here and there but it's nothing horrible. For the next week and a half after getting it done, it was a little sore throughout the day. I especially had a hard time with sitting down because my pants would always push onto it or something like that.

Aftercare information and how I take care of my piercing

So aftercare is very important when it comes to piercings. Navel piercings are very easy to get infected so you're going to want to make sure you clean it was well as possible. It takes roughly 6 months to a full year before your piercing is completely healed and you're going to want to keep cleaning it until it's fully healed. There are different ways you can clean it, but you're generally going to want to clean it 2-3 times a day. Make sure you don't over clean it as well, or that will dry out your piercing.

One way of cleaning is to get this saline solution called H2Ocean Piercing Aftercare Spray. You can get it at most piercing shops and also at Hot Topic or online. You're going to want to spray the area down, then take a Q-tip, spray some solution on that, and go around your barbell on the top and bottom, then dry the area.

Shayne gave me an aftercare card that tells me to use mild soap without colour or perfumes and NOT anti-bacterial. Some examples of soaps you can use are Glycerine soap, Original Neutrogena (which is what I use) and Spectro Gel.

What you're going to want to do is lather the soap on your piercing and area the area to clean it. Then turn and move the piercing around so the soap gets in there to clean out any discharge. After, rinse everything off and make sure you get all the soap from inside out too. You can do this twice a day, and again, make sure you don't over clean because it can cause irritations. I do this every night when I take a shower, along with a combination of the next method, which is sea salt soaks.

So instead of getting the spray, you can make your own saline solution with non-iodized sea salt. Make sure it is not normal table salt because this contains iodine which can irritate your piercing. You're going to want to take a 8oz cup of hot or warm water with 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt. Yes, that is a tiny amount but too much salt will also dry out and irritate your piercing! What I do is put that solution in a shot glass and flip the glass over the piercing so it is submerged in all the water. You're going to want to soak for about 5-15 minutes. I usually just do 10 minutes. After soaking, I take a Q-tip, dip it in the solution and clean the barbell from top the bottom. Then I take another Q-tip to dry the barbell and the area around it. I do this 2-3 times a day, and even after I showered and cleaned it with the soap.

Please do NOT use alcohol on your piercing because it's way too harsh! Sea salt soaks are the best because the sea salt will help it heal faster and clean out an infection. Only do the above methods to clean your piercings, unless your piercer says otherwise. If you think you have an infection or not sure about anything, your best bet is to contact your piercer and ask because they'll know what to do.

Here are some jewelry that I really want to get once mine heals!

I want a full black titanium one for days when I don't want anything that fancy. I think a full black piercing is so pretty and minimalistic.

Belly button jewelry cat by AnnaSiivonen on Etsy! All her stuff are hand-made which is why it's a little expensive but I adore her style! It's so rustic, and I love that it's a cat. She has other ones such as a dog one as well. All her stuff are so unique and pretty.

Arrow Belly Button Jewelry Ring by Azeetadesigns on Etsy. This is a 14 gauge jewelry which means you can use it for your belly button piercing, or eyebrow piercing or just any piercing that requires a 14 gauge jewelry.

Anyway, that's all :) If there are further questions, don't be afraid to leave a comment to let me know and I'll try my best to answer them if I have the answers. In the future, I want an industrial piercing so maybe that will be the next piercing update hehe.

xoxo.

Labels: belly button, piercing, tips, tutorial

Reading Week Comes To An End

Sunday, 23 February 2014 | 0 comments

How sad, this is the final day of reading week. I feel like one week is not enough time to really get relaxed. I've only now started to really enjoy my break and it's already over! This is really depressing. There are a lot of projects that I haven't touched yet, which I know I will regret later on in the week when I'm rushing to get stuff done. Good thing they're not finals.

So what have I been up to this week? Since I didn't have school, most days I just stayed home. However, my aunt and uncle from Australia came to visit for that week. The adults were mostly busy with each other so I didn't get a chance to go shopping with my parents or anything like that.

I fixed up my blog a little bit more. If you've noticed, I changed the size of the body section so I can have large pictures again. My previous layout allowed me to do so and I really like having big pictures. The size I was limited to before was such an odd one, so I decided to just play around with the coding until I got the size that I liked. I'm more happy about this size more.

