Hey everyone! I decided on Way Cool up town because of all the good things I'd read about them on here, plus they seemed like nice people on my previous visit up to fix my snug. I'd called up a few days in advance to make sure Gary was going to be on when I came up to get pierced. I'd arranged to have several days away from work afterwards, which helped a little, but I ended up going in everyday for a drink, I worked in a smoothie bar at the time, which leads me to my 1st tip - Smoothies are great during the healing phase. They're cold, they have loads of fruit in them so they fill you up and you can drink them through a straw (or with a spoon, whatever's easier) , but only go for the ones without seeds, and of course ones without 'r's in the name make it a hell of a lot easier ordering it!! Righteous Red is a big No No!
At A Glance Author BenchWarmer Contact BenchWarmer@bme.anon When A year ago Artist Gary Studio Way Cool uptown Location Toronto, Canada So after work one night I head up on the subway, by myself, partly because I didn't have any friends outside work, but mainly because I'm a solitary piercee. You don't have to put on a front of it not hurting to impress them, or worry about them distracting the piercer, and besides, I'd only been in Toronto a few months and didn't have any close friends outside work. My flat-mates had recently left Toronto for pastures new. I don't remember what day it was, only that it was the 19th of Dec 2002, it was only after I got them done that I realized Christmas was only 6 days away, not the 14 I had in my head, oh well, it stopped me stuffing my face at Christmas dinner! I went to the studio via the supermarket to get in supplies, you know, ibuprofen, alcohol-free mouthwash and soup, another tip – creamy soups are not good, they make your tongue swell up, so stick to the veggie ones, I suppose that could go for the smoothies too, but there's only like 3oz of yogurt per 22oz dr ink, and its not all of them, so no big deal.
When I arrived at the studio I chatted to Gary a few minutes about venoms, I mentioned I'd looked a lot on this site about them, he asked if I had any more questions, I only had 1, the Pain Factor. My friend had gotten hers done, just once in the middle the year before and gone on and on about how much in agony she was. The mental picture I have is her leaning over the sink in a public bathroom trying to spit out the excess saliva, and buying a tube of teething gel for her while she camped out in said bathroom! He laughed and said it's different for everyone and if it's too bad I can stop after the first 1. After all the forms were filled out, the ID examined and the cash exchanged, he took me downstairs into the piercing room. After he'd set up everything, jewellery, needles, KY jelly (which leads to a funny story at the airport coming home that I wont go in to right now!) etc, Gary had me rinse with Listerine, He marked me up, fitting them in around my existing tongue- web piercing, I checked them in the mirror, and it was time for the needles!
I can honestly say it did not hurt. The first one was just pressure as he pushed the needle through, and embarrassment as I dribbled all over the place. I nearly freaked out thinking it was blood till he politely pointed out what it actually was. Hey, at least drool doesn't stain! When it came to the second one, my left side, it hurt a tiny bit and there was the pressure. It hurt way less than biting your tongue. I mentioned that to Gary as I was leaving, well lisped it at him, and rambled on about going home to shout at my TV. He just laughed at this, I'm not too sure he could actually understand me because of my accent; I'm Scottish, something that made the healing time v difficult for me.
The aftercare was really simple, rinse with oral B 3 times a day, with sea salt water every-time you put something in your mouth, and then just leave them to it. The best bits of advice for the healing stage I can give are, set your alarm 30 min before you want to get up and leave ibuprofen and water by your bed. The worst pain I had was in the morning, but a big glass of water, an extra pillow and ibuprofen (it's an anti-inflammatory too!) helped out a lot. They healed up in a few weeks, and once I got them downsized I didn't lisp at all.
Its been a while, so I hope I got all the details down ok, I have now realized they aren't quite even but only if I flex the muscle, other times they are perfect, guess that's something to check for before you get pierced! I stretched them up from their initial 14g to 10g, which just feels better, as well as swapping to smaller balls on them after I noticed a little gum erosion, that's now stopped. That's where the KY jelly story comes in. My parents came and visited me in Canada and took some of my stuff home, but they didn't tell me it was going to be cabin baggage. So of course I hadn't checked it for sharp things, like safety pins, tweezers, and of course, tapers! Along with my tapers I had my KY jelly that I'd used for the stretches. I had to try and explain to them why I had KY jelly in my bag without telling them I had my tongue pierced, and what the taper was since they are both piercing illiterate. It all turned all right in the end; although they did think I was really strange for a long time! If you want any more info on my experience just email me! Happy piercing!