For as long as I can remember, well maybe since I was 10 or 11, I wanted to get my tongue pierced. My friend and I had planned on going together when we were old enough, and when our parents would allow it. It seemed like such a cool piercing to have, and I knew someday I would get it. I expected it to be my 18th birthday, because my mother was not fond of any piercings other than the ears, and she didn't even allow me to have those until I was 9.
At A Glance Author Angela Contact Angela@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist Some Girl Studio Scotia Tatooing Location Dartmouth, Nova Scotia One day in June 2006, my sister suddenly became obsessed with getting her lip pierced. My mothers initial reaction was a stern "No." But with some major nagging she always gets what she wants, and eventually my mom gave in, saying she would take her to get it done. I wasn't going to sit back while my year younger sister got her lip pierced, so I knew I had to take action to get what I wanted. Now, with my mother having dug a hole to deep to crawl back out of, she had to let me get my piercing also. The deal was that we'd pay ourselves and she'd come with us after we finished school that june. At this time I was 16 and just getting out of grade ten, while my sister was 14 and leaving grade 9. I was very excited and that deal seemed amazing, considering I'd have imagined my mom getting her own lip or tongue pierced before she'd ever let us. My sister on the other hand was not so pleased, she wanted it before school ended, so she could go and show all of her friends. Therefore, yet again my mother let in and we ended up going one friday evening, a week before our actual grading day. Unfortunately, my friend of whom should have been coming with me that friday afternoon could not convince her mother to let her go.
I remember being on the bus that day heading into Scotia Tattooing in Dartmouth. I had butterflies in my stomach and I was probably shaking just a bit, mainly because of what I heard could happen. Although, I wasn't going to let fear stop me, I wanted this for too long and I was going through with it for sure. We walked into Scotia and was greeted my a very normal looking woman probably only in her early 20's. I had expected a weird tattooed up guy with a beard or something. It was a relief. She asked us what it was we wanted, we told her, and she said there would be a short wait because other people had gotten there before us, and it was on a first come first serve basis, with no actual bookings . We sat down and waited. I could hear the buzzing of someone getting a tattoo as I looked through a book of art work that had been done on previous customers.
About 15 minutes later the girl came back out and said she was ready for one of us. I let my sister go first, because she thought going second would make her chicken out. I didn't mind waiting to be second. She left into a back room, and reappeared in a short maybe 10 minutes with a silver lip stud. I was feeling very confident now, knowing that I hadn't heard her scream and she wasn't crying on her way out. I knew if she could handle that so well, then I could handle mine fine, if not better.
I follow the girl into the same room my sister had come out of just minutes before. There was what looked like a dentist chair, and a big mirror, with a sink below it. I sat down on the chair and she passed me a small paper cup with some mouthwash in it, and timed 30 seconds before I could spit it out. That 30 seconds seemed like an eternity, the mouth wash stung badly and it felt like my whole mouth was peeling inside. Next she told me lay back in the chair, and explained exactly what she was going to do. First she dried off my tongue with paper towel which felt gross. Then she continued by getting out a clamp and positioning it in the center of my tongue. I had always been told by friends that already had their tongues pierced, about how much this clamp hurt, but I didn't feel much, it wasn't bad. Then she made me hold the clamp as she got a needle out. It was about 4 centimeters in length and was sealed in a tight package. I knew it was clean and never used before. She put some sort of gel on the needle, I guess that made it go through easier. I watched her bring the needle just above my tongue, she asked me if I was ready and I said, "Yes." She told me it might hurt a bit, I braced myself for the worst. As she lower the needle towards my tongue I closed my eyes, and found myself in half a laugh as it started to go through. I could feel the pressure and then a pop as it broke through the other side. Surprising there was no pain at all, I didn't feel a thing. It was amazing!! I waited as she put the silver barbel in, and struggled for only a moment to twist the bottom ball on.
I got up and looked at it in the mirror. It looked as cool as I always imagined it would. I expected to be able to feel a big bar in my mouth but there wasn't anything uncomfortable about it. I walked out to show my mom and sister. My mother cringed at the first look, my sister didn't really care she was more interested in her own lip ring. We paid and left, I was very unaware of what was ahead of me.
The next week or so was brutal!! The actual piercing was nothing, but the after effect was insane. My tongue swelled up to the point where it was hard to close my mouth completely and the only thing I could eat was small chopped up pieces of hot dogs that only went down swallowed whole. The mouthwash turned my tongue an ugly green, and talking was very hard, all my words came out weird. Then when the swelling started to go down, the puss came. It was disgusting, if I moved my tongue a certain way puss would come out, and I had to wipe it off with paper towel. Not to mention I had to sleep practically sitting up to make sure I didn't choke on my tongue.
That was the extreme of what I experienced and it only lasted about two weeks, by the forth week it was healed and thats when I changed the barbel for the first time. Everything after that was a breeze. Its been about 5 months now and I'm still loving it. I have swallowed a few plastic balls, but with my collection of barbells I always have a back up. I highly recommend everyone who has thought of getting their tongue pierced to do it. The procedure doesn't hurt and even the after effects are completely worth the end result. Thats the end of my tongue piercing story...If you have any further questions about my story, or anything you might want to know, please feel free to e-mail me!! :)