Since seeing someone on TV with their tongue pierced, I'd been hooked by the idea of it. However I couldn't go ahead and just do it, due to my upstanding job in London and other lame excuses to make up for a lack of confidence. Whenever I spoke to someone and I noticed the glint of metal, I couldnt stop looking at their mouth and thinking about much I wanted one. I already had my eyebrow and ear pierced from a while back so I knew the procedure, I just never had the courage to just get up and do it...
At A Glance Author GoodFun Contact GoodFun@bme.anon When Three months ago Studio Urban Steel Location Glebe, Sydney, Australia ..until I was traveling in Sydney 3 months ago from the UK and a friend made an idle comment about feeling this is the most free you'll ever be. I decided the next day to just go and get my tongue done, and ignore the consequences! Spending all night looking at the warnings and also the pictures from BMEzine, I went to bed with a grin on my face :) Waking up the next day, I put all thoughts aside and headed on down with one of my best mates, paid and sat on the piercing parlour's chair, looking around whilst pushing the thought
"You're about to get a bar put in your tongue, something you've always wanted but also something you'll feel in your mouth 24/7, will you like it?"
The piercer sat me down on the leather recliner, and asked me a few small talk questions, which I answered with only half my mind on the questions while my hands and feet felt a little shaky! He told me to stick out my tongue as far as I could, while he marked a spot on my tongue that would be the best entry point. After checking the webbing underneath to make sure he wasn't going to hit any veins, he applied the forceps at the point where the needle would go through.
About this time I just had to close my eyes, as I'm not a fan of needles (Although I do give blood, while NEVER looking at my arm!) of seeing whats about to get pushed through your tongue. He was talking about his holiday, which I'm sure is the best calming method, then told me to relax...
..at that time I felt a strange pain, much like if you have a bad toothache - it's not a sharp pain, but a dull itching pain, that makes you want to put your tongue back in its home - fighting the urge, I felt the needle being withdrawn, and the jewellery being put in, while the piercer screwed the ball on the bottom part. I quickly withdrew my tongue as soon as I got the all clear it was done, feeling for the first time what having a steel bar in your mouth feels like. It's a very strange feeling, the top ball touching the roof of your mouth and the bottom ball pressing on your saliva gland, although you can still talk fine, as the swelling hasn't kicked in!
The swelling started the next day, and the 20mm bar fits snugly in your tongue as it's swelled up - although apart from a slight lisp, you don't have any other speech problems... Eating however is something you have to learn from scratch. Thinking you're going to eat the bar, means you eat nice soft foods, using the side of your mouth until your brain re-maps your new bar. The next week I got a smaller 14mm one put in, after the swelling subsides and the 20mm is too big. It felt like I didn't have any jewellery in after removing the previous bar.
Four months on, and it feels completely normal, both eating and kissing. The people that have tongue piercings have learned to speak with the bar, so removing it feels wierd. It's become a part of me, and I play with it every day, either pushing it through my lips whilst I'm bored or rubbing it on the roof of my mouth. It feels great, people get fascinated by it, kissing is great for both yourself and the other (Their tongue always goes straight for it!) and I dont wish to remove it unless I absolutely have to...
My girlfriend keeps saying how she'd love one but can't because of her office job - She bought me a dark pink balled tongue bar which I put in for her Birthday last month, she promptly almost jumped on me once she saw it, we got her tongue pierced three days later - I never did take out the pink one - it's got her initials inscribed on it. :)
To any guy who wishes to get their tongue pierced, girls love it, and it's certainly a conversation starter for anyone who sees it glinting in your mouth - It did for me!