Approximately two years ago, I was hit with a sudden urge to pierce my tough. Anyone who knows me, knows that I hate keeping to the ordinary. So, naturally, I wasn't going to just pierce my tongue any old way. Some how, it kind of just hit me and I tried so hard to picture this is my head. I so badly wanted to pierce my tongue's surface, horizontally. I had never seen it done in pictures or anything; it just hit me. I was so excited and completely determined to get it done as soon as I could. I was, maybe 16 at the time and my mother would never had allowed it, so I had no choice but to go to the city.
At A Glance Author cathybathy Contact cbathyy@hotmail.com When Two years ago Artist John Studio Big Joe and Sons Tattooing Location Eighth Avenue, NYC (no longer open) Coincidently a little after this, my friend called me up inviting me to go to the city with her because she wanted to get her tattoo. At that time, my mother was a little bit of a pain in the ass so I had no choice but to lie and make up a story of where I was all day. Some friends and I made our way into the city that day and made our last stop at Big Joe and Sons Tattooing located on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan, not too far from Penn Station. Unfortunately, this place is no longer in existence; it shut down due to lack of business.
We went in and it took forever for John to comprehend want it was exactly that I wanted. He had never heard of this before, let alone had done it. We spent a solid hour in the little piercing room discussing all possible after affects, things that could go wrong during the procedure, how to keep it clean, etc. I honestly didn't care what could go wrong, I just wanted it done! As he began to clean my tongue with some bactine, which tastes like ass, my tongue started to go numb. He made numerous attempts at making the two points perfectly centered and aligned. After being satisfied with the points he had made, along with all of the other purple marks that were made on my tongue, we were able to begin. My tongue looked so weird. The purple marks looked like the ones that are made on bodies before cosmetic surgery. He clamped my tongue in the middle and punctured my tongue with needle. Fortunately for me, my tongue was mostly numb and he instructed me to exhale as the needle wen t in. This works! I highly recommend you do this when getting anything pierced! After the needle went it, he inserted a 16 gauge curved eyebrow bar. It didn't swell up at all, but when the numbing ness began to ware off, my friend and I ran across the street to Wendy's, I think, to get a cup of ice and I was just fine again.
We went back to watch my other friend get her tattoo, the other got her conch pierced and the boys played video games. It was a day well spent. It only took about a week to really get used to this piece of metal in mouth. It's funny though, because it took my mom about six months until she even began to suspect anything. Even so, she just laughed and told me what a bad influence I was to my little sister.
Since then, I've tried a numerous amount of different barbells. As stupid as I am, I've purchased metal bars with plastic beads. So many times have these plastic beads just shattered in my mouth while eating. I have also swallowed many other beads from just untwisting off because I played around with it so much. I never went more than a day or two without it, out of fear that it would close. Which it did once, but as crafty as I am, I was able to repierce it.
I have received so many different opinions and remarks because of my tongue piercing. Some thought it was the most unique thing that they had ever seen, while others were repulsed by it. A few teachers in high school thought it was absolutely disgusting and it only made me happy. I honestly didn't care what anyone thought about it because I was happy with it. From this experience I've learned nothing more than just to do what makes you happy. Because no matter what you do in life, whether it be body modification-related or just a plain decision in your day, some one will always oppose it. It's impossible to make every single person happy. Why not just start with yourself?
Unfortunately, about a month ago, while eating some Subway, a bead came off and I had to spit it all out to find the barbell and lost bead. Everything was found alright. I sort of liked the soft feeling my tongue had, so I left it out for a little while. To be perfectly honest, I just forgot that it wasn't it until it was too late. To this day, I still can't get that barbell back in, but I intend to fix that problem soon!