Tattoos, piercings, body art...

black_magnolia wrote:

Envy wrote:

Hoping to find a nice place to get my ears pierced whilst I'm out on Monday..

Oh, good luck with that! Just don't have them pierced with a so called \"piercing-gun\", for gods sake! *yuck* :woohoo:

Yeah that's the problem. I've had two searches before but all only offered gunned piercings. >.<

When I was little my ears were pierced with a piercing gun. I don't understand what's so bad about them.

@ Envy: Come on! You have to be joking, right? There must be a studio which does it with a needle! I wouldn't get anything pierced in a studio who used a piercing gun for anything - it' just not professional.

@ Sepulchre: Then you were lucky. I know several people who had problems with their ears pierced by such piercing guns, from infections which had to be treated in the hospital and deformed the ear cartilage forever etc.

Check these links for more info about why a needle is better then a \"gun\":

www.homiegfunk.com/gun.htm
www.safepiercing.org/piercing/faq/
jewelry.about.com/od/bodyjewelry/a/piercing_guns.htm

black_magnolia wrote:

@ Envy: Come on! You have to be joking, right? There must be a studio which does it with a needle! I wouldn't get anything pierced in a studio who used a piercing gun for anything - it' just not professional.

@ Sepulchre: Then you were lucky. I know several people who had problems with their ears pierced by such piercing guns, from infections which had to be treated in the hospital and deformed the ear cartilage forever etc.

Check these links for more info about why a needle is better then a \"gun\":

www.homiegfunk.com/gun.htm
www.safepiercing.org/piercing/faq/
jewelry.about.com/od/bodyjewelry/a/piercing_guns.htm

Wow, I too had my ears pierced, when I was a child (more like a baby, 9 months old), with a piercing gun and never had any problems. Never even knew that other people had experienced issues. Come to think of it, I never even knew that there were alternatives because everywhere that does ear and nose piercing locally here uses piercing guns. The accessory store at the mall offers the piercing service for free if you buy the jewelry.

Envy, maybe you'd have some luck finding professional ear piercers at tattoo shops? I know most tattoo shops in Canada do piercings as well. Never actually had one done there so no idea what equipment is used but it's worth a shot, I suppose.

Yeah, sadly a lot of people aren't informed about piercings and just go with the flow because they don't know different... I've heard of a lot of complications, but probably I wouldn't have if I didn't ask and talk to people about that. Usually people don't go around telling everyone what kind of complications they had with piercing (or tattoos for that matter).

I was once with a friend at a jeweller where she got her ears pierced with a \"gun\". :X I was against it but I shut up as she didn't want to change her mind and get it done with a needle (too expensive *facepalm*, don't know what's worse, a \"gun\" or doing it with a safety pin at home - I heard all kinds of horror stories where people did it themselves), so I went as \"moral support\". :S

I'll just tell how my friend got pierced: The lady gave her a regular blue-pointed pen so she could herself mark where she wants to be pierced. My friend made a x on each ear lobe which afterwards when the jewellery was inserted was nicely visible all around (not to say how her holes aren't symmetrical now, but oh well)... Anyway, no disinfection, no nothing. Those \"medical\" studs are inserted into the \"gun\" and you are pierced with them. Being pierced by a blunt pin - \"great\". The only after-care advice she was given was that she should turn and twist the jewellery!? *facepalm* How do you want the hole to heal if you constantly damage the tissue inside?!

My piercer checked with a micrometer ruler if she positioned the dots where she would pierce me correctly, just to say so much.

In my opinion, I'd rather spend more money and get it done proper, then risk complications. Hey, it's only my health. Even if you do it by a professional you could have complications because your body doesn't handle foreign materials or some other reason which doesn't have anything to do with the piercing procedure. Why risk it more then you have to?

www.safepiercing.org/piercing/choosing-a-piercer/
www.safepiercing.org/piercing/know-your-rights/

I thought this was a very interesting read: seppukutattoo.blogspot.com/2012/02/lette...r-lettering-and.html :)