One random day I was having a discussion with my current boyfriend, and he was telling me how he wanted to go get his lip pierced. He already had his ears gauged to 0s and his eyebrow pierced so I thought it would be a nice addition. He told me I could go with him, and that if I wanted to get anything pierced I could. At first I didn't understand because at the time I was underage and didn't think a place would legally do it without consent. And it turns out, the place he wanted to go wasn't a studio, it was his friends house in North Philly. So I of course asked questions and found out she had been working as a piercer for about 15 years and does them at home for friends for alot cheaper. So I figured I'd go and just watch. But then I got to thinking about how I did want a piercing, and this was a great opportunity. I decided I didn't want a facial piercing, and I didn't want to get anything on my body yet, so I decided on getting my tongue pierced. I mean I just figured that since I always have something in my mouth, it would be pretty interesting, and I always loved the way they looked on other girls.
At A Glance Author Seven Contact Seven@bme.anon When Two years ago Artist Maria? So after I decided what I wanted, I brought the idea up to my dad who was completely fine with it. I told my mom I was thinking of getting my tongue pierced and she flipped out at me and called me a whore, but I disregarded her input completely.
The day finally came that my boyfriend was going to take us to see the piercer. We drove up to North Philly and when we got there I was extremely nervous. My palms were moist and I had that adrenaline feeling in the middle of my chest. I wanted to go first, so she got everything prepared. I've been in alot of piercing places and she was by far the cleanest I've ever seen, despite the dirty carpet and random clothes piled around her apartment.
So she cleaned off all of the equiptment, took a needle and the barbel out of plastic wrap and disinfected everything. Next, she made me rinse my mouth out with mouthwash a few times. Then she told me to get ready.
She made me sit up and stick out my tongue. By this point I just wasn't thinking, it was like I was outside of my body. So she took the metal clamps and put them on my tongue. From other stories I read some people say this was the most painful part but it actually felt like nothing, I mean if anything I felt pressure but that was about it. Next, the piercer took out a blue marker and drew a dot on my tongue, that was the target spot for the needle to come through. She told me to count to three as she got the needle ready. I was suprised because she was pushing the needle from the bottom through the top, not the other way around like I had imagined. So she counts to three, and instantly the needle was through my tongue. I honestly didn't feel any pain, just a huge weight taken off of my shoulders. Next, she took a look at my tongue and told me it came out alittle further back than she had planned but it worked out just fine, she didn't hit veins or anything. So she pushed the needle through as she pushed the barbel in. While she was screwing the balls on, this was probably the only time I felt alittle discomfort, not pain, just discomfort. After that she was all done, and told me to go look and see if I liked it.
I was so shocked to see the metal through my tongue. I was so happy. After my boyfriend got his piercings, we paid. My tongue piercing only cost 25 dollars, as opposed to 60 that a studio would have charged. We left and drove home.
When I got home, I tried to eat, but I couldn't. Not even scrabled eggs or applesauce. I kept biting down on the bar by accident every time I tried to chew, even gently. I seriously had chew in slow motion or let the food just slide down because it was so awkward; my mouth just wasn't used to that bar being in there.
The piercer also instructed me to avoid spicy, hot foods and liquids and to rinse my mouth with mouthwash after every thing I ate and after every cigarette. I think I got alittle carried away with the mouthwash because after a few days my tongue had turned white from me rinsing so much. Also, my tongue didn't swell nearly as much as I had thought, just alittle bit, hardly noticeable. The piercing did not affect my speech at all, although the only time was when I was speaking to my mother and my mouth just gave up on me (that was also when she first noticed, about 3 days after I had gotten it).
I think it's safe to say my tongue healed in about 5 days. And by healed I mean I felt comfortable chewing most foods, I could drink hot liquids and I stopped rinsing quite as much.
It's been almost three years since I've gotten my tongue pierced and I'm still completely happy with it. And my teeth haven't gotten damaged at all, but I think that may be because my tongue piercing is slightly further back than most people, and by that I just mean the angle that it rests in my tongue is alittle more than others.
I think it's a lovely piercing and I'm so happy with it.
I'll end this with a piece of advice: if you're going to drink alcohol with your piercing, make sure you have metal balls in because the alcohol can make the acrylic balls crumble in your mouth.
(Oh and by the way, I don't advocate getting pierced at random people's houses either, but hey it worked out fine for me. )
Good luck.