When I was 16 I saw one of the spice girls with a bar through her tongue. I thought it looked really gorgeous but thought it was something hardly anyone would have, especially not me!
At A Glance Author clare Contact clare598@aol.com When Five years ago Artist Kerry Studio About Face Location Carrickfergus,Northern Ireland I didn't have the Internet then so the only way I could even think about it was by looking at her picture! After a while I heard of one person in my whole town who had it done and when I saw hers I really wanted to get one. She had a small bar and she was even able to take it out and change it after only 2 weeks.
I phoned the piercing studio to ask if they did tongue piercing and they did, it was only £25 (I think this would be around $50) including the change from the large bar to the small one. I decided to just go for it and I made an appointment for a couple of days later.
On the day I was very, very nervous, as I have got with all my piercings before I have got them done.
I arrived at the piercing studio and filled out the disclaimer form, then Kerry called me in to the room (where I had previously got my navel, eyebrow etc. done also by Kerry). I sat at the edge of the bed while Kerry prepared and explained what she was going to do. I explained how nervous I was and that I felt sick so she tried to reassure me, which didn't really work.
Once she was ready she gave me some mouthwash to rinse round my mouth which I did, then she rubbed some kind of gel stuff on it and told me she was leaving it on for a few minutes until it numbed.
Once it was "numbed" (it didn't numb very much) she began to put the clamp on which hurt quite a bit! After this she gave me a disposable plastic cup to hold underneath my tongue to catch any blood, I was shittin myself even more after this!
She then began to do the actual piercing, Putting the needle through from the underneath of my tongue first, she seemed to take a lifetime to get it through from underneath to the top. I was really saying oww at this stage and the pain was so intense I was nearly going to tell her to stop! Everyone's experience may not be as bad as this so don't worry! The only good thing is you cannot scream as the clamp is holding your tongue! She then sorted out the bar and placed it in my new piercing I had a look but there was so much blood it looked disgusting. I came out of the piercing room and showed my friend who said yuck obviously because of all the blood. I gave Kerry my money, got my aftercare instructions and was on my way. The piercing studio is upstairs and as I was coming down I blacked out for a minute but then was fine. I got outside and had a well deserved cigarette (which I don't think piercers would recommend you to do when you have just got a tongue piercing!)
Around an hour later when I was travelling home I noticed that my tongue was still bleeding heavily but it soon stopped, and my tongue was swollen right to double the size and sat on the roof of my mouth!
I tried to eat something and I couldn't, I tried to eat one chip (fries in America) and it honestly took me about 10 minutes. The only thing I was able to eat was soup and I even had to use a straw so I didn't get any solid pieces in my mouth!
Going to sleep that night was not good either, I had to sleep sitting up as when I lay back I could feel my swollen tongue in my throat!
The next day I was going to work was a nightmare too; all I could eat was custard. I had to ask for my ticket on the bus as well which was awful as I could hardly open my mouth, my breath was really stinking, I was talking like a retard and I had a green coating all over my tongue (this went on for 3-4 days).
Although I have said all these bad things about my experience, my piercing healed very quickly and after 1 week it was fine, I was even able to get the large bar changed after just a week and a half!
It is one of my favourite piercings and after having it for 5 years I can never imagine life without it, I love it!
My experience was bad but that doesn't mean yours will be, I know plenty of people whose experience was absolutely fine and virtually painless.
Just make sure you go to a clean and well-run studio if you are going to get it done!