11 yr old DD wants ears pierced

[Anonymous]

As someone who worked at Claire's as a teen, it really irks me when people claim that the pierces aren't trained. They are. Extensively. The reason I would reccomend a tattoo shop over the Claire's or a kiosk is because of the method; needle versus gun, but its not the end of the world to get it done at the mall.

[Anonymous]

Dd went to cal urges for piercing #1 and jinx tattoos in grown for the second hole ( she is almost 18) . Very impressed with jinx - clean and professional

[Anonymous]

OP here -- decided to take DD to Claire's this afternoon, and had a very good experience. FYI, they use pre-sterilized, pre-pacakaged piercing earrings. They do not use needles at all. The woman who did the piercing took her time, making sure the marks were evenly placed. The whole procedure took about 3 minutes, and my daughter said it was painless. The salesperson recommended we go with 14K gold to minimize chance of infection. I found our piercer to be knowledgeable and professional. I decided not to go to the pediatrician, because a friend who is a doc told me that pediatricians do this so rarely that they tend not to be as skilled or experienced. The folks at Claire's do this all the time.

[Anonymous]

My pediatrician doesn't do this. He told us to go to the mall!

[Anonymous]

Our pediatrician recommenced Claires. We had a great experience.

[Anonymous]

Another thumbs-up for Claire's. I was very impressed at how professional and reassuring the employee was. There was a LONG line on a weekend morning!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here -- decided to take DD to Claire's this afternoon, and had a very good experience. FYI, they use pre-sterilized, pre-pacakaged piercing earrings. They do not use needles at all. The woman who did the piercing took her time, making sure the marks were evenly placed. The whole procedure took about 3 minutes, and my daughter said it was painless. The salesperson recommended we go with 14K gold to minimize chance of infection. I found our piercer to be knowledgeable and professional. I decided not to go to the pediatrician, because a friend who is a doc told me that pediatricians do this so rarely that they tend not to be as skilled or experienced. The folks at Claire's do this all the time.

Good choice.

I stand by my pp. would never take my 11yo to a tattoo parlour. Gross

[Anonymous]

Oh, please. How many of us had our ears pierced at Claire's or some place similar as a child? Practically everyone. We survived. Folks that had issues with their earrings/piercings had issues from aftercare/healing/allergies and it has nothing to do with the gun.

[Anonymous]

I took my 10 yr old to a tattoo shop. Everyone was great with her - very enthusiastic and encouraging and gentle, and she was very pleased. (So was I.)

I wanted a piercer who has been doing this for a decade or more, rather than some 20 yr old girl who does this for the last year as her part-time job. At Claires you sit on a chair right in the store - people are all around you. People could bump into the piercer. At the tattoo shop the space you're in is more like an exam room, it was just me, DD and the piercer - he wasn't distracted answering her questions and really made sure the aftercare was clear to her.

We live in a prissy upper-class area and I like that she got to meet people who look very different from the majority of people she generally interacts with and had a positive experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those of you saying that a mall kiosk or Claire's is okay, and that the aftercare is the most important thing are grossly misinformed. I'm amazed at how many people don't bother to do basic research on this. [/quote

Really?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here -- decided to take DD to Claire's this afternoon, and had a very good experience. FYI, they use pre-sterilized, pre-pacakaged piercing earrings. They do not use needles at all. The woman who did the piercing took her time, making sure the marks were evenly placed. The whole procedure took about 3 minutes, and my daughter said it was painless. The salesperson recommended we go with 14K gold to minimize chance of infection. I found our piercer to be knowledgeable and professional. I decided not to go to the pediatrician, because a friend who is a doc told me that pediatricians do this so rarely that they tend not to be as skilled or experienced. The folks at Claire's do this all the time.

Why bother posting, OP, if you're going to receive advice and choose to ignore it anyways. And why are you stating that they don't use needles like it's a good thing? Needles slice the skin and do not damage the tissue surrounding the piercing. Piercing guns force a blunt object (and yes, piercing earrings count as blunt objects in this scenario) through the earlobe essentially smashing the skin and damaging the surrounding tissue. A much higher risk of infection, scarring, keloids, and a much longer healing time. Not to mention the fact that you have no way to know how sterilized the piercing gun was.

And let me guess, they sold you a special cleaning solution to use on your daughter's ears? Here's some more advice, not that you'll take it: don't use the cleaning solution. It's awful - drying and harsh. You should be soaking the piercings in a sea salt solution (1/4 tsp non-iodized sea salt to 1 cup warm water) for a few minutes 2-3x/day. Good luck - you need it!

[Anonymous]

You might get lucky and not have any trouble when getting them shot in at the mall - but I would not risk that. Totally unnecessary risk. Go to a proper tattoo and piercing place instead. Make sure the earrings don't get shot in but actually pierced properly. Make sure everything is sterile and clean - you'll get that good or bad gut feeling when you walk in and see the place so don't worry about not knowing what to look for. Staff wearing gloves, them sterilizing the equipment right before they pierce your daughter so you actually see them do it...stuff like that.

[Anonymous]

Oh nevermind, OP already did the dumb thing. -shrugs-

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You might get lucky and not have any trouble when getting them shot in at the mall - but I would not risk that. Totally unnecessary risk. Go to a proper tattoo and piercing place instead. Make sure the earrings don't get shot in but actually pierced properly. Make sure everything is sterile and clean - you'll get that good or bad gut feeling when you walk in and see the place so don't worry about not knowing what to look for. Staff wearing gloves, them sterilizing the equipment right before they pierce your daughter so you actually see them do it...stuff like that.

You're being a total drama queen. It's just an ear lobe. Nothing tricky about that. My 10 year old daughter pierced her own ear (third hole) by just shoving one of her other earrings through. No aftercare at all except regular showers. Yes, I was grossed out when she told me about it but it healed absolutely fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You might get lucky and not have any trouble when getting them shot in at the mall - but I would not risk that. Totally unnecessary risk. Go to a proper tattoo and piercing place instead. Make sure the earrings don't get shot in but actually pierced properly. Make sure everything is sterile and clean - you'll get that good or bad gut feeling when you walk in and see the place so don't worry about not knowing what to look for. Staff wearing gloves, them sterilizing the equipment right before they pierce your daughter so you actually see them do it...stuff like that.

You're being a total drama queen. It's just an ear lobe. Nothing tricky about that. My 10 year old daughter pierced her own ear (third hole) by just shoving one of her other earrings through. No aftercare at all except regular showers. Yes, I was grossed out when she told me about it but it healed absolutely fine.

Ummmm ok go google "infected ear lobe piercing", check out the photos, and get back to us. Yes, the chance of something happening is slim, but there's still a chance.