Got my DD's ears pierced - PSA

[pinkeggs]

I got DD1's ears pierced at Claire's in the mall, because it didn't occur to me to do any differently. It was fine, she cried a little and the girl who did it was about 16 but no big deal. That was a year and a half ago, and we have had some issues with keloids and small infections, etc. I did some reading and found out that there are a lot of people against the piercing guns they use for various reasons, including the complications we had. It seems there have even been petitions to ban them in some states due to lack of sterility with the actual gun.

Anyway, today I took DD2 to get hers done. I took her to a local tattoo and piercing parlor with an excellent reputation. SUCH a different experience! They took much more time with her, were extremely professional, and everything was done using sterile procedure. And she didn't even flinch or cry or anything Plus, the tattoo and piercing places require licensing, and most mall ones don't.

I know that some people would not be caught dead taking their 4 year old to a tattoo parlor but I just wanted to share my experience. Of course I will be paying attention to make sure we don't have any problems, and I will update if I do. Given the actual experiences compared, I wish I had taken DD1 to the tattoo place!

[Deleted]

Omg I cannot recommend enough against anyone going to Claire's and like stores for piercings. I first got my ears pierced at 8 in one of those places. A hair got wrapped around the post, the person didnt notice, and it caused a massive infection in my earlobe. It was horrible and I had to let them close up then have them redone later.

Then when I was 20 I went to Claires got the upper cartilage of my left ear pierced and the piercing gun got stuck after going through my ear and the girl had to wrench it open. VERY painful.

Don't ever get pierced with the guns.

[janetplanet20]

May 3, 2014 15:13:09 GMT -5 @fucksticklegit said:

Omg I cannot recommend enough against anyone going to Claire's and like stores for piercings. I first got my ears pierced at 8 in one of those places. A hair got wrapped around the post, the person didnt notice, and it caused a massive infection in my earlobe. It was horrible and I had to let them close up then have them redone later.

I had the same thing happen to me. My ear was so infected and gross.

I also have really thin earlobes/weak connective tissue and my earrings slowly ripped through my earlobes (unrelated to going to Claire's of course, but still horrible).

I never got them repierced, but did have my traguses pierced for a few years.

[Deleted]

I got mine pierced at Claire's (at 19. Lol) and they're slightly asymmetrical. Drives me crazy.

[cville]

I had to have mine pierced a second time because the first time at Claire's they put them in totally uneven and crooked. It's such a good idea to go to a tattoo/piercing salon.

[joenali]

Is Piercing Pagoda still around? Lol! That's where I had mine done in the mall.

[bornbaker]

This is really good advice! I don't plan on having Em's done until she asks to have them done (or IF she even asks!)

I knew I didn't want to take her to Claires and I had no idea where else to take her. I had mine done when I was 5 at a JC Penny Salon. They no longer do piercings. As far as I know anyway. My experience wasn't positive (I wasn't traumatized, and it was my own fault) and even though it makes for a funny story, I want Em's to be much happier!

[Jermys]

I got my ears pierced at Walmart and had no issues, but I heal supernaturally fast. When we get E's done, we'll go to the tattoo parlor where I got my last one done. They're a family business and they've been around forEVER and have a fantastic reputation.

[Nonny]

I wish going to a tattoo parlor/piecing shop was a thing when I was a kid. We didn't have Claire's in my town, just a random little place in the mall. That gun is so loud in your ear, that it made me jump a bit, and my first piercings were uneven. I let them close, and got them re-pierced, but the hole in my right ear is kind of messed up, and sometimes seems to have two exit points because of it. :S

[Jermys]

May 3, 2014 15:13:09 GMT -5 @fucksticklegit said:

the piercing gun got stuck after going through my ear and the girl had to wrench it open

[janegold]

May 3, 2014 15:13:09 GMT -5 @fucksticklegit said:

Omg I cannot recommend enough against anyone going to Claire's and like stores for piercings. I first got my ears pierced at 8 in one of those places. A hair got wrapped around the post, the person didnt notice, and it caused a massive infection in my earlobe. It was horrible and I had to let them close up then have them redone later.

Then when I was 20 I went to Claires got the upper cartilage of my left ear pierced and the piercing gun got stuck after going through my ear and the girl had to wrench it open. VERY painful.

Don't ever get pierced with the guns.

Ugh, I agree. I had my cartilage pierced with a gun when I was 13.  Cartilage is much more sensitive than soft ear lobe tissue and it ended up being extremely traumatized and infected.  I almost wound up in the hospital.  Huge mistake.



 I luckily never had an issue with the guns and regular piercings but if I have a daughter, I will definitely take her to a reputable piercing place.

[gummybear]

My daughter got them done at Claire's and even though we followed the instructions to a T, when we changed them (8 weeks later into another pair of Claire's earrings), she got a massive infection with the holes leaking whatever it was all down her neck. We let them close up.

She is getting them repierced in a couple months and I fully intend to take her to a tattoo parlor.

[balletofangels]

Our pediatrician will do it. Is this not a thing elsewhere?

[sunshineluv]

Thank you, I would have gone straight to Claire's when the time comes for dd to get hers if I hadn't read this.

[MrsAxilla]

May 3, 2014 15:37:37 GMT -5 sunshineluv said:

Thank you, I would have gone straight to Claire's when the time comes for dd to get hers if I hadn't read this.

Ditto.  What a great idea!

[circa1978]

My first job was at Claire's when I was in high school. The stuck gun was not uncommon.

