My grandma once told me (in Chinese) whatever you do, do not get piercings or tattoos. It was the Summer of 2010 and I was in Taiwan visiting my grandparents like I did most years back in high school. I had just gotten back from a salon where the stylist, in addition to cutting my hair and highlight my hair (yes, I know…I thought it was cool back then), gave me a pair of magnetic earrings. They looked like silver gauges except they clamped onto the earlobes to stay on and I thought they…were…awesome. My grandma, on the other hand, did not. After giving her a brief scare, she lectured me on why body modifications were bad and how you should keep your body pure. Obviously, I didn’t take it much to heart, because ten years later, I have both.

      This is the first of a three part series where I cover different “body modifications” I’ve done with part two and three covering tattoos and hair removal. I am by no means an expert on any of these topics, but I want to share my experiences in case anyone is considering something similar.

Earrings

      Earlobe piercings, aside from probably being one of the most normal topic I’ll write about here, also originally had nothing to do with crossdressing. I got them simply because I thought they were cool. After four years of clamping my years with magnetic clip-ons, I decided to finally get the real thing during my senior year of college. The process really couldn’t have been much easier. I found a reputable tattoo shops around me that was running a special, walked in and 50 something dollars and 30 minutes later I had my ears pierced. If you’re shopping around for prices, make sure you get the price including jewelry as often that’ll be another $20 more than just the piercing alone. For reference, the shop I went to in Austin, Platinum Ink, just had a selection of standard earrings that I could choose from included in their price. For anybody on the fence, I would say just get it. If down the line you end up not liking it, you can always take the earrings out and the piercing will close eventually. I have heard that you would most likely be fine going to a mall kiosk (e.g., Claire’s) for an earlobe piercing, but for a one-time $50-$60, why risk the ear infection, just go to a shop.

      For the longest time, I tried keeping my girl mode personality distinctively separate from my normal boy mode activities. To compensate for my feminine closet activities, I tried (and probably failed) at keeping a masculine facade at all other times. As I got older, my two personalities started blending together and I began exploring how I could incorporate some of those feminine characteristics into my everyday boy mode appearance. Changing up my earrings from the basic studs that I was rotating between was an obvious choice. Initially, it was just adding slightly more intricate designs with more angles or feathers. As I got bolder, I moved towards more obviously feminine earrings and started sourcing them from fast fashion retailers like Forever 21. These are obviously not earrings that are made to last, but for $20, I could pick up five or six different earrings that I could add into my rotation. My favorite ones were probably one of a cartoon bunny that were likely made for a teen girl, but they were cute, and I loved them.

Bunny earrings

Bunny earrings

      The ones I wore the most, however, were a pair of lotus flower earrings. This was as feminine as I was willing to push it for everyday activities like going out to dinner or going to work, but they were unique and different enough to stand out. They also for some reason made for great conversation starters as I would always get a ton of compliments and comments when I wore them out.

05/25/2021 Edit

      I meant to update this page a few months back but got lazy. Some keen eyed followers already noticed, but a few months ago I realized my piercing was rejecting (It was probably been rejecting all this time, just I wasn’t paying enough attention). Unfortunately that meant I had to remove it. sadface :( While I’m a HUGE fan of navel piercings, this one has been extremely troublesome.

I do plan on getting it re-pierced though.

Original

      I prefer saying navel piercing when people ask about what piercings I have because I’m still a little bit embarrassed about calling it a belly button piercing for some reason. I guess navel piercing just somehow feels a little less feminine? Unlike the earlobe piercings, this had everything to do with crossdressing and wanting to accentuate my midriff. Getting the piercing wasn’t too much different than the earlobe piercings; I found a reputable shop around me and just went for it. There are apparently belly buttons that are more appropriate for navel piercing and one that aren’t. I was told by my body piercer that mine was on the less ideal side because I didn’t have much skin hanging over my belly button, but that it was still doable. As for cost, I paid $120 with the jewelry after tip which seems more than fair considering the difficulty of the piercing.

       I don’t remember exactly what the pain level was as it was over before I even knew it started, but it isn’t something that I would really worry yourself about. On the other hand, the aftercare, should be extremely high on the list of concerns. For the first few weeks, I had to rinse the wound in a saline solution twice a day. This was especially annoying when I had to do it at the office since I biked to work. I was also told to avoid any physical activities that could aggravate the piercing which meant not being able to go to the gym for about two weeks. For obvious reasons, you also need to avoid swimming for a few months as the wound recovers so I would recommend aiming to get the piercing sometime in the fall to allow the most amount of time before the summer months. Other recommended restrictions included not wearing tight fitting clothes, wiping away sweat from the area on a constant basis and not using normal soap to wash the piercing. All-in-all, the recovery process probably took nine months and even then, I wasn’t sure it had entirely healed. During the recovery process (and I guess even now), I had to constantly make sure the clothes I was wearing wasn’t getting caught on the jewelry (e.g., fishnet tops, corsets, high waisted pants and shorts), had to remind my girlfriend to not graze her arms or legs across my stomach and just in general making sure nothing ever came in contact with the area that could pull on the jewelry and reopen the wound. For all of these reasons, I can’t as easily recommend a navel piercing as I could for a normal earlobe piercing. Don’t get me wrong, I really like the look and it’s always an interesting conversation starter when I’m wearing a crop top or just being shirt-less in boy mode, but there is a significant level of commitment that you must be willing to accept.

      Aside from the physical considerations, you also have to take into account how “acceptable” a belly button piercing is going to be for your ever day normal life. I personally have no qualms letting my vanilla friends know that I have a navel piercing, but this may be different for someone else. Fortunately, hiding the piercing during normal, ever day events is as simple wearing a shirt, which is something you probably should be doing anyway.

To summarize it all up:

Cons

  • Kind of pricey at $100+
  • Maybe hurts. Definitely more than a earlobe piercing.
  • Long healing process (9+ months).
  • Can’t swim for a long time.
  • Have to avoid actions that could aggravate the wound (wearing tight clothes, intense exercising, your significant other grazing your stomach)
  • Potential for infection
  • Run the risk of the piercing rejecting

Pros

  • Midriff looks amazing in a crop top