I have a list of all the piercings I want [four lip, two tongue, two nipple, two navel] but unfortunately for me, I have a psychotic mother who thinks any piercings are atrocious.
At A Glance Author cathi Contact cathi@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Timb Studio Fleshwound Location Wellington, New Zealand. So, I have remained unpierced by a needle, up until now. [I do however have a grand total of nine ear piercings, so I wasn't a total piercing virgin.]
I knew that I was really keen for viper bites, and also that I could hide them from my darling mother, so that's what I decided to first. Plus, it's coming up to summer so getting navel piercings wouldn't be suitable.
So, I enquired about the price at two piercing places in Wellington, and decided to go with the more expensive, but more highly recommended option, Fleshwound.
I was really nervous as I walked in the door, as my friend had just got her tongue pierced [only once] at a cheaper place, and it was still giving her grief. However, once I got in there the attitude was totally professional and everything looked clean. Plus, Timb and the other guy in there both had them done [a bit of a letdown, cause I wanted to be slightly original], so I wasn't too worried.
I filled out all the forms, and had a chat about the aftercare, and then Timb started setting up for the piercing. It was in a smallish room, with lots of naked dolls around the room, providing a nice distraction for me. I came in and sat down in a dentist-type chair, which made me a lot more nervous, as I am terrified of visiting the dentist. However, Timb was still really relaxed and nice, so I started to feel better.
The hygiene was amazing. After every little thing he changed his gloves! I swear they must spend a fortune on gloves. Timb then gave me a little glass of Listerine to mouthwash with, and this was when the butterflies really started to make themselves known. I called in my boyfriend, Ed, who had come with me to hold my hand.
Timb changed his gloves again, and then began marking my tongue. It was some form of ink on a toothpick; a purple cousin of iodine is how he described it. I started to relax again, because I realised that no needles would be going through anytime soon. Sadly, the ink tasted really foul, and as I was having venoms done, a lot of marking was needed. He marked two dots on the top of my tongue, where the barbells would go, the centre of my tongue, so the venoms were even, on the sides of my tongue and also underneath my tongue. By the time he was finished marking my tongue was purple and I was so nervous I thought I would vomit.
He pulled out the clamp, and carefully placed it onto my tongue. Now is when I start squeezing Ed's hand, making a total idiot of myself really. Timb placed a cork under my tongue, and lined the needle up. He told me he'd count to three, on two I was to breathe in, and on three to breathe out. Quite honestly, I can't remember whether he put the needle through on two or three, or even after that. I won't lie, it did hurt a little, but not nearly as much as I expected. It was a short, sharp pain, and I didn't even feel the barbell go through. To me, it hurt less than getting my earlobe pierced with a piercing gun. [Yes, I do now know the evils of guns, but when I was 12 I didn't, okay?]. I pulled my tongue back into my mouth, and had the novelty of a cool metal ball on the roof of my mouth. I felt just fine straight away, but when I put my tongue back out so that he could pierce the other side, I started to feel really dizzy. I have no idea why, but I felt as though I was going to pass out, so I had to lie down for a few minutes. Thankfully, about three minutes later the dizziness passed, so I could get the other side pierced.
Again, I stuck out my tongue; Timb put the clamp on and prepared the needle. Again, he counted to three, and I breathed in and out when appropriate. I felt the needle go through, and although this time I was prepared for the pain, and I think that I either really underestimated it, or it hurt a lot more, as it had started to swell. Personally, I go with the latter. This one hurt about as much as an ear cartilage piercing, done with a piercing gun. Again, I didn't feel the barbell go through.
I pulled my tongue back into my mouth, and started to get used to the novelty of the two bars. I signed a book inside the piercing room, and left a nice comment. I went back out into the office, had the aftercare explained to me once again, and got given a bag of rock salt to rinse with twice a day.
All in all Fleshwound was amazingly professional, Timb was really nice and managed to deal with me being a nervous wreck, and I'm definitely going there for the rest of my piercings.
And as for eating and talking? Honestly, don't plan to talk much or eat anything but soup for about 5 days. I work in a supermarket, on checkout, and I had to work the next day. As you can imagine, it was hell. Most customers looked at me like why is that girl talking so unintelligibly? Why have her managers placed her on checkout if she has such a bad speech impediment?
The only thing I regret about the venoms was not eating beforehand. I had a very hungry 5 days, living on soup, and for the last two days managing noodles, or microwaved hash browns [so they were nice and soggy].
It's a week and a half later, and I can eat, talk, and drink just fine now. I've been doing the salt wash twice a day, mouth washing after everything I eat, drink or smoke and also every hour, regardless of whether I've eaten, as per my instructions. Its healing really well, and is no longer yellow from pus [or something else?] coming from the piercings.
I would definitely endorse these piercings, they're relatively painless, look cool and feel cool. And don't put it off; just do it today, cause tomorrow having needles in your tongue is going to be just as scary.