My mom thinks I am addicted to piercings and tattoos, but I don’t really agree with her. Since I turned 18, almost two years ago, I have gotten two piercings and two tattoos. That’s not that much right? At least I don’t think so. Its not like I’m walking around with tattoos everywhere and you can still see my earlobes!
The whole conversation came up when I told her I got my tongue pierced. Why? Because I can! I honestly just wanted to do something and a tattoo, which was my first idea, was out of my budget at the moment. I always said I would never get my tongue pierced because I didn’t want my tongue to fall off but hey, none of my other body parts have fallen off yet so why not? And besides, I didn’t really have much left to get pierced.
The experience wasn’t too bad. I went to the infamous place that has $20 piercings on Tuesday. Now before you say “that’s sketchy” it actually wasn’t, well at least not the piercing room. It’s built like a house and has a stripper pole in the “living room.” The place is clean and professional (ok maybe the stripper pole wasn’t professional but you get the point). I went with my roommate a few weeks before because she wanted to get her nose re-pierced and I had to check the place out to make sure they were legit before I decided to get anything done there. Once I noticed she still had her nose I figured getting a piercing there wouldn’t be too bad.
I was so nervous on the way there just like I am with any other piercing or a tattoo. The whole tongue piercing idea was my roommate’s; I guess my mom would consider her addicted too. Even though it was her idea I decided to go first because I wanted to get it over with; the suspense was killing me. Once I got it done I was relieved and it didn’t even hurt. In fact, the pain was comparable to getting your nose pierced, which didn’t hurt either in my opinion.
The worst part of the whole experience was the healing process. After you get your tongue pierced it swells, which makes it hard to eat. I eat all the time, so having to eat so slowly to make sure I didn’t bump it was so irritating! It took all the enjoyment out of eating! It took forever to eat everything except mashed potatoes. In fact, I think I had mashed potatoes as every meal the first three days after I got it pierced. Trust me, you don’t know how important certain types of food are to you until you can barely eat them.
I didn’t tell my mom about the piercing until it was healed because I thought I knew what her reaction would be. She was never really against any piercings I wanted unless it was my tongue. I was very surprised that she didn’t notice because we talk every day and she saw me twice before I told her two weeks after I had gotten it done. My mom is very open-minded, but I still always prepare her for the worst so what I do doesn’t seem as bad. When I decided to talk to her the first question I asked was, “What would make you disown me?” She looked at me and said “Oh lord Erin. What did you do? Did you get arrested?” And to make the situation funnier my sister, who is 8, was in the background adding excitement to the situation yelling, “Erin!! You got arrested?!?”
After I assured them that I hadn’t got arrested, I told her that whatever I had done wasn’t permanent. She automatically knew what I had done but she couldn’t tell for sure because I put in a retainer. (A piercing retainer is a clear plastic bar that goes down into the piercing and has a flat top so that it becomes less noticeable.)
This is what a tongue ring retainer
Once I showed her, her first words were “You have an addiction.” I think she only believes that because I’m the person in our family with the most piercings and tattoos. Altogether, I have two tattoos and six to nine piercings depending on how you count (tongue, belly, nose and ears pierced three times). She has one tattoo and everybody else only have their ears pierced. I guess that makes me the rebel of the family but oh well. Times are changing and it’s not like I am doing anything to harm myself, or my future. I always make sure to check out the places I decide to go to and I take care of the piercing afterwards. I also make sure to get my tattoos in places that wouldn’t be visible to employers. For example, my first tattoo is on my hip and my second is on the back of my shoulder.
She wasn’t as mad as I thought she would be though, which is relieving, and I’m happy that I decided to live on the edge a bit. Most people don’t notice my tongue ring when I’m talking to them and if they do they don’t say much. I think more people are open to the idea of expressing yourself through piercings and tattoos as a fashion statement. My only suggestion for people who wish to get piercings or tattoos would be to make sure you think about future job opportunities. You probably won’t get that job in a law office with ice cream tattooed on your face. Just saying.
My second tattoo which actually includes my mom’s name