About two years ago I decided I really wanted my tongue pierced. I didn't know anyone who had it done, so I didn't pursue it. I had asked my parents about it a few times, since I was only 16. They were completely against it, so after a while I gave up. Time passed, and I still wanted it. It took a lot of begging and convincing to get my parents to say yes. One of them threatened to disown me (he never did!), and the other just said she wouldn't go with me, therefor I couldn't have it done. I didn't want to make them mad, so I left it completely up to them. I think my mom knew that I would eventually do it, with or without her permission. She said she wanted to look into it, cause she didn't want me going anywhere that would do it unprofessionally. I agreed to let her choose the place, figuring that would put her at ease.
At A Glance Author anonymous When A year ago Studio The Zebra Location Berkeley, CA I think my mom was more nervous than I was. I just tried not to think about it, that way I wouldn't back out. She finally picked out a place across the bay (The Zebra). One of her coworkers had a daughter who went to the place and said it was really nice. It also helped that this place had been given many awards for being the best tattoo and piercing place on that side of the bay. In my mothers last attempt to get me to back out, she took me down to the place to see if I could watch someone having it done. Fortunately nobody was getting their tongue pierced when I was there, so we left, and made plans to come back the next week to get it done.
As the day approached, I got a bit nervous. I invited a friend along, cause I knew I would need a hand to squeeze. When I walked in that day, I was more excited than ever before. This is what I had been waiting to do for a whole year! I went up to the counter and everyone was very friendly. I told them I wanted to get my tongue pierced and they gave my mom and I some paper work. Next came the fun part of picking out the exact barbell I wanted it to be done with. They told me their standard piercing gauge was 12. (I had read about that before, and heard that it was better to use a 12 gauge rather than a 14 gauge.) Next I had to pick out the balls. This took me forever, but I was set on getting something different than the normal silver balls. I ended up choosing smaller-than-usual sized, blurple (that's the color name, it's a blue-purple color) balls.
After paying for the whole deal (barbells are pretty expensive, plus the piercing fee... it came out to be around $80), they told me to wait for my number to be called. The place was fairly empty since it was getting late, so my wait was only a few minutes. Once my number was called, my friend and I headed to the back room. I was very impressed with the whole set-up. The room was very spacious (especially compared to other piercing rooms I had been in), and it was very clean and organized. The piercer introduced herself and told me to go into the bathroom and gargle some mouthwash. After a few minutes I went back into the room. She told me to sit in the chair and stick out my tongue. She told me that I had a short tongue, and the bar would have to be put in at an angle to keep it back from the gums. She then wiped off my tongue with a paper towel and marked the spot where she planned to pierce. After arguing about it with my friend, I told her it was fine. The whole process went by really fast, so I don't remember exactly everything she did. I do remember her clamping my tongue down with some really scary looking tool. That took my mind off the pain, and I really couldn't feel a thing. I held my friend's hand, and the whole thing was done in less than 30 seconds. I was really pleased when I saw my tongue so I tipped her and went on my way.
The ride home was brutal. I just sat there and sucked on ice the whole hour back home. Although she advised me not to talk, I did, and having such a long bar made it quite strange. All that night I heard the balls clicking on my teeth, and I wasn't able to pronounce S's. The next day my tongue was really swollen, and I could barely speak. Two days after I had it done, I was able to eat. I was surprised at how fast it healed, and I was able to downsize the bar after less than two weeks.
It has been over a year since I got that done, and I still love it. For my teeth's sake, I try to wear acrylic balls as often as possible, but I usually end up cracking them from biting down on them so much. I also wear a smaller ball on the bottom side of my tongue, cause it rubs against my gums less than the bigger balls do. I love this piercing, and have built up a huge collection of barbells. I always buy one of each size (most of the time the places do offer a small and large ball that match). I haven't had any problems with the piercing and would definitely recommend it to anyone considering getting it done.