I have always wanted to get a tongue piercing, for at least five years now. I have just always loved the way they look and I liked the idea of having a metal bar in my mouth. But my mom made me promise numerous times not to get it done, and other people too. I also didn't think that not being able to eat for several days was at all appealing, so I just kept putting it off. I got lots of ear piercings, a nose ring, but I knew it would eventually come back to the tongue, someday, somehow.
At A Glance Author clodia Contact clodia@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Aaron Studio Tribal Ways Location Boston, MA Well, at the end of last semester I had been looking at tongue rings online, and I fell in love with the different ones you could get, especially the funny picture barbells. I had to have one in my tongue. So over the summer I put aside money just for a tongue piercing. I knew exactly how much it would cost at the place I was going... Tribal Ways.
I decided that I would have this done when I returned to my second year at Boston University, so my mom wouldn't know about it or see the squishy food and figure it out. At college, my only obstacle would be the phone and sounding normal. But I could do whatever I wanted to eat... So I planned on getting it on one of the first weekends I was back, so that I wouldn't be dealing with this when my classes started getting hardcore... I'd rather be speech-obstructed during the introductory weeks.
So after my first week back at school I decided to just go and get it done. I made the appointment for 6:30 so I could get a good last meal in and play Frisbee with a bunch of my friends in the afternoon. After playing a couple hours of ultimate, we went to An Tua Nua pub, then walked to Tribal Ways.
I have to say that I LOVE Tribal Ways in Boston. They are such a clean and professional studio, and the people there are so incredibly funny. I came in and had to read a pamphlet on how to take care of my new piercing. Then I had to tell one of the employees, Stephen, that I read it, and he then proceeded to go over it with me. The whole time we were making jokes, because I already knew a lot of this stuff from the numerous other holes in my head. Then I had to fill out the forms, etc. We were talking with another girl there for a tattoo that had gotten her tongue pierced at another unprofessional studio. They had checked for veins, but not carefully enough, and she had bled all over. Stephen was disgusted by this, saying that he had thought studios were getting better about those kinds of things, but obviously they were still happening. He explained to us that just looking at the tongue isn't enough, that they have a special dermatologist magnifying glass that allows you to see the veins up close, so that would never happen to me with my piercing. She told me it wouldn't hurt.
So then I went to rinse with the Listerine for the minute. I came back a little nervous, but still pretty much ok. The technician setting everything up for the piercing asked which of my friends I wanted to come in with me, my roommate Krystal or my buddy Skatt... then he said they could both come. I'm glad, I wouldn't have been able to choose. I sat in what looked like a red patent leather dentist chair. The technician gave me a napkin to put on the top of my shirt like a bib, and another to hold about halfway down my chest in case I drooled. He set Krystal and Skatt in separate corners of the room, telling them not to touch anything. I'm really short, so my feet didn't touch the floor, and I just bought brand new Doc Marten wingtips, black with white on the top, really cool, but I felt like an eight year old swinging my feet.
So my piercer, Aaron, came in. He had me stick out my tongue, which was kind of funny, because he stuck his tongue out and said "AAAaahhhh" rather than telling me to stick it out; this went on during the entire procedure. He clamped my tongue, which didn't hurt, but were just a little uncomfortable. He marked the spot, checked for veins with the special dermatologist glass thingy. Then he took out the needle and unscrewed the end of the barbell, put the equivalent of bacitracin on it. I watched him come back over, he didn't count, just stuck the needle straight down through my tongue. I didn't even close my eyes. Then he stuck the barbell right through after it. The needle fell out onto my lap. There was no pain, just a little bit of a pinch at the bottom of my tongue when it went through. Then he put the bottom ball on, and twisted it extra tight so I wouldn't lose the balls. Skatt was sitting there saying, "That was it? That only took 2 seconds, but it was really cool to w atch."
