I'm not sure when I first thought of having a tongue piercing. For a long time, I've loved the look of piercings, but my parents don't, and after my navel migrated twice, they told me I couldn't get any more piercings 'for my own safety'.
At A Glance Author Cherry Contact Cherry@bme.anon Artist some guy Studio rather not say Location belgium I didn't mind that for a couple of years, but I did want several piercings. I met a couple of girls with tongue piercings, and after kissing them, I decided I wanted one for myself! Kissing someone with a tongue piercing when you don't have one is incredible - soft yet hard in juxtaposition, the barbell adds a lot of sensation. As for kissing WITH a barbell.. well, let's just say that's good too ;)
I turned 18 in December, but I still didn't want to get on the wrong side of my parents, seeing as I live with them and will have to for another year. It's their house, and I feel it's only fair I respect their rules while I'm living here, which is why I won't get the nose piercing I've wanted for 4 years until I leave, as despite the fact they are now more tolerant, I know they DESPISE facial piercings :(
HOWEVER I began to want a tongue piercing so desperately that I HAD to convince them. I talked to them a lot about piercings in general, and finally got my dad to concede that I should be able to do what I like with my own body.
I told all my friends of my plans to get my tongue pierced so that I wouldn't be able to back out of it if I got scared, and one told me she wanted to get her nipple done. So we made plans to go in together. I know 4 other people with tongue piercings, and they had all had them done at the same place, so we decided to go there. I went in a week before I was planning getting the piercing to check out prices and jewellery. They said no appointments were necessary.
Before getting it done I read as many experiences and aftercare tips on bme as possible. Some said it didn't hurt at all, some described it as horrendously painful. I was worried - after all, biting your tongue hurts, so I figured the piercing must be at least as bad.
Alex (the girl getting her nipple done) and I went into town together, and took Peter, a good friend, along for support. I said I wanted to do my piercing first to get it over with, and luckily Alex wanted to go second anyway. I'd read that I should get something to eat before getting pierced, so I bought a sandwich, but I was so nervous I only managed a few bites. All I could think about was getting pierced - I felt like I used to when I was younger before getting on a rollercoaster - nervous to the pint of feeling sick, but also excited, VERY excited.
So we went to the piercing studio and told them what we wanted done. The guy got the jewellery ready for us, and told us to go upstairs. The guy who would pierce us was about mid-40's, very heavily modded. I noticed he had a tongue piercing and for some reason this reassured me.
He told me to sit on the bench, and gave me some listerine to wash my mouth out with. I had to rinse for what seemed like forever. My friends were trying not to laugh, and I had to be careful not to spray everyone in the room with listerine!
Eventually the guy said I could spit it out, and when I did I noticed my mouth felt really weird - sort of tingly.
He told me to stick my tongue out and dried it off with a paper towel. He marked the spot to be pierced with a pen and put the clamps on. A lot of people say the clamps hurt, but I couldn't even feel them. He got the needle out and the next thing I knew it was through my tongue! The only problem here was that he shoved the needle UP through my tongue, not down, and I've since read that it's almost impossible to get the angle right when doing it that way round - it is a little slanted, but I don't think it looks bad, so maybe the guy was just really good at what he was doing. Again, I didn't feel ANYTHING. I do have a fairly high pain tolerance, but I was expecting to at least feel a pinch.
There was some sensation as he put the barbell through, but not pain. He screwed the ball on and that was it. It was all over so quickly that I couldn't believe that was all there was to it. The first problem I faced was how to get my tongue into my mouth - I remember looking down and saying "that'll never fit in my mouth!" - of course noone had any idea what I was trying to say! I lifted it up and managed to get the barbell over my teeth. The next thing I did was rush over to the mirror to have a look - and I fell in love straight away! The silver contrasts so beautifully with the red of my mouth. I stuck my tongue out to show my friends, and then watched Alex get her nipple done. I didn't think about it for the next few minutes because I was so fascinated by watching the nipple piercing, and then thinking it was really funny that peter, the only one of us not to get pierced, had to sit down because he felt light headed!
After Alex was done, we went downstairs, paid and decided to go get some food. I was high off all the adrenaline and kept grinning and poking my tongue out at people. I know, I know, it's not good to show off your tongue piercing, but this was my first ever piercing, I loved it and I was excited! I soon learnt my lesson though, because it began to swell, and within about half an hour there was no way I could get it out of my mouth!
The other two bought some fries, but I couldn't figure out how to eat them, so I just got a cup full of ice and sat there sucking on the ice cubes. I also managed to swallow a couple of ibuprofen, not that it seemed to help with the swelling at all.
When we got back to my house I made soup for everyone, but my poor little tongue was so tender I couldn't even eat that - I had problems even getting the spoon in my mouth! I was kind of pissed off at that, especially as my friend had been able to eat pizza the day she got her tongue pierced, but having said that, she is one of the fastest healing people I know. I figured it would take a few days for my tongue to settle down. I had got it pierced a week before school started to give it a chance to do exactly that...
I was wrong! My tongue was swollen for over 3 weeks! Don't freak out if you're reading this - noone else I know had a swelling that lasted for so long- I guess I'm just unlucky! It was annoying, because it would take me FOREVER to eat any food - I had to sit there breaking it into tiny pieces and pushing them to the side of my mouth so I could chew them up. I was constantly hungry, and I couldn't eat noodles because they kept getting caught around my tongue, and they're my favourite food in the world.
I followed the aftercare quite well - I rinsed out with listerine every time I ate, and I didn't have any alcohol for a month after the piercing - that was probably the hardest part! LOL (but they said it could increase the swelling, and there was NO WAY I was taking that risk!)
Another irritating side affect of the swelling was that I had a terrible lisp - much to the amusement of my family and friends, who kept trying to get me to say things. I tried not to speak too much, to give my tongue a chance to rest (not easy for someone as naturally talkative as me, trust me!) but unfortunately I started rehearsing a play the week after I got the piercing - my director kept telling me to speak more clearly, so I pretended I had a cold (let's just say a tongue piercing didn't exactly suit my character)
The swelling gradually went down (there was a point when I thought it never would!) and I was able to eat normally again - and speak!
It's now been 8 months since I got the piercing, and I love it to death! I never downsized the barbell because I never had any problems with this one - I have only bitten down on it while eating twice, and that was while my tongue was still swollen (and man, that was painful!). I don't bang it against my teeth either, and it's so much fun to play with the long barbell, I just kept it :D
Talking of playing, that was something I did WAY too much at first - but it's so much fun! I've learnt to control myself now though, and I usually just suck on it when I'm bored, or thinking about something.
If you're thinking of getting a tongue piercing, I'd say go for it! Yes, it was uncomfortable for a few weeks afterwards, but I've got so much fun out of it that it more than balances out - and I plan on keeping it for a long time yet! I can eat fine now - I don't even think about it, and the only thing that tends to get stuck on the barbell is polos (although that's probably my own fault for putting them over it!)
It was the start of my piercing addiction, and I've since had my nipples and nose done (I talked my dad into it!). Next I plan to get another barbell in my tongue - well, I figure if one is so much fun, 2 should be twice as good.
Feel free to email me with any questions.
Oh, and in case you're wondering, I didn't give the name of the studio because not only did they fuck up Alex's nipple ring, we've since discovered a much better, friendlier, cleaner place, so there's no way I'm giving free publicity to anyone except them!