I have been considering (as in, really thinking about for awhile, not since earlier today) getting a piercing. So far, the top candidates for a hole (the only body parts I’m considering, really) are the tongue and the eyebrow. Anyone got any advice for me?
I’d recommend the eyebrow. A tongue piercing would probably be more painful.
Toungue piercings rock!..
I “might” have one… Shhh…
Plus, they aren’t nearly as hard to take care of as everyone bitches about. And, I don’t care what anyone says. If nothing else, I’ve witnessed about 15 of them, and no-one has complained of any pain or discomfort.
The only way a toungue piercing will hurt is if you talk a whole lot right after you get it. If you can keep your mouth shut for a day, you’re good to go.
I had 6 piercings in my right eyebrow back in my wilder woolier days. My friends called it the shower curtain piercing. Think about it.
Ack! I’m so dumb; I meant to ask about a lip piercing, not a tongue. . .
What type of lip piercing. Varying levels of discomfort depending on where you go.
Fishhook - either side of the bottom lip.
Toothpick - middle of the bottom lip.
Marilyn Monroe - either side of the top lip.
In order of least to most discomfort and blood.
For the record. From all the people I’ve talked to… (read: a hundred) Tragul(ear cartilage), Glabellal (space between eyebrows, and Flourchette (through the clitoral hood and out over top of the mons pubis(sp?)) are the most painful piercings.
Are you for real? I have my ears pierced five times each (two of which are in the cartilage) and I didn’t think they hurt that badly. I had to sleep on my back for three weeks, though. . .
I am considering a bottom lip, toward the left piercing. How much would this hurt?
The tragus is that little piece that sticks out right in front of the opening to your ear. The tiny part you can push back and close your ear off. I don’t know if you have that pierced, but apparently it’s pretty painful.
Bottom lip on the side is the best place if your gonna get your lip pierced. Much easier to take care of, and according to my sources (my x-wife worked in a tattoo parlor as a piercer), is the least painful place on the lip. Also less blood there. No piercing bleeds much, but your lips do a little more than most. Hope I’ve helped, and I also hope you post pictures after you get it done.
IMHO-
Navel piercings are extremely sexy.
Clitoral piercings are…OK…
Ears are standard issue.
But any facial piercings only detract from your overall look…(do you want ppl to stare at YOU, or at your Face jewelry?)
my 2cents
Stranger OUT
IMHO: Don’t mutilate your poor body! It’s fine as it is!
Sorry, piercings make me shudder inwardly (and sometimes outwardly). 
I’m with you, Black Knight… no holes for me, thanks…
Hi, ThisYearsGirl.
Fascinating to me how some pierced people will tell you (loudly) that their piercings didn’t hurt.
I’m thrilled for Simetra and friends who claim no pain, but I flat-out don’t believe 'em. They may not be willing to publicly say that they felt pain, but I’m confident they did.
I have had many piercings, know many piercers, and have many pierced friends (side-effect of being an industrial/goth computer nerd in Seattle), and damn near every one of them will tell you that getting stuck with a needle hurts. (For many, that’s the point.)
And often it hurts a lot.
As for what hurts worse, it totally depends on you.
The pain varies from person to person.
I’ve got my left eyebrow, septum, and left ear pierced. I’ve had a labret (a piercing below the lower lip) and nipple piercings. Of them all, the eyebrow hurt worst and took longest to heal (of the ones that healed). The labret and nipples never healed, which is why I don’t have them anymore.
There’s tons of info available about piercing and aftercare available on the Web.
I recommend that you start with the rec.arts.bodyart FAQs:
http://www.cs.uu.nl/wais/html/na-bng/rec.arts.bodyart.html
What part should you get pierced? Play around with glitter or glue-on jewelry and see which one you like better. Hold some hoops up to your face and use your imagination. You may want to do both!
One thing to keep in mind about any mouth piercing: The jewelry can affect your dental work. I’ve seen lots of chipped teeth resulting from chewing on mouth piercings. If you’ve got money invested in your teeth, your dentist and I will recommend that you don’t do a mouth piercing.
Most of all: Enjoy!
Hi, ThisYearsGirl.
Fascinating to me how some pierced people will tell you (loudly) that their piercings didn’t hurt.
I’m thrilled for Simetra and friends who claim no pain, but I flat-out don’t believe 'em. They may not be willing to publicly say that they felt pain, but I’m confident they did.
I have had many piercings, know many piercers, and have many pierced friends (side-effect of being an industrial/goth computer nerd in Seattle), and damn near every one of them will tell you that getting stuck with a needle hurts. (For many, that’s the point.)
And often it hurts a lot.
As for what hurts worse, it totally depends on you.
The pain varies from person to person.
I’ve got my left eyebrow, septum, and left ear pierced. I’ve had a labret (a piercing below the lower lip) and nipple piercings. Of them all, the eyebrow hurt worst and took longest to heal (of the ones that healed). The labret and nipples never healed, which is why I don’t have them anymore.