I jumped out of the chair and looked at my tongue in the mirror. I loved it. Then I went back to the bathroom and rinsed with some water, then Listerine, and then water again. I felt fine, not dizzy, nothing. We went to the Virgin Megastore across the street, then went home on the T. It felt totally fine, although I had a little trouble talking.
So that was the whole experience itself, but I wanted to document the following days just so people could see that having this done is not all fun and games. First, they tell you not to change the barbell for 6 WEEKS. I know people do it before, but that's what I was told. You also have to wait 2 months for it to be totally healed, and usually about a week eating nothing substantial. Here's what happened to me:
Sunday: My tongue was a little bit swollen. I had some difficulty eating. I tried scrambled eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt, and French onion soup. The eggs and cottage cheese were really hard. It took me forever to eat them, so I stuck with the softer stuff. For dinner I ate some pizza and Cinna-sticks, which took me an hour each piece eaten in really supper tiny bites and on the side of my mouth. To reward it for its hard work, I appeased it with chocolate ice cream. I also ordered it a new ring and some replacement balls.
Monday: Didn't think it would get any worse, but woke up with a tongue more swollen, indents of my teeth on the front sides (it swelled so much it was filling my entire mouth and pushing against the sides of my teeth), indent of ball on roof, swollen underneath. I had some mashed potatoes, some beef broth from soup, and Jell-O for lunch. My friend Rafael kept saying how sorry he was for me. Then I needed a slurpee again (I have never been so grateful that 7-11 is 2 minutes from my dorm). For dinner my mouth hurt so much that I just got a Powerboost Jamba Juice Smoothie, which has all sorts of vitamin supplements and stuff. Then I was hungry later so I had some cream of mushroom soup, and the usual ice cream after that. I also developed the white coating on this day, and was eating Motrin (with an ant-inflammatory) and ice cubes like it was my job.
Tuesday: My tongue seemed less swollen in the morning; the teeth marks weren't as bad. I had scrambled eggs, cottage cheese, and yogurt, the same as Sunday, but it was much much easier this time. I ate all of it, and in about 15 minutes as opposed to half an hour. But after that I went to class, and my tongue was manufacturing profuse amounts of spit, and it drove me nuts all day long. Up to this point, my tongue hadn't been too bad at talking unless I had finished eating something solid or talking for awhile, but I was slurring all over the place. I wanted one of those vacuum thingies like the dentist has to suck up your spit. For dinner I had mushroom soup again and some pudding. By later that night I was ready to rip the damn thing out of my mouth, it was bothering me so much, and I was tired of not eating anything. But of course, it's $70, and I wasn't about to let all that go to waste, so I stuck with it.
Wednesday: My tongue was still swollen, and developed a lovely white bump in the front. I was still eating mostly soft foods, but it was at least slightly better.
Thursday: I tried to eat some solid food... I could, but it was a lot of work, so I stuck more with the soft stuff. But I still ate a couple grilled cheeses, and it was good to really eat again. The white bump disappeared as I was eating ice cream that night.
Friday: I could magically eat normally again, just much slower than before. My tongue would get tired and I wouldn't want to eat as much. But by this point everything was fine.
Well, that's my story of my tongue piercing experience. Basically, I just want to let anyone who's thinking of getting one that the procedure doesn't hurt much at all. Most of the pain involved is soreness afterwards, and even that isn't unbearable. But it's really a lot of hard work to take care of during that first week or so, taking it easy, not eating much, rinsing with salt water after meals, using Listerine the first and last things in the day, etc. But in all, it's TOTALLY worth it. I started playing with it on Friday, just running the ball along my top lip, and it spins... I exclaimed to my roommate, "It's so fricken cool!" I know that this is going to be one of my most treasured piercings for a very long time. I can't wait till I can change the bar to a shorter and much more comfortable length, and give it all sorts of fun things. I have started calling it Tongue as a proper name, since it seems to think that it can demand all sorts of things from me now, and I must m ake gestures to appease it. It's almost like a puppy... it requires lots of attention and I can't wait to buy it new toys!!!