Piercing is not a competition. I know this, yet whenever any of my friends has a piercing, I simply don't feel right unless I get a more 'hardcore' one. So, when my best friend when to have his lip pierced, I simply couldn't be outdone. Tongue piercings have interested me since I saw 'Scary Spice' as a six-year-old, with that bar of metal through her tongue... seemed like a scary thought. I've got a phobia of needles (doesn't really help with piercings to be honest), but during the summer I got my first ever needle piercing (alas, the 10 on my ears were done with a gun – highly unrecommended!!) which was in the form of a surface piercing across my left wrist. When that grew out a couple of weeks ago, I knew I needed something else, and I knew I could handle a needle.
At A Glance Author Smnona Contact Smnona@bme.anon When A week ago Studio Alzone Location Gloucester, UK Friday rolled around, and my friend went and got his lip pierced. I spoke to my piercer while she was choosing his jewellery and asked about venoms, she got me to lift up my tongue so she could see the veins, and told me they were in the wrong position to have venoms. My heart sank. She took a closer look and told me, however, that if pierced diagonally, the barbell would come out in the centre underneath my tongue, and over to the left on the top of my tongue. I told her at this point that I only actually intended to get one of my venoms done (severe lack of funds) and it would be the left one. She said 'ok'. I waited and waited for my friend to get his lip pierced, and then said goodbye and promised I'd be back in the morning – I was going to a party that night, didn't want to aggravate a fresh tongue piercing, and wouldn't be able to drink. As it happened, I didn't drink anyway, because I've heard this would have thinned my blood?
I woke up the next day with butterflies in my stomach. Trotted the 26 miles back into my city from the party place, and walked into the piercers for the sixth time that week. My piercer had overslept. Five minutes of waiting for her, and she turned up, looking slightly dishevelled (bless her) and ready to go. She marked out where my venoms would be, numbed the underside of my tongue (no numbing the top half) got me to check the positioning of the dots, then clamped it. I'd heard that tongue piercings didn't hurt at all, so I wasn't so worried. I felt the needle go in, and then... I could feel the pain grow sharper as it went through every layer of muscle in my tongue, after about the second second, I had tears in my eyes and was gripping my friends hand. After a couple more seconds, the needle was through and the barbell went in. More pain. I looked at it in the mirror when she was done – my tongue was already hugely swollen. But I had one off centre tongue piercing. I loved it instantly.
I paid my £35, got told to come back in two weeks for a smaller bar fitted, and walked out of the parlour. Oh, the pain, the pain of it all. That night my boyfriends eyes got wide when he saw me playing with it (one track mind) and all of my friends were severely 'grossed-out' but thought I was brave. I used Listerine (undiluted... good idea? I don't know yet, I only started diluting it yesterday) every day when I could remember. Woke up last night in severe pain from it, and my tongue has gone green, and I think it's oozing white goo, which again I'm not sure about. I checked BME a couple of days later, apparently tongue piercings (the central ones) usually slip between the two tongue muscles. Mine went through about as much of the muscle as possible, probably explaining the pain. It's rubbing a bit at the moment as I write this, but it feels good inside my mouth now. I like how it's kind of diagonal because I can make it horizontal or vertical inside my mouth.
The swelling still hasn't gone down noticeably (bearing in mind this is Thursday, and I got it pierced last Saturday) but that could be because this has been a holiday and being a typical British teen, I've been drinking myself to oblivion every night and probably not been looking after it like I should have. I do have trouble talking; I can't say words beginning with 'J', or say 'ch' very easily. When I say 's' it sounds more like a hiss – probably cause I've got a venom! While I can't really talk about how things have been in the long run (having had it for about six days) it's worth the pain. My best friend didn't notice it and I had a twenty minute long conversation with her. However, my family isn't talking to me. And every time I sneeze it feels like the bar is being forced out of my mouth.
Stock up on ibuprofen before this piercing, but if you're undecided about it, just go get it done!