Sorry, I'm not sympathetic.

[sixums]

For anyone in this thread (not directing at anyone in particular), please don't assume that because I work in a place that pierces with a gun that I am ignorant of why getting pierced with a gunis bad for you. I try to bring as much professionalism and knowledge of the correct care of piercings to my job as I possibly can, since most people think "AH! Body piercer! Ah! Tattoo shop!" and run for the hills.

It came off as a little improper and I want to apologize. I worry a lot about the kids who go and get piercings, especially things like cartilage piercings, done at kiosks by people who don't care and aren't all that knowledgeable. If I were in your position I would do the same, so thanks for helping out those. You've probably saved a lot of people from bad piercing experiences.

Referring back to the original post, the mom from last night called my store this morning. Apparently they did go to Claire's and got the girl's ears pierced. One ear is pierced crooked and she wanted to know how long to wait after taking it out before she could get it repierced. I guess it was actually the grandma that was in town from Virginia, and SHE was the one who had to leave last night. So, at least Grandma got to see her little grandbaby get pierced before she left, even though it was done incorrectly.

That's what we love to call Karma!

[PepperElf]

seriously what is wrong with people?

my bf and i finally found the local Hot Topic yesterday and went in... only to realize it was 5 minutes before closing. So, he simply asked "Do you have any Gothic Beauty magazines?" They pointed to where the mags would be (none there) and we left.

No reason for a hissy fit that's for sure.

[42_42_42]

It came off as a little improper and I want to apologize. I worry a lot about the kids who go and get piercings, especially things like cartilage piercings, done at kiosks by people who don't care and aren't all that knowledgeable. If I were in your position I would do the same, so thanks for helping out those. You've probably saved a lot of people from bad piercing experiences.

Oh, how I wish the lady at Claire's had told me that the gun piercing wasn't intended for cartillage piercing! I had the cartillage in one of my ears done when I was in college and it never healed right. For six months I waited for that thing to heal and it was so sore the whole time and frequently infected. I finally took the thing out and the hole finally healed. If only I had known to go to a tattoo/piercing parlor!

[Samaliel]

Just curious, why is getting your ears pierced with one of the guns a bad thing? That's how I got mine done and it went all right.

They're not a bad thing per se. While it might not be the majority (let's hope it is not !), all too often, they are handled by people that are neither quite as knowledgeable nor quite as trained as they should be. Sometimes, some forget to clean it after piercing a customer. Sometimes, some will pierce the cartilage when the guns aren't intended for that purpose.

I'm pretty sure the vast majority of people who got their ears pierced at Claire's or other such shops never had a problem. But I'm also pretty sure that most of those who had a problem with their ear piercings either got them from aforementioned shops or that "a friend" who happened to have bought a piercing gun did it for them.

And in a worst case scenario, there isn't much difference between those two.

[Amina516]

Ok, I really wouldn't do that.....but it's along the same lines of epic ridonkulosity.

Hello fellow ridonkulous user! People look at me funny when I use that word...

[sixums]

Just curious, why is getting your ears pierced with one of the guns a bad thing? That's how I got mine done and it went all right.

They can be considered passable for earlobe piercings, but it's basically the equivalent of shoving a tack through your ear. Professional piercers have done studies of them and have found several factors:

1) There is no real way to completely disinfect them. It's not like at a real piercer's shop, which would have an autoclave. Autoclaves combine heat and pressure to sterilize material. A gun can't be put in one because it's made of plastic, and sticking it in alcohol isn't enough to do it.

2) The studs they use to pierce the ears are too short as well has too dull compared to a piercing needle. They provide more trauma to the ear than a needle, which slows down healing time and causes lots of scar tissue. This also makes it easier for infection.

3) The cleaning solution the people give you? Only slows down the healing time. It's full of harsh chemicals that are too rough on a fresh piercing. There are far better ways of cleaning them that have been proven for years. The aftercare solutions also suck. You don't twirl the jewelery, that just drags stuff in and can interrupt the formation of the fistula.

Here's also a BME article done on it.

Sorry, I'm prone to ranting on the subject. I've seen more friends with infected piercings because of them than I can count.

[Akasa]

gun piercings are so. bad. for you.

