Taking the Plunge

For more than five years now I have wanted to take the plunge and step outside my conservative pearls and French twist fashion identity with something substantial. Not that pearls and a French twist are bad. I just have been ready for a change.

Both body piercings and tattoos have been issues of interest for me since I was in my teens, but both were somewhat taboo as I grew up. My parents were never big fans. They never out and out banned either, but there were discussions about the permanence; what will that tattoo look like on saggy 70-year old shoulders rather than on svelte 20-year old shoulders. What is the health impact of that ink permanently inserted into your body? Will a body piercing be limiting to career choices? Will I hate it and be stuck with a hole in my nose/lip/eyebrow? Plus there were discussions about whether tattoos and body piercings were honouring our bodies as images of God (no clear answer in those discussions, just lots of questions, opinions and discussion).

In the past five years I have observed the impact of multiculturalism on both piercings and tattoos. Both are increasingly visible in Canadian women. My favourite is the nose stud that Indian women often sport. They are timeless and regal. But often those wearing them are young or in careers that are less conservative than mine. So I have restrained my impulses thinking that I was too old and in a job where it would be offensive.

However, this past year I have met two women in education with nose piercings. And then two weeks ago I ran into a lady leaving a coffee shop in town who was most definitely older than me. She had a nose piercing. It looked great on her face. I stopped her and asked about it. She has had it for 10 years and never regretted it.

So, today in town I took the plunge. I am the proud new owner of a little sparkler in my nose. And you know what? I think that it will look great with a French twist and a fab pair of heels. I might lose the pearls permanently, though.