I got my tongue pierced at 14 gauge to do something with my girlfriend. I liked the way hers felt on me. She seems pretty indifferent about mine. She was able to downsize after about a week without a problem. I tried to downsize from the 3/4 inch to 5/8 inch a couple of times, but each time it started bleeding and swelling after a few days. I thought the tongue ring was fun to have, but the longer one was kind of a pain. It was so much more comfortable when I had the shorter bar in.
At A Glance Author Brian C Contact Brian C@bme.anon When It just happened Location Berkeley CA I went back to the piercer, to ask if my tongue was just too thick to downsize. She said it was probably because the 14 gauge was too thin and was cutting into my tongue. I guess that makes sense. The idea of going up in size got planted in my brain that day, and I kept going with it.
I switched up to a 12 gauge barbell, which cost me about 20 bucks for the new jewelry. I didn't want to pay to get it tapered, and the people at the store said it should slip right in. Everyone else's experiences I've read on the internet say they skip a couple sizes at once with no problem until they start getting into the bigger sizes. Well, even the 12 gauge didn't go in for me right away. I guess my tongue doesn't loosen up like most people's. I tried pressing it through hard, but it was kind of hard to brace my tongue against the pressure and still be aiming straight through the hole. After that I decided I didn't want to pay for a piece of jewelry and tapering that I'm just going to use for a little while before I step up. It just seemed like a waste to have all this stuff sitting around that's too small after you've gone up to the next size.
I went to the local hardware store and picked up a roll of PTFE (plumbers) tape for about $1.50. If you don't know what it is, it's super thin non-adhesive teflon tape. I put a few wraps around the 14 gauge I had and put it back in against a little resistance. After a couple of times putting a couple wraps on, I slid the 12 gauge in. I kept doing it, putting a few more wraps on every few days. It helps to have two tongue rings to do this with so that you can clean one and let it dry out, while the other one is in, otherwise it can get stained from food and get stinky. Once in a while, I would take all the tape off of both barbells to make sure they stayed clean. For variety, I'd put both barbells through the same hole and play with them. The next day, I'd switch back to the wrapping the tape around one. Eventually I was able to put three barbells in at once. All the time, I was slowly going up in size. Just this morning, I slid the 6 gauge in, easy as pie, and in just a month. Most people could probably do it faster than me. I think I just stretch slowly.
Anyway, the tape helped move up gradually, cheaply, and pain free. It's not that I'm afraid of pain, but given the choice, I won't seek it out. I went to the hardware store and browsed around in the fasteners section for a while. I found some nylon bolts, but the threads are pretty irritating to the tongue. I also found a nylon tube that's 6 gauge, kind of like a small flesh tunnel. Now I have a 4 gauge bolt with a smooth shaft through my tongue, which I also bought from the hardware store. I think it's more unique than the everyday barbell, and it's more comfortable than the big balls they usually have on the heavy gauge. I don't know how people get used to them. It's like constantly eating a couple of jawbreakers.
I'll probably rest here for a while, but I'm thinking about moving up in size and putting a flesh tunnel in. I like the idea of being able to have an open hole that I can freak people out by putting stuff through it. If I can ever find a clear threaded tunnel, I think that would work great as a retainer, since I can't have something showing where I work. Right now I use the nylon tube from the hardware store when I'm at work. It's less visible than any retainer that I've seen. Some day, I'd probably like to get up to 00. When I start stretching again, I'll definitely use the same method again, but this time use the 6 gauge stuff I got from the hardware store to wrap the tape around. It starts getting a bit cumbersome to wrap all that tape around a tiny shaft when you're moving up so much.