How I did it: When I moved away to college last year, you got a little book of coupons, including one for-- wouldn't you know it?-- the local piercing shop. Freshly 18 and high on legal adulthood, I decided to get my tongue pierced. I actually asked for it as a graduation present, but my mom shot the idea down in about 1.2 seconds.

The piercer had to do a lot of positioning with the clamp, as I apparently have a rather veiny tongue. He actually pierced it slightly crooked to miss a vein, but it's not noticeable to anyone but me, really.

All of my friends said it didn't hurt, but I thought it did. The real challenge, however, came in the next week and a half. As it turns out, when your tongue is three times its normal size, shit is hard to do. I learned to really appreciate slushies/ice cream/soup. A few days after the piercing I was eating my roommate's Chinese food when I got a Lo Mein noodle wrapped around the barbell and there was a horrible tearing sensation/sound that I felt all through my head. No real damage was done though. Oh, and I drooled a lot.

Lessons & tips: - Watch out for noodles
- Use alcohol- free mouthwash
- When you can change the jewelry, really look into what an appropriate barbell length is for you. Most barbells you get at the mall or whatever are 5/8" with 6mm balls, which was way too big for me, and resulted in some minor chipping on my front teeth. I learned that my mouth is apparently way smaller than the average person's. Now I switch between a 7/16" barbell and a 1/2" barbell, and prefer wearing a 5mm ball on the bottom. This way I don't feel the jewelry at all, and my teeth are protected.

Resources: - 120A Piercing in Duluth, MN
- Biotene mouthwash
- Sea salt
- BMEzine.com
- YouTube
- Bodyartforms.com (where I order my smaller barbells)

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Jan 29, 2010, 10:28PM PST | 0 comments | 1 cheer