Piercing Piercing Experiences Facial & Oral Tongue Piercing

I had been wanting to get my tongue pierced for about a year, but couldn't because I was underage, and my parents would never approve, let alone come with me. I had decided I would do it as my 16th birthday gift to myself, so within about a month beforehand, I visited about 7 or 8 different places. I finally decided on Bee-Cool. Yes, the name is kind of dumb, but I didn't base my judgment on that. On first arrival, I noticed the cleanliness of the studio. Bee-Cool was new, and had only been in that location for about 3 weeks, but the piercers were friendly, knowledgeable, and professional. They made me feel bery comfortable and relaxed about my decision, but were also very honest, and told me about the possible negative consequences. I priced out my tongue piercing, and, with the jewelry, it would cost me $96 (cdn). This was expensive (average here is between $75-$100) but I don't want to gamble with my body- it was worth the money to me, as long as I could trust my piercer. About a week later, I called and made an appointment. I told my mom on the night of my birthday, which was the day before, about my plans for the next day, and she was anything but impressed. However, we made a deal that I could do it, even though she wasn't happy, as long as she never saw it, never heard it click, and I never complained about it in her presence. This was fair. My dad was in Europe at the time, and knew nothing about it. I knew he'd be mad.

I arrived at the studio about 15 minutes earlier than my appointment time, so Rob (the piercer) and I sat down and discussed everything imaginable, from the procedure, to the consequences, to the anatomy of the tongue and where the piercing actually goes. He was very friendly, very professional, and he made me feel extremely comfortable about the procedure. Also, he had about 25 piercings just on his face, so he obviously knew what he was talking about.

After about 45 minutes of discussion, I finally decided I was ready. Rob set up his tools, then called me into the piercing room. It was very clean and bright, and all of the tools were sterilized and still in their new packages, and Rob had a fresh pair of latex gloves on. He described the procedure in great detail, from start to finish, then gave me a cup of cepasol to rinse with. Then, he used gauze to dry off my tongue, and then inspected all the veins and stuff on the underside of my tongue, to make sure it could be pierced. Then he marked where the piercing would be (I got to keep the marker), and let me look. After making sure I wasn't scared of needles, he clamped it, put a cork underneath to put the needle into, and told me to take a few deep breaths. Then Rob poked the needle through, slid the jewelry in, and screwed on the bottom ball. The actual piercing only took about 5 seconds, and was nearly painless- it was just a tiny pinch. Honestly, biting your tongue is about 10 times worse. The worst part was the fact that I drooled like a rabid dog- Rob gave me a paper towel and assured me that it was normal, and he drooled much more when he had his pierced. Then he explained the after-care procedure, and gave me a print-out to take home, as well as a $5 coupon for jewelry, clothes, or my next piercing from Bee-Cool. Throughout the procedure, Rob was very attentive to me, making sure I was comfortable and that I still felt okay. Afterward, he made sure I wasn't nauseous or light-headed, and let me sit and relax for a while before I paid, expressed my mass-amounts of gratitude, and left.

I had my piercing done on a Friday afternoon, and I was able to eat my dinner on Friday night- I was speaking with a slight lisp, but it wasn't very sore and not at all swollen. Saturday night, my tongue swelled up, but I was still able to eat solid food, and I had about half-a-centimeter of space on my post still. Sucking on ice, as well as eating alot of slurpees definitely helped. Within a week, I could eat anything and was speaking normally again. Oh, and if you have trouble eating, I recommend apple-strawberry baby food. It's delicious!

I've had my barbell for a month now, and I love it. I've changed my bead a few times, switching between stainless steel and Lucite, which comes in tons of colors, and is also less damaging to your tooth enamel. I'm never bored now, because it's always there for me to play with. It was a great experience.
-Ginger