Hi! My name is Libby and I just got my tongue pierced two days ago. I recently wrote here about my rook, which I got a couple of weeks ago and really love! I was planning on getting my tongue pierced after I got a steady job here on campus, but my friend's 18th birthday was last friday and she wanted to get her belly button done and it turned into this big piercing-date sort of thing...so I was like ah what the hell I'll just go for it now!
At A Glance Author Libby Contact Libby@bme.anon When It just happened Studio Lasting Impression Tattoos and Body Piercing Location Salisbury, MD I went with four other girls, my friend Christina drove. We decided to go back to the same place we had gone earlier for my rook and my friend Sarah's nose because they did a really good job and the atmosphere was really nice. My friend Christa and I were getting our tongues pierced, Alex was getting her belly button and Sarah was getting her second holes. Christina is "through with piercings"; she's already had and removed her labret, septum and various ear piercings. Sarah went first, then Alex, then Christa then me. Christa and I both wanted to go first because the anxiety was sort of killing both of us, but I decided to just deal because I mean, it doesn't really matter in the long run. However, I had to wait a while and I was sort of getting butterflies.
When I finally sat in the chair, I did my best to zone out. I was sort of nervous but I knew what to expect, and I mean, think about the outcome! A tongue ring!! So I was sort of smiling and humming nervously while he got his things ready. I rinsed with listerine and sat back and took a deep breath. He dotted me with sharpie and turned around and clamped my tongue with the little clamp, which I actually thought hurt worse than the needle itself. He may have done that on purpose, so it would distract me from the needle going through. I don't know. But yeah he clamped my tongue down as hard as he could and told me to take a deep breath, and as I was breathing out he stuck the needle through. If your piercer doesn't tell you to do that I highly recommend suggesting it to them. It really takes away from the feeling and relaxes you as it's happening! The piercing didn't hurt that bad, I mean, it wasn't like YAY there's a needle in my tongue but it wasn't an intolerable pain or anything. I didn't make any bad face or shout or poop in my pants. It was almost like getting a muscle shot because it's like a muscular feeling, you know? Anyway you don't really feel the needle inside your tongue, you just feel when it enters and exits and it's really not bad. DEFINITELY worth it!!! So he put the barbell in which felt a little goofy because it's sooo huge...like enormous...because they have to put in the biggun so when your tongue swells it doesn't eat it up. Then he laughed at me because I was drooling everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE...and he made me rinse again and told me to rinse with listerine after I eat anything. I've heard a lot of different stories about what to rinse with and what to do/not to do. I actually personally feel that Listerine is too strong for a new piercing, so I diluted mine with water (about half water half listerine) and rinsed after I ate anything and in the morning and before bed. However my friend Audrey has had hers pierced for a while and she said that she used straight listerine and it turned out fine. who knows. Another thing that I'm not 100% sure about is food. But the guy who pierced me said "don't baby it", so I just eat whatever I can handle and yeah. I don't know if I necessarily agree with him, I think it's important to be gentle with it the first couple of days so it actually gets a chance to heal. This is the end of day 2 and it's not so bad anymore, my tongue is swollen but it's not HUGE and it's still pretty sore and kind of a pain in the ass to eat anything but I managed to get a lot down today. Advil and ice water will be your best friends! And try to just not think about it...I spent the day in DC yesterday and saw a soccer game and had a really good time, so I didn't really think about how it felt or anything. I think the worst part is not being able to eat, because I get really irritable when I'm hungry haha. However it's different for everyone, I've heard about some people who eat solids the next day. I think eating correctly and getting enough sleep and rinsing are good things I'm really excited to be able to change this damn barbell. You have to wait about a week until the swelling goes down and you feel comfortable taking it out and putting a new one in. The healing period is about 4 weeks so I guess after you put the new one in you're going to want to wait another 3 weeks until you change it up again or wear anything other than stainless steel.
But yeah that's about it! I'm really happy that I finally got this done, I've been wanting it for so long but I had to wait until I wasn't living with my parents anymore. Speaking of which, I'm trying to figure out when I should tell them...haha.