Also, back then - so 1995 - we had to wear $50 worth of Clarie's jewelry and accessories every day. Take a minute to reflect on what THAT looked like. Then get all squicked out by the fact that we didn't have to buy that stuff - we took it off the floor each day and put it back at the end of our shifts. I wore the same earrings every time and just damaged them out eventually but others...did not.

[Monica Geller]

May 3, 2014 15:47:03 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

My first job was at Claire's when I was in high school. The stuck gun was not uncommon.

Also, back then - so 1995 - we had to wear $50 worth of Clarie's jewelry and accessories every day. Take a minute to reflect on what THAT looked like. Then get all squicked out by the fact that we didn't have to buy that stuff - we took it off the floor each day and put it back at the end of our shifts. I wore the same earrings every time and just damaged them out eventually but others...did not.

HOLY SHIT.

[suzyp]

May 3, 2014 15:37:08 GMT -5 balletofangels said:

Our pediatrician will do it. Is this not a thing elsewhere?

That's who pierced my ears, but that was in 1979!

[nannersp]

May 3, 2014 15:47:03 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

My first job was at Claire's when I was in high school. The stuck gun was not uncommon.

Also, back then - so 1995 - we had to wear $50 worth of Clarie's jewelry and accessories every day. Take a minute to reflect on what THAT looked like. Then get all squicked out by the fact that we didn't have to buy that stuff - we took it off the floor each day and put it back at the end of our shifts. I wore the same earrings every time and just damaged them out eventually but others...did not.

One of my college jobs was at Claire's, too. 

I hated that policy, as well. The only way to get to $50 was to wear like 5 pieces of rhinestone jewelry from the "fancy" locked case. Such a PITA. I don't remember wearing earrings, but if I did, I probably wiped it down with the alcohol swabs. Probably.  :?

Also, I don't remember having gun issues nor marring any of my piercing clients, but I do remember the 6-year-old who only let me do one ear, despite my suggesting again and again to come back when there were two of us there to get them done at once. Nope. She walked around with one ear pierced for like 2 months before working up the courage to come back. 

And while I had no personal issues with the piercing system there, I'd probably take my daughters to a tattoo place/piercing place, too, over the mall places. Can I get two people there at once?

[circa1978]

YES - nannersp The kids who would only let us do one. Inevitably, they were the ones with the moms saying "Sweetie, are you sure? It's going to hurt. Are you sure?"

[RoxMonster]

Another Claire's person here! I waited until I was 18, not because my parents wouldn't let me, but because I was a big chicken lol. My friend accompanied me and held my hand-haha! I am horrible with any amount of pain.

Mine did get infected a week or so after I had them done. I had taken painstaking care to make sure I was properly caring for them, and they still got infected. Not sure if it's because of the gun they used or what. I put some ointment on them, and have not had issues since, but if I were ever to get another piercing done, I wouldn't go to a mall store.

[Deleted]

May 3, 2014 15:22:05 GMT -5 @stellasmom said:

I got mine pierced at Claire's (at 19. Lol) and they're slightly asymmetrical. Drives me crazy.

Mine too! I'm sure I'm the only one that notices but it still drives me nuts.

[Deleted]

For my fellow crooked piercing folks, is it ever possible for the holes to close up 10+ years later? Then I could get them redone.

[bbonanza]

May 3, 2014 15:37:37 GMT -5 sunshineluv said:

Thank you, I would have gone straight to Claire's when the time comes for dd to get hers if I hadn't read this.

This is very appropriate for us right now because DD1 wants her ears pierced and we would've gone to Claire's too. Thank you!!!

[bbonanza]

May 3, 2014 16:14:24 GMT -5 toledo said:

Pediatricians do ear piercing?! OK, I am WTFing that.

When I had my wisdom teeth removed, the dentist asked if I liked where my tongue ring was and if not, he would fix it for me, because he'd done it before. I was WTF at that, lol. No, I left it where it was.

[prettyinpink]

My first piercing were done by a pharmacist when I was 4. My second was done at Walmart when I was 13, cartilage(at 20) and third at Claire's. My third were done in February and are still infected. Its driving me crazy. My nose piercing was done at a tattoo shop, if we have a daughter I will take her to a tattoo shop to get her ears pierced.

[4speedy]

May 3, 2014 16:14:24 GMT -5 toledo said:

Pediatricians do ear piercing?! OK, I am WTFing that.

Yep.  My first sales job was working for a distributor for medical supplies.  I would visit doctors offices each week and they would place orders for "a box of syringes, a box of flu vaccine, a box of casting tape, etc."  I WTF'd the nurse the first time she ordered a box of ear corers.  She had to explain to me what they were.  I had no idea that, I, as a medical sales rep, sold ear piercing supplies.

[ginger]

I can't wait to see the look on my Husband's face when I tell him this! Bwahahahahahaahaha.

How did you find a reputable place? Just online reviews or friends?

[prettyinpink]

May 3, 2014 16:41:34 GMT -5 ginger said:

I can't wait to see the look on my Husband's face when I tell him this! Bwahahahahahaahaha.

How did you find a reputable place? Just online reviews or friends?

When I had my nose pierced at a tattoo shop I asked a friend who has body piercing and tattoos where she went and she took me to her piercing guy.

[psychmom]

May 3, 2014 16:12:59 GMT -5 @amoosed said:

For my fellow crooked piercing folks, is it ever possible for the holes to close up 10+ years later? Then I could get them redone.

I don't think they will. I very rarely wear earrings anymore (like a few times a year) and I've never had issues with putting the earring in.