I'm 14 years young - turning 15 in 2 months. I'm not too young to make my own decisions. I take responsibility for my actions.
At A Glance Author Joyce Contact Joyce@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Me, myself & I Studio McDonalds & my bathroom Location The city that DOESN'T work, CT Okay, so I'm Chinese. Oh boy, long story short- my parents hate me because I'm a disgraceful rebel to the Asian race. My parents are totally against piercings for various reasons. My Russian piano teacher is even worse.
I have 9 piercings in my ears, all of which my friend or myself did except for the first hole on each ear. My parents and piano teacher don't know about all of them yet, props to my careful hiding but for my prep school, that's pushing it big time.
Well recently, I've decided its time for a new piercing. My parents would never consent to me getting any part of my body pierced so I would have to be able to do it myself. I've considered lip, eyebrows and tongue but I realized those were irrational for my lack of equipment, experience and skill on the subject of piercings. One screw up and that could result in very harsh consequences.
As I was surfing the web, I came across tongue web piercings. Almost immediately, I knew I wanted to get mine done. After reading most of the articles on this website, I was sure I was going to do it.
Fast forward 24 hours. I'm in Claire's buying 16ga curved barbells for my tongue web piercing with two of my friends. I'm pretty sure they were eyebrow rings, but they would do. Next thing I know, we're at McDonalds and I have my home made piercing kit out. It consisted of a lighter, large safety pin and mouthwash. (I know this was unsanitary, and people were gawking but I was just eager to get it done.)
Time for the actual piercing and the first time, I had some trouble having the pin go through. It was probably because the skin was stretchier than I expected. So I gave it another try with a bit more force and it just went right through, fast and simple with no pain at all. (Note that I had a lot of trouble with deciding on placement. I just decided on the middle of the web, not too close to the base of the tongue because of the major veins and glands and no on the bottom either because I had no idea what was down there.)
I left the safety pin in for a couple minutes while my friends decided to tease me by eating french fries. I probably could eat one too, but I didnt want to risk ending up with a watching labret on my cheek. The next part was putting the jewelry in. Getting the barbell in wasn't any trouble. It took me 3 tries. I was just afraid of applying to much force, but really, it went right through. That was when the first drop of blood came out, if you could even call it a drop. It was like a sprinkle of blood. The one trouble was screwing on the balls. I don't know how to explain the frustration and difficulty. After 30 minutes, my friends were impatient and my father was picking us up to go to the fair and I decided to give up. I was just going to wear the barbell without the end screw, hoping it wouldn't come out. Well, I took it out about 30 minutes later because I had to keep on re-fixing it.
3 hours later, I'm back at home. I was upset because I thought I needed to re-pierce my tongue web, but to my surprise, I found the hole and the barbell went in fine. Now, we're back to square one- screwing on the balls. Let me tell you, 2 hours I locked myself in the bathroom trying every possible way and method to get the ball on. Maybe if I scrunch my shoulder this way, what if I turned the barbell this way, opposite hand with tweezers all didn't help. But finally, I guess the greater being up there decided it was bore of watching me drown myself in my drool so it threw an idea at me. COTTON BALLS! They soaked up the saliva as well as secured the barbell in place. Since I needed to put the ball on the left side of my mouth, I put a cotton ball on the right side. By positioning the screw end to point towards the outside my mouth, I finally got the ball on. (That is after about 8 cotton balls. Actually, I think I swallowed one. Or at least, it felt like it) Anyways, it worked. And my jaw was sore and my tongue web had swollen from all the constant irritation.
I brushed my teeth and rinsed my mouth in salt water, (Water & salt, not ocean water) and went to bed. The next day, my father and I went out to breakfast. My tongue web was still swollen but it didn't hurt much and I didn't have much trouble eating. It just felt weird.
Now, it's been 2 ½ days since I pierced my tongue web and all is going well. Eating is not a problem at all. I've changed the balls last night with my cotton ball technique and it literally took me 2 minutes. Everything seems to be good except for the white stuff growing on the ends, but I'm pretty sure that's skin, part of the healing process. Below my tongue web is still a little swollen and hopefully it goes away soon. My parents haven't noticed yet which is pretty awesome. So far, I love this piercing. I'm rinsing my mouth twice a day with salt water and I've brushed the barbell gently removing plaque and other nastiness.
I know self piercing was dangerous and it probably wasn't the smartest idea but I'm a spur of a moment type of person. For me, consequence doesn't come till later and hopefully it won't come at all. I recommend this piercing for anyone who wants an oral piercing but can't get one because of various reasons. It's also very easy to hide- even though you really should get it professionally done which requires parental consent. But for me, DIY was worth it. Well, it hasn't been long, so hopefully, nothing bad happens.
Also, my glow in the dark 16ga barbells I ordered should be coming really soon :o)