The other day at the mall i saw a 15 year old sitting in a Claire’s piercing booth and it took every fiber in my being to not just grab her and take her to the actual, clean and sanitary and not guaranteed to fuck up your ears tattoo shop literally next door. Like I was frantic. Snakes manifested in my house
Piercing guns almost ALWAYS cause infections
They hurt more because they jam dull jewelry into your ear
Needles from a professional are designed to allow for minimum damage thus less pain.
The people working there literally have no idea what the fuck they’re doing and just guess it with a 1 hour training video vs a professional who trained under a mentor for at least a year and has a passion in the craft
They use bad metal for healings (copper, silver, etc) that can irritate ears. Surgical grade steel should be the only thing in your healing piercings
They put them on way to tight, causing swelling issues. Swelling is normal and piercings should be large enough to allow for that
They give you shit aftercare advice and cleaner (literally just buy saline solution at Spencer’s or hot topic for 8 dollars at the most and don’t touch them at all)
If done on cartilage it can LITERALLY SHATTER YOUR EARS
Please if any young girls in your family want their ears pierced take them to actual professional and don’t trust piercing guns. If a professional says your kid is too young (I.e a fucking baby) then trust their professional judgement. It costs more but you are getting essentially a art piece from a highly trained professional who knows what they’re doing vs a part time min wage employee who had 1 hour training on how to pierce ears.
I literally wrote an entire essay in college why piercing guns should be banned with pictures and my professor told me she was so interested in my topic and had no idea and even googled the topic herself out of curiosity and was horrified on the amount of damage they case
I am a licensed piercing professional and this is all sound and accurate advice. Get your piercings done by a licensed professional at a reputable shop. Not at the mall kiosk that uses piercing guns. Not by your friend who ordered a kit off of Amazon.
Association of Professional Piercers Aftercare Guide:
Yo this post is important! I got my ears pierced at a Claire’s when I was only 8 – they bled and it fucking hurt, and I developed an initial infection (because I was given no instructions and nothing to clean the piercings with) that while it passed still leads to me getting cysts to this day and despite not wearing earrings in over ten years the holes still haven’t properly closed. DO NOT get your ears pierced at Claire’s. See a professional, I’m begging
its also important to mention that claire’s will not tell you of potential problems with your ears and their earrings while a professional in a body art shop will.
the first time i got my ears pierced my earlobes grew over the backings of my ears and i had to have my ears cut open slightly so they could be retrieved. guess what I got it done at Claire’s.
the second time? I went to a professional and he told me because of my earlobe thickness i needed special backings on my earlobes and they had some in store for 5 bucks which i got for free and a free bottle of piercing cleaner.
