The story of how I began stretching my tongue is so silly it's hardly worth mentioning. My piercing was only a month old when I lost the top ball from my barbell. Since I had very little money on me, I bought the cheapest jewelry I could find, a package of 3 colorful plastic 14 gauge barbells with one bonus 10 gauge metal barbell. I went into the mall bathroom to change the jewelry, and began to insert the green plastic bar into my tongue. My friend panicked and told me a story of how she'd reacted badly to plastic in her tongue piercing, so I nervously tried the 10ga metal jewlery only to have it slide in effortlessly and with no pain. I was pleased with the slightly chunky look of the larger barbell, and wore that size for almost a year.
At A Glance Author OMGRobots! Contact OMGRobots!@bme.anon When It just happened Artist self-stretched Studio Originally pierced at Gothic Body Location Milwaukee, WI Unfortunately with cheap jewelry you get what you pay for, and eventually the screw threads on my 10ga barbell wore out. I went in search of new jewelry, this time with a little more money. Still, I didn't feel comfortable spending the $20 for one barbell that the body jewelry specialty store was asking. So I went to a mall shop that I'll just call Goth 'n' Go, and fell in love with a 3 pack of barbells, 2 metal (one steel, one green-colored 'titanium', and more on that later) and 1 flexible plastic. They were inexpensive, and internally threaded titanium jewelry seemed like quality, or so I thought. They only had 8 gauge in stock, but I had a taper left over from stretching my earlobes. When I got home, I found I didn't need the taper at all; the 8 gauge barbell slid in easily. On this stretch, i felt a slight tightness around the bottom of the piercing, not quite a resistance, but enough to tell that the piercing was stretching.
Then, the nightmare began. First I discovered that the barbell advertised as titanium was something completely different. If I remember correctly, the coloring does not wear off of titanium jewelry since it's put on by running a current through the metal. This barbell had been tinted with something that wore off within several days. At this point I should have replaced it with something higher quality, but I was still reluctant to spend more money on my piercing. Later that day, however, the cheap jewelry failed me again. I do not play with my tongue piercing much, but the little twisting and motion of my tongue I do occasionally was too much for the low-quality barbell. First, I managed to bite off the bottom bead, snapping the screw-thread right off the ball. I replaced it with a spare ball, but soon the top bead fell off, again leaving the screw-thread in the barbell. I switched to the steel barbell, thinking it would be better quality than this faux-titanium mystery metal, but the same thing happened. Within a few days I'd broken off both balls. Reluctantly, I switched to the plastic barbell. This one too was awful. While the balls stayed put, the barbell itsself started to wear out. Occasionally I do bite down accidentally on the bar, and it began to take on a 'chewed' texture, irritating the inside of my piercing. Still, I was broke so I put up with it. But eventually it became intolerable, so I snapped the balls back onto the broken steel barbell as best I could, eventually wearing it with only the top ball on, being very careful to keep it in place. From new to destroyed, this package of barbells lasted only a month.
The last straw was when I almost inhaled the one-balled barbell. Finally I decided to shell out the cash for decent jewelry. I went to the closest store that sells body jewelry, which happily is a reputable one, and paid $25 for a barbell. In my haste though I didn't double-check the size, and picked up a 6 gauge one instead. Well, my first two stretches had been effortless, so I tried to insert the barbell but with no luck. I had no 6 gauge taper, so I spent that night trying to slowly work the barbell through my tongue. It went about halfway, then met with resistance in the center of my tongue. I felt that it would be possible with a taper, but I had no taper and no money. So I gave up and went back to my single-balled 8 gauge barbell. The memory of almost inhaling the thing was still there, though. I was afraid to sleep for fear I'd breathe the thing in, so I stayed up all night, then screwed up my courage to re-insert the thing. Again, no luck. Finally, that night, I was cleaning the small brushes I use for painting tactical miniatures. I noticed the metal cuff holding the bristles on was about the same size as my 6 gauge barbell, so I boiled a brush until the bristles fell off, then pulled off the wooden handle. I knew it was a terrible plan, but still I went to my bathroom and started pushing the improvised taper through the hole in my tongue. It went in slowly and with some pressure, but with no pain until the very end. As it reached the point where I would begin following it with the barbell, I felt a popping, stinging sensation, and suddenly the tip of my tongue went numb.
Let me repeat: I FELT A POP AND MY TONGUE WENT NUMB.
I don't think I've ever been more terrified. If you've ever used Ambesol or another oral anagelsic, it was as if I'd put a drop of that on my tounge. I stood in front of the mirror with this stupid piece of a paintbrush sticking out of my tounge, just gawking at what an idiot I'd been. I'd just stuck this filthy, non-sterile thing into my tounge, torn the inside of my piercing, and possibly caused myself horrific nerve damage. I had enough presence of mind to follow the 'taper' with the barbell, knowing that allowing the piercing to close could trap an infection from the dirty metal.
And now here I sit with a 6 gauge tounge piercing. Within minutes of inserting the barbell, I regained feeling in my tounge which allows me to hope that the numbness was a reaction to the sudden tearing of my tounge, rather than any sort of nerve damage. I can move my tongue normally and my taste seems unchanged, which is also reassuring. However, although the stretch only stung sligthly while I was doing it, I now feel an ache in my tounge I almost can't stand. The sad thing is I don't even like how it looks now. I'm a fairly small-boned person and I think it's too large for my features. Also, at this size, for the first time it's obvious that my piercing is slightly off-center. This was done on purpose, as the veins in my tounge run right down the center, but it's really visible and unattractive at this gauge. In the morning, I'm going to go downsize to 10 gauge which will hopefully allow my piercing to heal with little pressure on it, and allow my sea-salt soaks to get inside the piercing and prevent infection. After the pain of this stretch, I don't think I will go larger than that as I don't ever want to experience anything like this again.
The reason I am sharing this story is to say this: Don't try to stretch on the cheap. Always buy high-quality jewelry, and a taper to insert it with. Pay attention to the size jewelry you're buying, especially if you're on a tight budget. You might get lucky, as I did the first time I stretched with cheap jewelry. Or, it might end up like my most recent experience, with an uglified, uncomfortable peircing and a risk of infection and/or permanent damage. Either way, you'll find yourself spending more in the long run as you have to keep replacing broken or inappropriate jewelry. I could have spent $20 a month ago, instead I spent $12 and ended up having to spend money to replace the cheap barbell, and will again have to spend more than I can afford to downsize my peircing for healing. More money out of my pocket plus all the joy of awful pain, panic, and possible nerve damage. Remember, you get what you pay for, and what looks cheap usually isn't worth it. And finally, if something seems like a stupid idea, it probably is.