| At A Glance |
| Author | Candy Star |
| Contact | Candy Star@bme.anon |
| When | Five years ago |
| Artist | Joanna |
| Studio | New Tribe |
| Location | Toronto, ON |
My tongue piercing is the first one I ever got, which is why I am going to write about my experience with it. It took a long time to convince myself to do it, because I was only 14 and did not know exactly what having a piercing entailed and frankly, I was quite worried. Would it hurt? Would I get fired from my new job? Little did I know the things I would be going through to take care of it.
I had just got a new job at Pizza Hut and my first major purchase, I decided, would be my tongue piercing. I called the place where my brother had gotten his tattoo, New Tribe in Toronto on Queen St. to inquire about the cost. They told me it was $60, if I remember correctly. I had made that much already, so I set an appointment for Saturday afternoon. They asked me my age and when I told them I was 14, they informed me that I would need a letter from my mom or dad.
When the day came I was nervous and excited. I knew I'd have to hide it from my mom because she would definitely be angry about it, although she has since accepted it and my other piercings as well. I had my brother fake me a letter of permission so I would be able to get it. I went with my friend Priya and I'm glad she was there because I was sweating up a storm.
My piercer was Joanna at New Tribe. She was very patient with me, even though I was very hesitant to go with her behind the screen to have the procedure done. She assured me that this was a very normal and safe piercing and that there was nothing to worry about. Then she had me rinse out my mouth with some sort of antiseptic mouthwash. She then marked the area on my tongue where she thought would be a good location for the piercing. I looked at it and imagined it with jewelry and decided I didn't like where it was going to be pierced. So she moved it back about 1/8th of an inch and I was more content with it, so that's what I told her. She put the clamp down and I remember my hands were clasped together so hard so I would concentrate on the pain I was creating in that area rather than my tongue. Then she put the needle through and surprisingly, I barely considered the experience to be painful. Instead I rather enjoyed it. Then she put the jewelry through, which de finitely hurt more than the piercing itself, but nothing too drastic.
I was given care instructions, which were to rinse it with Listerine after every meal for two weeks. I was also told to stay away from spice food, beer, kissing, and oral sex.
I spent the day in the city and felt faint a few times but I drank a lot of water. By the time I got home, my tongue was very swollen and I was speaking with a lisp. I didn't eat very much and that probably made it harder for my body to heal the piercing. It took me a long time to fall asleep that night not only because I was drooling almost uncontrollably, but also because of the shock of having this odd piece of metal in my mouth.
Although I took extra care of my new tongue piercing and followed all the instructions I was told it eventually became infected. It was already fully healed (or so I thought) when it happened the first time approximately two months after the initial piercing. I couldn't understand why. So I reluctantly took it out, and decided to let it close up and used mouthwash ten times a day to try to heal the infection. But when it was near closing and the infection was tapering off, I rammed the jewelry back in. Now that was completely painful.
So understandably it became infected once again, but this time I left the jewelry in while I began my mouthwash regimen. The infection somehow healed and I still have that piercing four years later.
I learned a lot of things about body modification through my errors with this piercing. I would never ever fight my body about a piercing now. When I got an industrial piercing and my ear began to reject the piercing I just accepted that sometimes these things are bound to happen.
The next procedure I would like to have done is a tattoo. I am not quite sure exactly what image or text I want or where on my body I would like it placed, but it is safe to say that my tongue piercing experience definitely popped my cherry in the area of body modification and I can't wait to take it further.
