The power of a piercing

By Shyla Lensing

I’ve wanted a nose piercing for a long time. At first, it was a step in my planned senior year glow-up — no braces, no glasses and a piercing to the nostril. It felt cool and careless, two traits that had never quite fit me (example A: My name is SHYla). I hoped it would make me feel different and new, an adult woman leaving behind her awkward tween body.

Around 19 percent of women who have piercings in the U.S. have their nose pierced – across the internet, nose rings and studs, like other forms of body art, are declarations of individuality, adventure and new beginnings. They’ve become even more popular recently, with piercing studios across the U.S. seeing increased requests for nose ornaments.

When I finally confessed my nose ring desire to my mother, she was surprised. One, she didn’t think I was hygienic enough to keep it from getting it infected, and two, she was shocked I didn’t know the significance of nostril piercings, or the nathani, in our Indian culture.

Nose piercings have a long history, thought to be a part of South Asian culture for thousands of years. Though nostril rings and studs have also been recorded in indigenous African and Southern American cultures, they were first documented by Mughal emperors in the 16th century, and some note they’d been described in Sanskrit text decades before that. In India, especially Hindu communities, they served the purpose of signifying a woman was of marriageable age. Or, they gave women a cultural identity, as nose piercings differed by religion, region, caste and class. No matter what the reason was behind the piercing, over all parts of the subcontinent, they held power, giving Indian women a sense of strength and agency.

I didn’t think too much about what my conversation of whether the increased popularity of nose piercings in Western beauty has glossed over their history and symbolism.

Last month, I took a leap of faith and finally went into a piercing studio with my mom and sister. Sitting there, paper work