I've wanted to get something pierced for a long, long time. But, I could never get up the courage to get it done. Last May I got my first tattoo and then in September I got a second. This year in May I delivered a beautiful baby girl by c-section AND I was still was absolutely terrified to get anything pierced. I decided against getting my navel pierced right now because I'm a dancer and my outfits would rub against the piercing and also it's advised that you don't swim until it's healed and I don't handle heat well so I HAVE to be able to swim during the summer.
At A Glance Author Kayla Contact znny1031@aol.com When A month ago Artist Tom Barrier Studio Raz a Tat Tatoo Location Bennington, VT Finally my fiance, who has his tongue pierced convinced me that it would be fine. I was in the room when he got his done and it didn't look that bad, but then again he seeks out pain, so I wasn't convinced that he was a reputable source of "not hurting" information. So I came here to BME and read every single piercing experience. A majority of them said that it didn't hurt that bad and that the discomfort afterward only lasted a few days, if that. So with $40 in my hand and not a whole lot of courage I got in the car and headed to Bennington.
I walked in the shop nervous as could be and I walked up to the counter and asked Tom if there was any chance that I could get pierced today (he was doing a tattoo.) He said I could as soon as he finished up the tattoo that he was doing. At this point I got VERY nervous (I had been secretly hoping that he would say no.) Then I thought "Well, I could always back out of it, there's only 1 other person here." Just then about 5 people walked in and I knew that I couldn't wimp out in front of all these people most of which had MANY tattoos and piercings. So, after the tattoo was finished Tom set up the piercing room and had my fiance and I come in. Tom knew how terrified I was because we had talked about it a lot and he had always told me that a tattoo hurts worse than any piercing until you think about the piercing hurting. So now I'm thinking of the piercing hurting and I'm even more terrified that I'm not gonna handle it and I'm gonna pass out or something. But, then he told m e that it would be OK and it would be done soon.
He had me sit down and he gave me a paper towel to put on my lap to catch the drool. He then had me rinse out my mouth with Listerine for 30 seconds. He then had me stick out my tongue so that he could mark it. I have a very short tongue so it was hard for me to stick it out far enough. He then put the forceps on which just felt like a lot of pressure. By this time I was drooling everywhere. Then he told me to close my eyes so that I wouldn't see the needle. He told me he would count to 3 and then there would be a quick pinch and I'm thinking "yeah right a quick pinch my butt." He counted to 3 and guess what? There was a quick pinch and then he put the barbell in and screwed on the ball and it was done. WOW!! that wasn't bad at all. He then had me rinse out my mouth with more Listerine. Then he had me flip my tongue up so that he could look at the piercing and make sure everything was OK. That was so hard. I thought that I was moving my tongue the way he wanted me to and it wasn't even close:)I then stood up and looked in the mirror at my newly pierced tongue. It looked so cool!
It's now been about a month since I got it done. It took me awhile to re-learn how to do certain things with my tongue like stick my tongue out, lick my lips, etc. I still can't blow raspberries, but I'm sure I'll learn eventually.
I had a lisp for about 5 days and then it was fine. The worst pain was the morning after I got it done, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be. I'm going to get my navel pierced this fall as well as getting my backpiece started. Fear didn't scare me off and don't let it scare you. People are telling the truth when they say it's not that bad. Just go to a reputable piercer that you trust and everything will be just fine.