I had thought about venoms for a hell of a long time. They had always appealed to me. I had asked one of my IAM buddies, Carlsberg, honorary venom owner, about them and done loads of research on BME. There were a number of factors stopping me from going ahead with it: cost (it would be £60), wanting of other metal work, and of course, parents. Who doesn't have problems with parents? It doesn't matter if you're 16 or 60, parents are always likely to disapprove of body modification. So I done what I always do: I didn't tell them. I don't see this as deceiving them, they would never disallow me to have a piercing, they're not like that. They just wouldn't have a clue what I was talking about if I said " I'm thinking about having my venoms pierced".
At A Glance Author mina IAM mina When A month ago Artist Julie Studio Coldsteel Location London, England I had it all planned, I'd make my appointment Friday evening after my exam for Monday when I went shopping with my good friend and piercing buddy, Carla. I took a friend from university (Nicki) with me to make the appointment, and she started joking about having her hood pierced. Then she decided to do it for real. I was so proud of her. When we got to Coldsteel I just happened to ask if they had any free appointment there and then, not suspecting them to say yes. But they did have some free appointments, so we both made the decision to have it done right at that moment. When I told the piercer, Julie, what I wanted done, she put on her "uh-oh face" and began to tell me everything that was wrong with having venoms. She said they hurt more than an ordinary tongue piercing, because you're piercing through different flesh, the healing time is doubled (obviously) and the first couple of weeks are extremely uncomfortable. She told me that she went with two other friends t o have hers done, and out of the three of them, she was the only one who still has them-the other two couldn't handle the uncomfortableness of the following days. This wasn't something I was unused to, my rook had played up something rotten. That wouldn't bother me, the only thing I wouldn't be able to handle was extra pain during the actual piercing. So I decided to have just a second central one. Me and Nicki hadn't eaten and so we went to cash money and grab something to munch. I was more excited about Nicki having her hood pierced, I never thought she would go through with it, I thought she was only joking! When we got back to fill the forms in, I was still unsure what to get done. She checked under my tongue and said venoms and a second central one in front of my standard one would be OK, but not behind. I just decided to go for it, and have the venoms done. That's what I really wanted, so why not. I would only be disappointed with myself if I didn't do it. N icki wanted to go first, so she went into the room while I looked arou nd the shop and talked to the guy at reception about his new tattoo. I heard Nicki yelp from the next room and giggled to myself. She had done it!
So now it was my turn. I rinsed with mouthwash, and had my tongue wiped down with gauze. It took ages to line up where the venoms would go, they couldn't go in line with my central one, there wasn't enough room between my veins for that, so they had to be a bit in front, so it made a kind of triangle shape. When they were finally marked I had a look to make sure they were OK and laid down. I was still quite nervous about the pain so I said once more, just to check, "how much more does it hurt than a normal tongue piercing". "It does hurt more, but you've been pierced before, you have lots of cartilage work, you know what piercings feel like.", Julie replied. "OK, how much more than a cartilage does it hurt?" "They're a completely different feeling. It's feels like a hot needle going through, but it does hurt a fair bit more than a standard tongue piercing. In all honesty though, it's not really anything to be worried about. It's the few days after that are the wors t. You're speech is so f***ed that one woman thought I was deaf!". "OK, just do it" I said. She put the clamps on, which took a while to adjust and I started practising my breathing. I done a big breath in to let her know I was ready, and on the exhale she pierced. It hurt. It certainly did feel like I was being pierced with a hot needle, and I could feel it going through every layer of flesh. It felt like it went on forever, but I suppose in reality it was only a split second. In hindsight, it felt quite nice, almost relieving. Before I knew it the jewellery was in and I got up to have a look. Nicki was white. It looked odd and off balance with only one, so I laid back down for the second one. Again, she took her time to adjust the clamps, while I started my deep breathing. Again, when I took a deep breath in, Julie pierced on the exhale. This one hurt A LOT more than the first one. It was still the same sort of feeling and sensation as the first, just more i ntense. The jewellery went in as quick as before and it looked excelle nt. Although talking and licking my lips was near impossible! I thanked Julie and gave her a tip. I always tip Julie, she's great. Me and Nicki were on a high and Nicki phoned her boyfriend to tell him what she had done.
I done my customary cleaning routine when I got home: ¼ tsp of sea salt to ½ pint of boiled cooled water. I took a mouthful of the solution and swished it around my mouth for a minute or two. I do this morning, night and after I eat, smoke or drink anything other than water.
The next day I woke up ready for the pain. I had the ibuprofen to hand (you will need these!) and waited for the sudden rush of pain. But nothing. It was a bit uncomfortable first thing in the morning as they had settled into a comfy position as I slept, and were jolted out of place when I moved my tongue, but apart from that, I didn't feel a thing. What was even better was that my parents didn't say a thing. (Well except the usual "ewwww"). Not being able to eat was frustrating, but you get used to it. And by Monday, just 3 days after being pierced, I was able to eat most "complicated" things that didn't fall apart too much when I chewed. By Wednesday, I was eating everything, but slowly and by Friday, I was back to normal.
It's been 2 weeks so far, and I'm in total love with my venoms. All three are collectively now known as "my triplets" and I get a response from everyone (albeit not always a good response, but mostly it's good). If you're thinking about having a venom piercing, don't completely disregard Julie's comments about a living hell after having venoms done, because everyone is different, people react to piercings differently. I was just lucky. But she was right about one thing-I did sound like I was deaf! But I wouldn't hesitate to have them done again if I had to. Feel free to contact me via IAM and happy piercing. x