Well, I kinda just *knew* as random as that is. At the age of 9 I had my first tattoo figured out, 11 years later I finally started it. The tattoo was a large piece on my back of skeletal angel wings. I had the piece completely paid for and the artist was really good at what he did. Getting appointments with him was hard, so I often hung out at the shop waiting for no shows. I became friends with everyone there and often helped out with the cleaning. A piercing apprenticeship was unavoidable by this point, haha. Long story short, after a year, 30 hours of tattoo work and halfway through my apprenticeship my back was finally finished.
Getting an apprenticeship can be difficult. You need to do your homework and make sure you get into a good shop (clean, friendly, professional), it is also a lot of hard work. I basically ran the shop where I apprenticed. First to arrive, last to leave. Cleaning EVERYTHING (windows, carpets, tattoo/piercing stations, tubes), answering phones, making appointments, customer service, ordering supplies, customer paperwork, sterilizing tubes and piercing equipment, driving to the store for supplies and food for the artists, setting up for the artists and cleaning up their stations when they are finished. I was always moving. It's nothing like what you see on t.v, although, there is a lot of drama in shops. Also, some shops will make you pay for an apprenticeship (in the thousand dollar mark sometime), and if you don't work your tail off or supplies run out on your watch, you are gone, no refunds. Becoming a piercer took EVERYTHING I had in me physically and mentally. I had to move back in with my parents! I could go on and on about my apprenticeship, it took a lot of hard work but in the end it paid off!
Septum piercings are one of the hardest piercings to get straight because the body is naturally not symmetrical. Plus some people just have weird noses. So yes, get it professionally done!
Stretching a septum is a lot different from stretching an earlobe. Septum piercings are done in the tip of the nose near cartilage, so you need to be careful. You should take it Very, Very slow. I personally advise 2-4 months between stretching at the very minimum. During this time it is important to do Sea Salt Soaks... and I do solely advise sea salt for septum piercings (5 minutes, twice a day).
As far as what to use to stretch it, I advise surgical steel crescents, not a straight taper. The surgical steel is important because, I'm sure you can imagine what kind of things manifest in your nose, using steel will prevent bacteria from gestating on the jewelry the way it will with acrylic, plus the jewelry is just easier to clean. Use O rings from a smaller size than what you are stretching to, you do not want the O rings too tight against the area. Ingrown O rings suck and you need to make sure the stretched area is actually getting cleaned and it needs to breathe. After soaking, use a Q-tip to remove any build up crusties and give the entire nose a proper cleaning. If you don't, the smell is horrific and you smell it all the time!
Same rules apply as always. Listen to your body. You will know when enough is enough. The largest I had in my septum was a 4 Gauge, and it was not pretty. Literally, I had to choose between being a Mod or a girl. It took up my whole face! I let it close up a bit, I can wear a 6 just fine, but I choose to wear a 10. So don't get carried away with going bigger just to go big, get to a size that looks good on you!
