It was an odd morning. I woke up desperate for change, bored with having been at college for such a long period without a break. After breakfast, I was flipping through the Erie County phone book absentmindedly - I can't even imagine what I was possibly looking for - when I flipped past the page with all the piercing studios on it. I'd been considering a tongue web for several weeks, and this seemed like the right time. Mods are always a nice change. I called up the Cowpok and got one of the apprentices on the phone. I didn't know if they would actually do it.
At A Glance Author spacepixie Contact spacepixie@bme.anon When A month ago Artist Brett Studio Cowpok Location Buffalo, NY "Will you pierce a tongue web?"
"Hold on. *muffled murmurs* Yeah, sure."
"How much?"
"Hold on. *muffled murmurs* $40 for a CBR, $50 for a barbell."
"I'll be in."
My friend Jay had incredible timing, because after about three minutes of me searching for a ride, he asked me if I wanted to go to the Guitar Center with him. I jumped at the chance. "Wanna take me to Cowpok first?!" Of course he said yes. He'd never even been in a piercing studio before, and I promised him that as long as Brett gave it the go-ahead, he could watch. And so I headed off with Jay and Joe into the city.
When I got there, Brett was sitting behind the counter with the usual "what-the-hell-do-you-want" look on his face. I'm not intimidated, so I walked right up and announced, "I want to get my tongue web pierced."
The apprentice, who'd been standing off to the side, recognized my request immediately. "You're tongue web girl! I wanted to ask you where you'd heard about that. So few people have them." I just smiled and replied, "BME!" He said that that was what he'd expected. He took my paperwork and retrieved a Dixie cup of mint Listerine for me. I looked at it, sighed, and asked if I could smoke first. Almost everyone working came outside with me to smoke, which was pretty nice. I was the only one there, and it was really nice that I wasn't alone out there (neither Jay nor Joe smokes.) After a Marb Light, I rinsed, and Brett asked me if I was ready. I said I was, and asked if I could bring the boys back with me. He said it was fine. As we walked back, Jay asked me if I was nervous. I laughed and said, "of course not!" I didn't feel I had anything to be nervous about.
Brett unwrapped all the tools and got out the jewelry I'd chosen - a 14 gauge, 3/8" SSS microbarbell. The tiny balls on the microbarbell were necessary to keep the piercing as comfortable as possible. (Can you imagine really big balls on a tongue web piercing?! How would you be able to talk?!) He dried my tongue off with gauze and marked the placement as far back on my web as would be comfortable. I opened wide and stuck my tongue outwards and upwards for the clamps (this was my first time with clamps, and they were nothing - I don't understand what some people complain about.) I grabbed Jay's hand (it's a security thing for me, you know, just in case it hurts this time!) Then he pushed the curved needle through. Again, no pain. Of course, there's always the sensation of metal passing through flesh, but nothing more than inserting or removing an earring. I sat there for a minute, unable to rest my tongue or jaw because of the long needle between my tongue and my tee th, while Brett picked the jewelry up off the cart. He slid the barbell through and began to screw on the ball.
Or so I thought.
"Oh, sh*t." He said. "Keith, put some gloves on and get in here."
Keith's the head piercer at Cowpok. I was thinking, "oh man, what got screwed up?!" I was alarmed, but not really worried yet, and I was really in no shape to ask what the heck was going on. Luckily, it turned out that Brett just needed an extra pair of hands, because he was having trouble screwing on the barbell. Apparently my jaw was getting a little tired and starting to involuntarily close up a bit, although I didn't really feel sore at all. He just wanted someone to hold my jaw open while he fastened the jewelry. So I've got four hands in my mouth - Keith holding it open and Brett using both hands to screw on the ball. Yeah, that was comfortable. I kept seeing Jay and Joe trying to peek over their shoulders to see all the action.
Finally, it was done. I checked it out and I was pretty happy with it. I paid (I always tip, seems like a lot of people are neglecting to do that) and skipped off with my aftercare sheet. I should start a collection of those, heh. It was really fun showing my new piercing off. People were either really grossed out or really intrigued, and, as always, there was a lot of "why'd you do it?" and "did it hurt?"
Unfortunately, I inadvertantly did a really bad thing that night - I was really drunk and I ended up kissing someone, which is definitely not good on a six-hours-old piercing. But other than that, I was doing really well with the aftercare, rinsing with antiseptic Listerine (the mint kind) after every smoke and every snack. I had very little swelling, but definitely a little of that white blood cell buildup - the kind you get when you get a cut in your mouth. Oral traumas don't scab, they turn white, so I knew that was normal. But soon, I started to get some nasty plaque buildup that was really hard to remove. A toothbrush just wasn't strong enough to pry the stuff off, and I've heard of people scraping with their fingernails, but that was tough for me for two reasons: one being that I had a short, straight barbell that we really deep back in my web and nearly impossible to get to, and the other being that I had acrylic nails. But even after I ditched the nails, the cr ap still wouldn't come off. It looked pretty gross if you noticed it, and it felt even more disgusting than it looked, and it was really starting to bother me.
Frustrated, I headed down to Modern Tribalism in Syracuse today - I'm home on spring break. I explained my plight to Doug, one of the piercers there. He asked to see my piercing, and I opened my mouth and lifted my tongue, and he freaked out. "Oh my God, where'd you get that done?!" He asked. I immediately assumed that it was either crooked, migrating, or infected somehow without me realizing it. Then he explained, "you can't have a barbell in a tongue web piercing! You're already having problems with plaque - pretty soon that plaque that's on the outside of your barbell is going to move into the threading, and it can basically lock the barbell up, and the only way to get it off is to cut it out with wire cutters."
An image flashed in my mind of the size of wire cutter needed to split a 14 gauge wire. I wouldn't want those things anywhere near my tongue. I wasted no time picking out a 16 gauge, 1/4" SSS CBR. (Yes, I'm definitely worried about migration with the small gauge, but I was worried with the 14, too.)
Doug took me into the back to change the jewelry. I rinsed, and we talked at great length about how disappointed I was in the Cowpok while he got some tools ready (namely, several different pairs of pliers.) He snapped on his gloves, and we immediately discovered that my barbell was either screwed on way too tight or already beginning to lock up. It took an uncomfortable half-hour of poking, prodding, and pulling to get that thing out.
I was so upset that I never knew what I know now. It makes perfect sense, too - a friend of mine with a center tongue piercing mentioned that her bottom ball often gets stuck and she has to unscrew the top one to remove the barbell. I'm glad I found out now, not later. This goes to show, though, that sometimes the most reputable studios might not be as good as you think (Buffalo's Cowpok) and sometimes they really do deserve all the hype (Syracuse's Modern Tribalism). Not to mention that Doug at MT was a heck of a lot more willing to listen to my problem and answer all my questions than either Brett or Sarah was at Cowpok. I found both Brett and Sarah (who pierced my hood two months ago) to be uncomfortably dismissive, but I trusted my heavily modded friends' reccommendations of them and the studio. (Much as you may love and trust your friends, trust your gut first and foremost.) Next time I get pierced, I'm not going back to Cowpok. I'm going to either check out the guy Doug told me about at the former N-V-S studio in Buffalo, or wait till I get back home and let them handle it at MT.
I can't wait for my dentist to see this one! =)