Ever since I was a little girl, I loved tongue piercings. Scary Spice (my favorite Spice Girl) had a tongue piercing, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I never realised I wanted one myself until my sophomore year in high school.
At A Glance Author Ashley Ellen Contact buriedwreckage@tmail.com IAM buriedwreckage When Six months ago Artist Mike Studio Jimmy's House of Pain Location Illinois My friend Amy was talking about getting her own tongue pierced. She "knew a guy," and I thought she was nuts. I didn't think it was going to be safe, sanitary, or a good idea at all, the lot of it. But she eventually swayed me into agreeing to get a piercing of my own, a tongue piercing. She promised me that if the guy she knew, Mike, was dirty or unprofessional at all, we wouldn't get it.
Sidetracking - it's probably not very safe to just have "some guy" pierce you. I ended up very lucky with a completely professional guy who just does freelance work. Make sure you check out your piercer!
An appointment was made, and the cost of the piercing was $30. So I saved up the $30 that would pay for the piercing, and I got more nervous as the date of our appointment drew nearer. I told a few friends of mine what Amy and I were getting done, and that seemed to pressure me more into actually going through with this, even though the whole idea scared me.
Eventually, the piercing date rolled around. Amy and I went over to our friend Jimmy's house after school. We knew we should eat before because it would settle our stomachs a bit, and we probably wouldn't be eating at all afterward. Jimmy was getting his cartilage pierced, which was a huge deal for him, and he kept freaking out. That made me laugh a lot, but it also made me even more nervous.
Finally, Mike came. He set up shop in the basement (which was clean, by the way, not any type of scary, dingy basement). Amy decided she wanted to go first, which was more than fine with me. Mike sat us all down and explained the procedure. He showed us that all his jewelery and needles were sterilised, and he explained aftercare.
He put on gloves, put some nasty alcohol or cleaning stuff on them and also on his clamps. I'm not sure what it was, but it tasted terrible. We washed our mouths out with mouthwash, and Mike checked our veins and such. Amy was first, so she made me hold her hand. Mike said that we would breathe in, and on our breath out, he would pierce us. So Amy breathed in and then out, and the needle went through easily. Amy didn't grab my hand too hard, so I thought it wouldn't be very painful.
My turn. I got into the chair, and clamps went on. That was probably the most painful part. Mike had to keep them tight enough so our tongues wouldn't slide back, and that pain was all I could think about. Once he got the needle out and ready, I was freaking out.
In the basement, there are mirrors on the wall, so I could see what was going on. I watched as Mike pushed the needle through my tongue, and I really couldn't feel much. It felt like a tiny pinch. But wow, did putting the jewelry through hurt. It didn't take very long to get the ball screwed on my barbell.
Mike said I had bled a tiny bit, so I spit it out, and I didn't bleed anymore. I checked out my tongue in the mirror. It was so cool, and I was so glad I had gone through with it.
We were told not to smoke, play with it, or chew on it for at least a week. Instructions were to rinse our mouths out with watered down mouthwash and chew on ice for the rest of the night, to help keep down the swelling. However, my teeth are too sensitive to cold, so my tongue ended up swelling.
My tongue swelled up a bit for the next two days, but it didn't really interfere with my speech. It's been over six months, and my mother and father still have not noticed it. Awesome. It did get a bit infected right after I got it pierced, but that cleared up pretty quickly, within a week. Now, I can take it out for three days, and it won't close up. Three's the longest that I've tried, and I don't really want to risk it.
I love my tongue piercing. I'm glad it was my first real piercing. It hurt even less than my ear piercings, and I recommend this piercing to anyone who wants to get it. In fact, I am thinking about getting venoms along with my center. I really do enjoy it, and it's a fun piercing for people to discover. Constantly, my peers at school will be watching me talk, and they'll look at me funny and then point into their own mouths. I've now become so used to just sticking my tongue out at this. Adults really get a kick out of it, and my peers, even more.