Mel B (aka Scary Spice) will always be the model of the first tongue piercing I've ever seen. I was 10. It was weird and I never quite got it. But then again, a decade ago - piercings were still very much undercover and when you're 10, body modifying were the last thing on your mind. Sure you had your ears pierced and it was a joy when you're a growing little girl to be able to wear earrings and be all dolled up - but that was as far as it'd go with putting holes in your body. It just never even occurred to you that you could actually.
At A Glance Author brackish Contact bugtheflea@gmail.com When A week ago Studio Malaysia Location Southeast Asia Little girls grow up in due time though, no?
I was 16 when I got my first piercing. After much pestering, my mother finally gave in and even gave me the cash to go have my navel piercing done. It's funny how much of us start with the navel with the whole preconception that it's the safest and the least painful. I would like everyone to know how not true it was for me cos not only did it hurt it took so long to heal that at one point it drove me crazy.
I never thought about piercing my tongue though. The fact I had braces played a part and I felt a freak accident would happen and someway or another it'd get caught in between the brackets and it'd be a bloodbath in my mouth. That and I'm from an Asian family - piercings weren't exactly the best thing to bring home to a bunch of square parents, you know? Especially the tongue. God forbid the tongue.
I decided I'd get it done after my braces either ways. If my mom could stand a septum (I use retainers, never the ring - my dad might go berserk if I wore the ring), the double nose studs, having my ears enlarged to a 00g, my double navel and nipple stud - she can't possibly go ape over a tongue piercing. Plus I'm close to being 20 and I'm responsible so all I remember was leaving her hints of my wants to do it and how I've made an appointment with my piercing one week prior to the date.
There were no objections.
So I figured it was fine.
The day came and I met my piercer after school. As with most piercings, it's all adrenaline and anticipation. The worst part of getting pierced is the period when the piercer's getting his "tools" ready. That's when your heart races and you always feel like kicking yourself for having want to do this in the first place.
I never liked needles. I probably never will.
ANYWAYS, after he mark my tongue he made me lie down. As I kept my eyes close and he clamped my nervous tongue, without warning he pierced me and to be honest - it's the least painful piercing I've gotten so far (worst being the septum - that was the sharpest jab I've ever felt in my life). The worst part of the whole process was really when he put the jewel in and that alone wasn't much of a pain due to the face you were more occupied with the thongs clamping your tongue - lets just say you'd just be too distracted to care.
But with every good thing (ie: piercing being painless) there comes a kick in the ass (like how the septum piercing was hell but the healing was a breeze) - the healing of a tongue piercing is ... not fun. And I really mean not fun. You can't talk, you can't eat and you're hungry 24/7. And if you try to be a smart ass and chew, you'd end up biting on the barbell and that'd just hurt like a mad causing you to pay the price of not understanding the number one rule after piercing your tongue - FOR ONE WEEK NO SOLID FOOD.
The 2nd day of healing would probably the worst. Everything just doesn't make sense in your mouth on the 2nd day. That and your breath starts getting funky cos your tongue turns into this white shade and no matter how much your gargle with mouthwash - it'd still have this stench. I'm anally hygienic orally so I managed to scrape my tongue (while grimacing from the pain) around the piercing to just get the icky white stuff off. It didn't help much. The mouth still smells funky.
Try not to talk too much on the first few days too. It tends to swell your tongue even more. I had a presentation on the 2nd day of my healing so that was hell. I don't think anyone understood me to be honest.
But for now I'll be living on mashed potatoes and walking around speaking with a major lisp. Once in awhile I try to steal a few bites of solid food and manage to slide away without hurting myself. Most of the time I'm just hungry but I tell myself this works both way - I have a tongue piercing and a force diet to follow for the next week. Liquid diets are known to loosen the pounds yes? So ok. This was going to work out fine. Kill two birds with one stone sorta thing.
(I'm still hungry though.
Really. I'd kill to be able to devour a sandwich.)
I just really can't wait for it to heal completely so I can change the stem to a shorter one and speak normally again. But will it be worth it? Definitely.
As cliche as it is, I find every piercing worth every single obstacle that gets attached to it because when it heals - it's just lovely.