From the time I was 15, I have wanted my tongue pierced more than anything. Well, Mom thought it was gross and said she would have no part in me mutilating my body and Dad thought it would make him a bad parent if he let me get it done. So I was forced to wait until I was 18. As the time got closer I started to research so I knew everything I needed to know in order to make the right decision. If I decided that I still wanted it done, I would know how to care for it. I found BME after doing a search for "tongue piercing" and I became addicted. I would sit online for hours reading stories about other people getting their tongue pierced. After about two weeks of this I had decided that I was definitely getting this piercing when I turned 18. All I had to do was wait.
At A Glance Author Meg Contact NaughtyOrNice83@aol.com When It just happened Artist Cindy Studio Bring Your Skin Location Elmira, NY When my birthday came around, I had moved out of my Dad's house and my fiance and I had gotten our own place. We didn't think we would have the money to get it done for another couple of weeks. Obviously I was bummed out over it, I had waited and waited and now I would have to wait longer than I had planned. Two days after my birthday, he came home and said "So, are you ready to get a needle through your tongue?" I just looked at him like "Huh?" I didn't know what to think. Monday he had said we didn't have the money, but now Wednesday he's asking me if I'm ready to go. I didn't know he was serious, so I almost started to get angry at him for teasing me.....but then he started to explain. He had figured out the bills over the next couple of weeks and we had over a hundred dollars to spend this week. So I got up off the computer and started getting ready to go. We had plans to go to my Mom's to watch a movie with her and my stepdad. We decided to go to Bring Your Skin before going to my Mom's. About 20 minutes later we were on our way to Elmira, which is about 45 minutes away from where I live.
When we walked in I loved what I saw. There were pictures for tattoos all over the walls and different colored lights up around the room. There were also bead curtains up above every doorway in the main area of the shop. Cindy, the piercer asked me what I was there for and I told her. I had called earlier for prices and to find out about how long it would take, so she had been expecting me. She asked me for my ID (when I had talked to her before she said my high school yearbook and working papers would be good just to prove who I was and my age, because I didn't have a photo ID). She handed me a clipboard with a form on it that I had to fill out and sign stating that I was responsible for the piercing and not the shop. After signing and giving it back to her she led me into a room that was set up almost like a doctor's office. She had me rinse with mouthwash for what seemed like forever. It burned a little, but it numbed my mouth a bit, so I was thankful for that. While I was rinsing she got out her gloves and put them on. When I was done rinsing she had me sit on a chair-like thing that pulled out of the end of the table and put a napkin in my shirt in case I drooled. She had me stick my tongue out to see how thick it was so she knew what size barbell to use. She said my tongue was fairly thin, so I wouldn't need a real long barbell. She took a package out of a drawer and opened it up and took the barbell out and set it on the metal plate with the clamp and another package that had the needle in it. She marked my tongue and had me look in the mirror to approve the spot she chose. It was a good spot, so then it was time to clamp my tongue. When she put the clamp on, it hurt a little, but not too bad. Then she got the needle out and when I saw it I got a little nervous, which happens whenever I see a needle. She placed the needle on my tongue and told me to hold still, then she pushed it through. It hurt a tiny little bit, b ut it mostly just felt weird and slightly uncomfortable. I started to drool and when I first felt it I thought it was blood, so I started to freak out. Cindy told me it was only drool and to calm down. I felt a little embarrassed, but realized that there was no reason to be because it wasn't like she hadn't ever had someone drool before. Cindy told me she was going to put the barbell in now and it would feel a little uncomfortable. I thought to myself "Oh yeah, like it isn't now!", but I couldn't say anything of course. I glanced over at my fiance and he was white as a ghost with a freaked out look on his face, which I thought was hilarious! After my barbell was in Cindy told me to go rinse again. As I was rinsing, she went over the aftercare with Russ. Once I was done, I talked with her for a few minutes about my concerns. I told her it felt strange and she laughed and said "Well of course, you just had a spike put through your tongue!" We left the room and went back out to the counter to pay. I thanked Cindy and then we left.
Our first stop was the store for something cold to drink, Motrin, and ice. Then we went to my Mom's, she just kind of wrinkled her nose when I showed her, but she didn't get upset or anything. The rest of the day went fairly easy, until I decided I was hungry. We decided to go to McDonald's for dinner. I ordered two cheeseburgers, a large order of fries, and a large strawberry milkshake. We took our food back to Mom's to eat. I couldn't get the milkshake through the straw! I had to go get a spoon for the milkshake. After an hour and a half I had eaten both cheeseburgers and less than half of the fries. I kept biting the barbell, and that doesn't feel very good. Everyone thought it was pretty funny to watch me eat, which I didn't find very humorous. Finally I decided I was done eating.
The second day was not fun at all. I had to work and I really didn't feel like it because I had woke up with a sore throat, and on top of that, my tongue was swelled up a little. I'm not sure if it was because of the piercing or not, but either way I felt horrible. I went in to work anyway and everyone got a kick out of how I was talking. I hadn't noticed a difference, but they did. I work for Subway and "swiss cheese" was sounding like "shwiss cheese." Later on, another girl I work with who also has her tongue pierced came in to see how it turned out and she thought it was funny to give me a speech test with tongue twisters. I did pretty good, until someone else told her to make me say "swiss." Then everyone had a good laugh. I finally got hungry and made myself a 6 inch sub. After half an hour I had eaten about half of it. I eventually decided to stick to ice cream and apple sauce, which seems to work out for me.
Today is day 3 and I'm doing good. The swelling isn't too bad anymore and the sore throat is almost completely gone. I ate a double cheeseburger from Burger King in only 15 minutes and didn't bite my barbell once. The very back of my tongue is a little sore, I think because Cindy had to pull my tongue out more so the needle wouldn't hit my lip as it came through. I can play with the barbell a little, but if I try to play with it too much it hurts, so right now I'm being very careful with it. The sooner it heals up and stops hurting, the sooner I can play with it all I want!
I didn't go through all the different times I used the sea-salt rinses or mouthwash because it isn't really necessary to add that. I will assure everyone that I have followed Cindy's aftercare instructions exactly as she said. This is very important because the last thing you want to do is pay all that money just to get an infection.