There’s tons of info available about piercing and aftercare available on the Web.
I recommend that you start with the rec.arts.bodyart FAQs:
http://www.cs.uu.nl/wais/html/na-bng/rec.arts.bodyart.html
What part should you get pierced? Play around with glitter or glue-on jewelry and see which one you like better. Hold some hoops up to your face and use your imagination. You may want to do both!
One thing to keep in mind about any mouth piercing: The jewelry can affect your dental work. I’ve seen lots of chipped teeth resulting from chewing on mouth piercings. If you’ve got money invested in your teeth, your dentist and I will recommend that you don’t do a mouth piercing.
Most of all: Enjoy!
Personally I think the coolest lip piercings are vertical labret’s they take longer to heal,but damn are they cool. As for pain, it varies. I’ve had my hand pierced 4 times with no pain, my ears pierced with a 4 gauge one with pain one without, and my nipples pierced with a lot of pain. Some people also handle it better than others.
I was pretty surprised… I’m a huge fraidy-cat when it comes to willfully inflicting pain upon myself, but I got my nose pierced a few years ago, and truthfully, it hurt less than getting my ears pierced. One really sharp pain, then just a kinda dull pain for a few hours. I went out that night and everyone thought I’d had it done for a long time cuz it didn’t look all red and painful. So it’s pretty much an individual thing I’d say…
My good friend passed out cold when she got her navel done, but then again, talking about blood makes her woozy…
IMHO, as a few have already stated, facial piercings tend to detract from the physical beauty of a person. Personally, while in the Army, I had my left earlobe pierced twice, along with the cartilage halfway up and also at the top. Also, Mrs X has both nipples pierced, and we have been talking about either clitoral hood or perhaps labial piercing but are not sure yet.
I know, I know, TMI as usual…
I got my navel pierced, and I am proud to LOUDLY proclaim it didn’t hurt any more then your average less-then-playful pinch. Way less painful then getting my blood drawn. Way, way less painful then badly stubbing my toe. Maybe I have a high tolerance for pain, but it wasn’t that bad. The healing was a pain in the ass, however, as the piercing would get “stuck” if I sat for a long period of time, and then when I got up…ouch.
However, it’s fully healed now, and I’m considering an eyebrow myself. Lets talk scarring, people. If I decide my wild youthful ways are behind me, how large can I expect the holes to be? The size of the gauge or smaller? And I had a friend who had to take hers out because the little ball was just inside her peripheral vision, and it was driving her nuts. Thoughts?
ps: My piercer told me tongue rings are the LEAST painful, as they are a series of stringy muscles that run from base to tip. They pierce between the muscles, and therefore it doesn’t hurt as much. In addition, you only have nerves on the surface of your mouth, so it hurts less than biting your tongue, where you crush a bunch of nerves at once.
Swiddles - on the pain level - really? I have my nipples pierced, and I am not at all ashamed to say that the room was spinning, and the hubby had to hold me up to keep me off of the floor. More shock than pain, I think, but there certainly was pain. My tattoos were more uncomfortable than painful, but the nipple piercings were painful.
In my opinion - I don’t like face piercings at all. But it is not up to me to tell you what to like and not like.
I’ve always said, if you’re gonna have a festering puss-filled painful infectious would, you might as well have it in your lip, or around your eye…
Bear in mind that a piercing could be a limiting factor in your career… I don’t know how old you are, or what your job is, but a lot of employers might just decide to promote the person who doesn’t have the metal shoved through her face…
Of course, like Hank Hill says:
“I think body piercing is a good idea. It let’s you know that someone’s not right just by looking at them.”
I’m kidding…
If I were you, I would go for eyebrow. You don’t want to risk an infection around your mouth, and the metal could cause damage to your teeth over time…
Thanks for all the advice, people, but I’m still going to think about it a little more.
I’ve narrowed it down to the eyebrow, just because when I asked people around here, they all said that my eyebrows were my best facial feature (plus, I had to wear head gear in seventh grade. I’m not making all that in vain by possibly screwing it up).
The career thing right now is the biggest drawback. I’m in college right now (technically a freshman because I transfered from a crappy college, and none of my credits counted toward anything useful mutter mutter), and I’m unsure about what I want to do. Also, I have a full time job during breaks and the summer, in a department store, where I am only allowed to wear two earrings in each side at a time, so an eyebrow ring is probably seriously frowned upon.
As for the attractiveness thing, I think piercings are neat looking, especially if the person is “normal” looking otherwise (green hair and a nosering are just kinda a cry for attention, in my opinion), and boy, am I normal looking!
I’m not too worried about infection, because I’m pretty responsible about piercings; all the holes in my ears healed up nicely.
You guys are the best–thanks for your advice.
To echo Swiddles, what about scarring? Would it be obvious that I had a eyebrow ring if I ever removed it?
I had six, and they are now removed because I’m in the military. I have no scars. I have seen some from where people didn’t take care of their piercings and they migrated. And of course there are the idiots that remove their 2 gauge piercings and don’t expect a scar.