Valentines day was the Friday I started my reading week. Of course, I didn't do anything, but I made an effort not to let it get me down. It's still really hard for me to deal with the whole breakup, even though it has already been almost 2 months now. I have a feeling I'm not going to be okay for a very long time. Maybe even a year. But I'm not rushing myself and I'm doing whatever I can to just focus on myself and my life. I think that deserves some kind of recognition. I did however, doll myself up to make myself feel good :)

One thing that happened was that I got my belly button pierced! I've been wanting to get it done since I was like 14 or 15, but I never got around to doing it. (Mostly because I didn't have the money for it) This time, I was in a "f*** it" mood, mostly because of the break up, and decided to get it done that week. Sometimes it feels good to be rebellious, but I've also learned that it comes in moderation. That week, I found myself in a situation where I wasn't sure how far I would go, but I slowly realized what my morals were and didn't go through with it. I think it's okay to do certain things, but if you start second guessing yourself, that's a clear sign you shouldn't do it. Needless to say, this piercing was one of the best decisions I've made and I'm totally in loveeee with it. I'm so glad I got it done!

Cleaning it has been really tedious and I'm really scared it will get infected, but I try my best to follow instructions and keep it as clean as I can. I never had any problems with infections when I got my ears pierced, although I know several people that have. I'd like to think that I'm pretty good at taking care of piercings.

My friend Ambar actually came with me to get it done. I haven't gotten to hang out with her in what feels like more than a year. She's one of my oldest and dearest friends and I love her to bits! Talking to her has really helped me not be so depressed because she's just so cute and makes you feel optimistic. I think having those kind of people in your life is really good and everyone should try to be like that.

We went to a cafe that had these huge lofts of bread dessert things. Walking into the place, I realized that I've been there once before, with Charming and his friends. I didn't let that get me down though. We read japanese magazines and stuffed our faces with sweet bread. If you know me, you'll know that I really don't like to eat bread due to the fact that most of my childhood meals were nothing but bread and I'm just so sick of it now. But I really wanted to try this because it looked so pretty and tempting. I ordered a matcha red bean one. Although it lacked in matcha flavour, it was still pretty yummy. It's nice to make new memories in old places.

The following day, my body woke itself up which didn't put me in such a good mood. The adults dragged me out to dim sum, another type of food I'm not particularly fond of. I did enjoy the tea cups they had there, though. Still, it felt like it was too early to be that fancy.

I went and visited Sariah even though we didn't get to hang out for that long. I really needed to get some sea salt to clean my piercing, so we went to the drug store and they only carried a big bag of it. I picked up the new Cosmo and Essie's Forever Yummy because I lacked a red in my polish collection. Here's what it looks like.

It's a little darker in person, but it's a pretty true red. I'm trying to grow out my nails so I can do the whole Louboutin nail thing. I've always wanted to do it even if it's not very practical. We'll see how it goes.

As for the sea salt, I dragged a huge bag home only to realize that I bought the wrong one! And I already opened the bag so I couldn't return it. How stupid of me, right? Now I have a $5 bag of sea salt FOR BATHS that I don't know what I'm going to do with. I don't plan on taking baths with it... Anyway, I got home and asked my brother to tag along with me to go to the grocery store to pick up the right kind of sea salt. Did you know that things in Canada never have labels as to with contains iodine or not?! MAN! I pretty much had to guess but I assume that if it doesn't say anything, it shouldn't contain iodine... At least that's what google says.

(Day of)

(Day after)

Look, I got my hair cut! I've been meaning to cut it and I don't remember when's the last time I got it cut, although I really only cut my hair once a year. I remember for the longest time, I've been bugging Charming to trim my hair after a week or two of getting it cut because I realized the person didn't cut the back the way I wanted it. But that was a while ago and he never got to do it before the whole break up thing :\ So... Yeah. I got it cut so I have new hair before class started again. I really like it and I usually get it cut like this anyway. My hair grows out so much within a year, it's crazy! I miss tying up my hair but you win some and you lose some.

I've been listening to a lot of Marina and the Diamonds lately. She has such good girl power songs that make you feel like you can crush any man with your heels! Currently these are the couple that has been on repeat for me:

"Primadonna"
"Bubblegum Bitch"
"Oh No"
"How To Be A HeartBreaker"

Those songs really helped me get through Valentines day with a breeze. So if you wanna feel like a bad bitch, blast those songs on repeat and I guarantee you'll feel a lot better about yourself!

A fun fact: I found this caterpillar in my soup tonight during dinner. I still drank it haha. That's what happens when asians use so many dried plants as ingredients in their soups! What can I say? Good protein?

Here's a bunch of pictures I've accumulated throughout the week.

Today, I did a walk-through on how I contour my face. It's already written and everything so I'm going to post it sometime this week. Look out for that if you're interested! Until then, I guess I'm just going to try and enjoy whatever is left of my reading week.

xoxo.

Labels: belly button, food, hair, life, nail polish, personal, piercing

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