They also shatter the cartlidge in the ear which makes infections more likely and healing take longer.

[Daisy]

When I was a foolish girl of 17, I worked at Afterthoughts - we did tons of ear piercings. No cartilage though, that was very much against the rules...


That's not to say we didn't pierce our own ears multiple times, cartilage included, with the demo studs when we had slow times. At one point I had 6 holes in one ear and 7 in the other. Now I just have 4 in one and 3 in the other, and only the third set of holes was self inflicted. Perfectly straight though.

Yeah, we were dumb.

[karma_gypsy]

When I was a foolish girl of 17, I worked at Afterthoughts -

Afterthoughts now there's a place I haven't heard of in a loooong time ...



As for the little girl in the OP, now that she got her ears pierced and one is crooked ... is she even going to want to get it re-pierced? It can be so traumatizing for a small child and then she'll always be wondering if they're straight or not.

I went to Claires or one of those places to get my ears pierced with a gun ... luckily, the lady doing it was concerned about how even and straight they were. She seemed very professional about it ...

[Lace Neil Singer]

I had all ten of the holes in my ears done with a needle at my local piercing shop. Cleaned my piercings with the solution; cleaned the earring at the same time so no dirt got dragged in; piercings fine and dandy. Yep, I said earring; studs are the tool of the devil; sleepers are better for lobes and rings for upper ears. The guy who did all my upper ear piercings had at least 30 piercings in his face as well as certificates to prove brilliance. He also used to take a sterile needle out of the packet in front of you. He also replaced one of the rings in my upper ear when it fell out and I had to get a new one, free of charge; I'm useless when it comes to getting those damn ball thingies on the ends of the ring. XD

[KhirasHY]

People would rather take their children to a kiosk where people have had a short training video and look "normal" rather than go to a person who's been doing it for years, has a wall full of certificates stating they are licensed and have disease awareness training but is covered in tattoos. My piercer is scary looking, I admit, but he's also the sweetest man in the world.

I always laugh when one of our regulars comes in...she praises me every time she comes in, talking about how much better I am than all the "tattooed degenerates at <other place that she goes to sometimes>"...not knowing that, were I not in a suit with long sleeves, she could note that I probably have more tattoos than the people she runs into most days.

I think there's something about having ink drilled into your skin permanently that boils some of the asshole out of you for a lot of people...or maybe it's working retail that does that. I don't know.

[Zell]

That shit happens to me all the time at the salad bar.

Those little piggies have all day to gorge upon the almighty, disgusting and dirty salad bar, but they decide to come in at 8:01PM when everything is placed on the rack to go into the cooler. I'm not getting everything back out again so they can make a salad.

[technical.angel]

People would rather take their children to a kiosk where people have had a short training video

Video? There was no video! (Kim, was there a video?)

There was no video at Claires. Since I'd been piercing for years, I just checked over their instructions to make sure they didn't want anything done differently.

Took the test, passed with flying colors.

Note: I used to work with CSR Kim. It was our first job. Sniffle. Memories!!

[Pagan]

Oh, how I wish the lady at Claire's had told me that the gun piercing wasn't intended for cartillage piercing! I had the cartillage in one of my ears done when I was in college and it never healed right. For six months I waited for that thing to heal and it was so sore the whole time and frequently infected. I finally took the thing out and the hole finally healed. If only I had known to go to a tattoo/piercing parlor!

I had all of my ear piercings, save one, done at I think Claire's or something along those lines. My cartilage piercing was done at a tattoo parlour. Even though the guy that did it had all kinds of tats and piercings, I felt comfortable with him....he was also a hemodialysis tech at the hospital.

My bellybutton and, naturally, my tattoo were done at a tattoo parlour.... I think I'm going to get myself another tat for graduation.

[Apallo]

I got my cartilage (upper lobe) done at a kiosk at the mall. It wasn't too bad, but the stud they used had some kind of funky metal in it that caused a massive reaction. I took it out and went to a tattoo shop to get a new ring and to get it stretched. After that i never had any problems. I also have a couple of other piercings that I...uhh...sorta did myself with a safety pin. I do not recommend that method to anyone, on any part of their body.