I really think that nose studs are cute. They’re not as out there as lip piercing, but they’re just a little bit rebellious. My yoga teacher has one, my cousin has one, and my friend Lauren has a cute silver ring (normally I prefer studs over rings, but hers is adorable). I really, really wanted to get one, but research on the internet made me hesitate. Half of the people out there said that it’s not that painful, heals in a month, and is great. The other half describe it as excruciating, prone to infection, and can even lead to getting staph in your brain.

So, I did the smart thing: I went and talked to a piercer. After getting the reassurance that I needed, I went for it! And here’s the deal: basically, the piercer pulls the nostril taut with forceps, then puts the needle through (it’s a corkscrew-ish piercing needle, and because it’s your nose, you can see it go in) and then pops in the stud. I have a decent pain threshold, so it wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t painless either. It’s more of a burning sensation, and you’ll definitely bleed. For me, the pain dulled to an ache, and the area around the stud swelled a little. My friend Lindsay thought it was cute, and her husband Brian agreed that it suited my “spunky” personality. My husband hates body piercing (“why pay someone to hurt and mutilate you?” is his theory), but he was resigned to the fact that I was going for it. It was totally exciting…

AND THEN

The excitement wore off. The frustration of having to sleep with a band-aid on my nose and stay off my left side kicked in. I realized that I wouldn’t be able to swim on my beach vacation next month. Make-up becomes an issue. You have to be really careful anytime you wipe or dry your face. Was it possible? Had I made a mistake? Was my husband, gasp!, actually right?

In a word, yes. The stud ended up being bigger than I wanted. It sat funny on my nose (although I think this was more a result of the swelling than any sort of piercing error). It hurt. It bled. It was too much work. But most of all, it set off a compelling inner voice I didn’t even know I had. Something inside of me was insisting that I had made a mistake, had ruined my face, that I looked wrong, that I needed to take it out RIGHT NOW! So I did. I had a nose stud for about 12 hours. In the end, I basically paid for a bloody nose, and now I’m left with a healing scab. But at least I went for it, and now I know for sure that it’s not for me.