Regarding your article on piercings called ‘Here to stay or just a piercing fancy?’ dated 14th of Jan 2005, I got some good feedback from the public, but some of my colleagues in the piercing community said it would be good to properly state my shop age limits and ethics, they are as follows:-
No ‘erotic’ types of piercing will be performed on anyone below the age of 18 so ALL 18 year olds or under must supply some form of ID, 16 year olds with ID such as a Passport, Driving Licence or a national Prove it card (or equivalent), can have any navel or facial piercings and some surface piercings at the Piercers digression. All under 16 year olds MUST have a parent or legal guardian PRESENT when they are getting pierced and they must sign a disclaimer. This ONLY covers navels and ears. The absolute minimum for ear piercings is 12. Also all Parents or legal guardians must also provide ID. Under no circumstances will I do any tongue piercings to ANYBODY under 16 and we reserve the right to refuse to carry out ANY piercings we deem unsafe or unable to heal correctly.
Over the last eight years, I have been working as a Professional Body Piercer in Dorset, most recently my new Clinic here in Bournemouth town centre, and I have sadly seen at first hand the level of abuse in this trade. This is my chosen profession, and for better or for worse, has been for well over ten years. It pains me, every day to see, and to have to deal with, sub-standard and sometimes badly infected Piercings, and to know instinctively that unless the victims of this complain to the necessary authorities, nothing will be done to help them. I can’t do this; this is up to the parents and the victims.
I base all my findings on raw experience, and have a lot of literature on the subject, for instance, since I started Body Piercing there was a time that I would pierce navels with whatever the customer wanted, now I use only Ball Closure Rings because I realised that people found cleaning their Piercings a lot easier, than when they were pierced with a BananaBar, my experience has had a knock on effect to the way that I practice, so I am always looking for new techniques and products to keep my studio and staff up to date. No matter how many people complain about not getting their ‘Bling’ instantly, my problematic piercing percentage has ground to a virtual halt.
Taken at face value most Piercing businesses come across as being genuine and caring, the truth of the matter is that sometimes the money is more important than anything else. This includes a complete disregard for council rules and regulations, cutting back on hygiene, not taking any interest in basic placement and using incorrect or sometimes just downright dangerous pieces of jewellery. In fact just a general disinterest in any problems related to or caused by, piercing.
It seems to me that the longer a business runs in this way, happily taking money from the customers, the more complacent they become, cutting corners and rushing the job. This is usually from a total lack of interest and understanding of body piercing in the first place, this and a lack of common sense, all they have to do is look on the internet, its all there, if they look and ask Bmezine.com being a huge reference site for Body Modification around the world.
A short and expensive body piercing course, over two or three days is not going to make a professional Body Piercer, there is not enough commitment or understanding of the reasons why people get pierced, little or no research other than market research and a total lack of interest in the medium itself. Also with this problem comes restriction of information, because for more information you have to pay the course more money! It takes hundreds of supervised Piercings to properly appreciate the techniques of all forms of Body Piercing, and to properly interact with your customer.
Common sense tells us that if a person comes back with a problem they need FULL attention, to reassure them that they did or are doing the right things for their piercings, and if not, how to alleviate the problem.
Another important factor to take into consideration is that public information about Body Piercing is scarce to the point of non-existent. Leaflets with good aftercare advice and information warning people of dangerous practices, for example any piercing using an ear stud gun or using the wrong aftercare solutions such as surgical spirit or tea tree oil etc. Also all piercings should be carried out using a hypoallergenic piece of jewellery, according to the 1999 EU Nickel Directive, which numerous studio’s tend to ignore. Any studio should be using a hospital grade vacuum autoclave
It is going to be a difficult job for everybody concerned to agree with each other, but I feel strongly that the problem is going to get worse in the following few years if nothing is done to regulate it, and by regulating it, the regulating bodies must work alongside the practitioners.
Body Piercing was once considered as a fad, but looks as if it is here to stay; just maybe with the right attitude towards it, and the correct information, it will become more accepted in society for the right reasons.
Professional Body Piercer of Metal Fatigue Bournemouth Body Piercing Clinic
BMEZINE Verified Professional Piercing Artist