I prided myself on falling into a category as a typical suburban mom and so shortly after the birth of my second child, the year I turned 30, I decided to give myself the gift of having my tongue pierced in the fall of 2001.
At A Glance Author saltwaterprincess Contact saltwaterprincess@bme.anon When Five years ago Artist Jeremy Studio Utility Location Halifax, Nova Scotia
I researched the procedure and aftercare online and then asked my friends for their recommendations on a studio. Utility in Halifax, Nova Scotia was mentioned at least four times so I went to check it out first. When I went in I was warmly greeted by the people working there, given a quick tour and they answered all my questions with ease and knowledge so I made my appointment for the following weekend.
That Saturday I drove myself over and went in, not nervous, just excited. I figured since I have a high pain threshold and other piercings and tattoos, it would be nothing. I re-introduced myself at the counter and paid in advance and they told me there was no wait that day.
Jeremy (my piercer) came out and greeted me and had me follow him back to a private room, where he proceeded to lay out all of the tools he would need and put on gloves. He talked to me about my kids and explained everything he was doing as he did it. He asked me to stick out my tongue and we marked placement and he asked me to check it in the mirror. I liked it.
Then he asked me to stick out my tongue and he clamped it with the forceps, a hole in the center where the needle would go through the marker dot. He said I would feel a little pressure and he would count. On three he pushed the needle through and then put the tube in to receive the barbell. He popped in the barbell and then removed the tube and screwed the threaded ball on to the end of the barbell. He smiled and told me I was done.
Just like that.
No pain, no blood, nothing.
It had to be the easiest piercing ever.
He went over the aftercare regimen with me and asked if I had any questions and then gave me a card with the phone number on it and reminded me to come and see him first or call if I had any questions or problems that came up with regards to the piercing. I drove myself home and began to follow the care routine, which involved soaking my tongue in sea salts and gargling with antibacterial listerine many times daily. His biggest reminder was not to smoke while it healed, which didn't bother me as a then-recreational smoker.
It wasn't until three or four days later that my tongue began to swell. I had difficulties talking on the phone and a lot of difficulty eating. I had read that people used straws to eat with and stuck to soups and milkshakes to keep themselves nourished but trying to suck with a straw hurt so badly I rejected that idea after one try. Instead I would drink crushed ice in water as often as possible and just try to chew soft foods in my cheeks. I lost 5 or 6 pounds in three weeks.
The swelling didn't subside until close to three weeks had passed, and I slowly learned to over-enunciate my consonants so that I didn't lisp or sound garbled. I would catch myself holding my tongue rigidly inside my mouth because the original barbell was so long it would bump the roof of my mouth and make it very sore and so I was prone to headaches and I wondered if I had made a mistake, but for the simple fact that I surprised people when they found out I had a pierced tongue, I vowed to give it a whole year.
After six months had passed I decided to change jewelry. I bought a shorter barbell (12mm) and some pretty colored acrylic balls, since I had chipped two teeth in the first six month period. I also took the barbell out and left it out when I went camping one weekend for a break, and everyone told me the hole would close within hours. It didn't. I have since left the barbell out for up to a month at a time and the hole has never closed.
I also switched in the past year down from a 14 gauge barbell to a 16g one and wear exclusively titanium balls now and I find it's more discreet for PTA meetings but still gives me the tiniest bad-girl thrill I wanted from it. I am the only person I know who has a tongue piercing that's more than five years old now and I still count it as the biggest successful body mod I have to date. I have a wardrobe of different length barbells and different colored balls and a few toys too, a UV donut which hasn't proven to do much other than fill up my mouth, and a whistle that I'm still working on trying to actually blow. And for anyone who said that my husband would get an extra boost from the barbell when I give him blowjobs, I'm sorry to disappoint but he said the idea of my tongue being pierced is rather exciting to him but my tongue doesn't feel any different with the barbell in or out, it's all the same. So a french tickler add-on is a bit of a waste, but fun for show.
All in all, it's a piercing I can highly recommend.