Children’s Ear Piercings
Your Child is in Control
This last year we have been made aware that many schools in the Darlington area have implemented or changed their rules regarding piercings. Schools are not allowing piercings, which is affecting the healing process when children are made to remove or cover their jewellery.
Before you bring your child to us for a piercing we just ask that you check out the rules of your child’s school, to ensure that the healing process won’t be hindered by removing the jewellery too soon.
We would recommend leaving the Titanium or Solid Gold jewellery we install in place for at least 3 months. Then we wouldn’t recommend leaving the holes completely empty for at least 12 months.
In the studio we can perform children's lobe Piercings from age 8, second lobe piercings from age 14, and helix piercings from age 14. However, just because these are our chosen age limits, it doesn't mean your child will be ready for the piercings. They need to understand the procedure involves needles, and be able to follow the aftercare with a little help from a parent/guardian.
CONSENT
Consent is key. We live in the age of consent and teaching our children boundaries. Having their ears pierced is a huge thing for a child! We all seem to remember that first piercing, mostly done with guns, in the middle of shop floors, being stared at by the queue of equally scared and nervous first timers! My aim is to create a less anxious and scary memory for all my littler clients!
My studio is a lovely little private room. We can do what we like in there! We can laugh, cry, sing to our favourite songs! I have genuinely sang my own rendition of "You're welcome" during a piercing! If you want to choose your favourite song to help you relax, I got you! Secretly I would like you all to choose songs from Moana or the Lion King, I even like a few from Frozen! I can also be cool and Spotify will help with any chart songs you might like too!
Before anyone has a piercing they are required to fill in a consent form, this means that a parent or guardian must accompany and consent for their child to have their piercings. HOWEVER, this does not mean because the adult has given their consent, that I will perform the piercing, this has to be your child's decision. I will not be sitting on them or pinning them down (.... ahem high street accessories stores) to do their piercings! If your child gets on the bed and we are all set and and they change their mind, thats OKAY! If we get one ear done and they do not want the second one doing thats more than OKAY! (Symmetry is so not the fashion these days anyway!) I want your child to leave me feeling respected and happy with whatever decision they have made. That is more important to me than any money made or lost (sorry not sorry to my accountant)
SAFETY
PIERCING GUNS ARE BAD! Whether they call them a gun, spring loaded gun, a cartridge piercing, whatever they (you know who they are) like to dress it up as; IT IS BAD! Feels good to get that out! These piercing GUNS can put the client, in this case your child, in contact with blood and body fluids of the previous client/s. This puts them at risk of being infected with bloodborne pathogens. These guns are not cleaned to the medical standard that a professional piercer adheres to.
The jewellery used with the above mentioned systems are also not suitable for initial piercings. One size doesn't fit all, everyones ears all different shapes and sizes and the jewellery can be very ill fitting. I regularly remove incredibly sore looking butterfly backed jewellery that isn't fit for purpose, and a lot of us have seen the posts on Social Media where there is a child in the hospital having the butterfly back cut out from the back of their ear! This happens because there is no room left between the ear and the jewellery to allow for any initial swelling (which is exacerbated by the trauma of a piercing gun) and cleaning.
This leads me to the subject of jewellery. I will only perform initial piercings with medical grade, highly polished titanium or a solid 14ct Gold or above. A lot of the jewellery used in high street stores do not adhere to these jewellery standards and use substandard pieces for the initial piercings.
Ear piercing is not free. I am aware of certain high street stores advertising free piercings, obviously this is a marketing ploy as the piercing is free with the purchase of a piercing kit, which start from around £50 upwards! Equally, if you are going to a piercing establishment where they are only charging £20 - £25, I can almost guarantee that they are not using Industry standard jewellery or techniques unless they like to work at a loss!
I use single use Sterile cannulas or blades for all piercings. I will sometimes use a disposable clamp to gently hold the tissue or I will also free hand many piercings. Each child is different, some want to know the ins and outs and watch the process and ask to see the needles! Some prefer not to look and want to close their eyes the whole time! Either way is fine with me! I do ask that before you bring your child that you can gently explain that I will be using a needle. I will talk them through the process on the day and make sure they know it's ok to ask any questions they have!
I do not pierce babies and I never will.
Babies cannot consent to the procedure and it is a permanent change to your child’s appearance. It is so important to me for the child to be old enough to ask for the piercings and to understand what that means to them. Performing a piercing on a child without their consent, in my opinion, is just fundamentally wrong.
