So it all started when I was 13, back in the summer of 1999, before legendary bubble- gum artist, (pardon my oxymoron), Britney Spears, ever took claim to starting the navel piercing frenzy. I was in grade 7, life was uneventful and puberty was at its worst, and every girl strived for achieving her own unique individuality. I was no different. Luckily enough, my mom graciously supported my need to explore my creative potential, and after the wound from my failed self-piercing attempt healed...we were off to downtown Toronto to get my belly pierced at the great New Tribe @ 232 Queen Street West!
At A Glance Author Alex Contact Alex@bme.anon IAM Gravitys_Zer0 When A year ago Artist Jon Studio New Tribe Studios Location 232 Queen Street West - Toronto In 2001, the body mod syringe punctured my veins and injected its potent drug into my blood, with my nostril piercing. The addiction brewed. Not long after that I was intrigued by another piercing...the Tragus! This is the chunky cartilage piece sticking out the side of you ear. I honored my New Tribe ritual and went to the infamous "Jon" once again. It was more quick, painless and affordable than microdermabrasion! Actually it hurt a bit... but I have come to the assumption that all piercings are the same type of pain just in different intensities; I personally think the type of pain is quite bearable.
So now I had my navel, nose, tragus plus my 4 lobe piercings I've had since I was a wee one, but I'm in high-school now, and its all being done. I'm no longer the kiwi in the basket of mangos, and that's when I discovered BME. I was delighted to discover a site so exclusively dedicated to body modification- and it all intrigued me! But now I had to consider the circumstances...I was pushing the limits with my mom, and long past pushed the limits of my dad, so I needed a piercing that was really easy to hide, and considering I was 16- I wasn't old enough for the really easy to hide piercings. Thus I discovered the frenulum, or the tongue web.
I saved up my lunch money penny by penny and after two months of preparation, I was back at New Tribe making another appointment with Jon. This time I was alone, It was my first piercing that only I knew about...*official sign you know you're addicted, when you do it without thinking about being cool. Well I did want to be the kiwi again, but truly this was a very personal thing, piercings had officially become a passion for me.
Not everyone can get their frenulum pierced because veins sometimes interfere and there is risk of severe bleeding, but I was lucky to have massive web tissue with the perfect spot to pierce! In fact, while I was at New Tribe making the appointment, another girl was getting checked out to see if her lingual frenulum was pierceable, and she had a juicy vein, but mine was good to go...I felt cool. I was relaxed through the whole procedure, Jon told me that this was one of the most tricky piercings to do but it was quite successful and completely painless.
Right after the 14-gage loop went in, I lost speech abilities-in a cool way!! It was crazy, I sounded like I had never pronounced the T, CH or N sounds before and the metal clanked against my teeth like nails of a chalkboard. That's when I went to Starbucks for a "frapa'i'o". The cold drink soothed my mouth flesh!
Luckily the piercing really was easy to hide, although not so much with the loop in, I changed that when I got home- but I don't recommend this seeing how it took me an hour of bleeding and pain and in the end my tongue looked like an inflamed canker soar. And a word of caution- tightening the threaded beads on the barbell in your mouth can prove to be quite the challenge your first time and surprisingly slippery. I would advise you use tools like tweezers to grasp the bead tightly and/or use a tissue/thin towel around your fingers for tightening the bead. This can be harder for some people depending on placement but eventually you'll get the hang of it without tools. Also be sure to tighten it well, I learned this the hard way while chewing linguini and discovering a slightly un-chew-able part. The first meal is always hard...
Speech was only impaired slightly for a couple of days, and in a few weeks after that, the piercing was pretty much healed completely. My one fear was going to the dentist. I read on BME about a girl who was able to hide it by holding her tongue back while at the dentist, but that didn't work for me and my dentist saw it right away, mistaking it for a lesion. As much as I was tempted to go along with it, I told her it was a piercing. Of course she wasn't going to tell anyone like my mom, they never will, but she was kind enough to help me hide it when my mom came in the room to check up on me. Other than that I have kept it hidden for almost a year now. I can leave the jewelry out for up to 4 hours without it closing and I'm quite comfortable with hiding it, no extra precautions are ever necessary when talking or yawning, although it will vary from person to person since all tongues are different- but for the most part it takes some getting used to in the beginning.
My last tip for anyone getting a lingual frenulum piercing or any oral piercing is use acrylic balls! There is a significant difference from metal balls and for anyone concerned about oral hygienic problems, acrylic is much safer! Also don't fear swallowing the jewelry, yeah it can happen and it can freak you out...but it happened to me and I'm alive! Actually, I did gag myself on the floor of a clothing store and I managed to get it out without puking my guts out, rather embarrassing, but usually the worst that's gonna happen if you do swallow it all the way is an interesting bowel movement- or pierced intestines? (You'll live, but don't quote me...)
Anyways, for almost the past year now, I've been going through piercing withdrawal. I have a whole list of body mods I want done: stomach surface, lower spinal, nape, daith, conch, snug and nipple. I'm starting with a horizontal stomach surface about 3 inches below my navel which I'm getting in a couple months since my mom says she'll let me, then who knows what will be next...only time will tell, all I have to say is metal detectors are gonna have a field day with me when I'm through!!