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Tattoos and other body mods

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Barmymoo:
In the UK, you can get your ears pierced at some jewellers' shops, and at Claire's Accessories, and of course at piercing parlors but I don't know much about those. I got mine done at Claire's and it was fine - everything sterile and done properly. They have to do it right because they get so many kids in; parents would kick up a royal fuss if anything went wrong.

I think first earrings are always gold, but I could be wrong. You should have it done with a needle if you're having cartilage pierced; if it's the soft part of the lobe then a piercing gun is fine. [Edit: Neko posted before me and disagrees - she has far more experience here so go with her advice. I had no problems though.]

As for price, Claire's do it fairly cheaply - basically they charge you for the earrings and ear care cleaning stuff, and do the piercing free. I know there's a Claire's local to you in the UK but I don't know personally of anywhere else you could go.

nekowafer:
Piercing guns are almost always plastic, and cannot be fully sterilized. So the guns themselves are dangerous. Then, they use the little earrings that are sharp at the back. These are too short for proper healing, and are not nearly as sharp as a good, hollow needle. So while many people have gotten pierced with guns and they've been fine, it is not at all something I would suggest.

The other problem I have with shops like Claire's is that the person doing the piercing is almost never truly trained in the safety and cleanliness precautions needed for piercings. They're usually just some teenage kid that was told to mark and stab.

That said, quality gold or silver can certainly be used for initial piercings.

Oh, and their ear cleaning solution is useless, and it goes bad pretty quickly, unless they've changed formulas recently. They also tell you to rotate your jewelry, something you should not be doing intentionally. I much prefer saline solution (or just salt water) and the LITHA method.

Mlle Germain:
Wow, thanks a lot for the really long and informative answer, Neko! This is a lot of information that I will be sure to keep at hand.
I actually just want a flesh piercing for now, not cartilage.
I am in Baden-Württemberg right now and several more times over the next two months. Very good cities for me to get the piercing done would be Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, Heidelberg, and I could probably also reach Frankfurt and Karlsruhe. When I'm with my parents, Hamburg is really good - this might actually be the easiest overall. Maybe you know anyone good in any of these?
I just remembered earlier that a friend had a tattoo done in the same city where I am now and she chose the shop really carefully. Do you think if they do tatoos properly, they'll be ok with piercings, too? Or are those too different to say that? Anyway, I might have a look at that shop.
Now, about the piercing touching other stuff - I guess you can just not sleep on the side the piercing is on, right? I should consider that when choosing the side...
And I should make sure to do it a while before my volleyball season starts again - even though the first piercing is probably rather small, being near a volleyball net with anything that could become entangled in it is probably not a good idea. I know people who cover their (healed) piercings with tape if they don't want to take them out, but that's definitely not sterile.

Thanks for your answer, too, Barmymoo! Considering how worried I am about infections, I think I'll follow Neko's advice and do it in a real piercing studio with a needle. It will be a birthday + getting my master's degree present for myself, so it's ok if it's slightly more expensive.

lepetitfromage:

--- Quote from: nekowafer on 01 Jul 2014, 15:02 ---- I absolutely think you should go to a studio. Piercing with a gun is not only unsanitary, it can cause far more pain than necessary, cause a lot of scar tissue, and it is more likely to become infected, especially with the jewelry they use.

--- End quote ---

I will second this, as someone who once got a piercing gun stuck on them.  :psyduck:

nekowafer:
If a shop does tattoos safely, then I think they are worth checking out for piercings. I have asked my friends about piercers in Germany, so I will get back to you when someone answers. The only thing I found through the APP (association of professional piercers) in Germany was this site: http://www.bmxnet.org/ and I can't read most of it. But it may be worth checking out.

It will be in your best interest not to sleep on the new piercing for a little while, yes. It will be painful, and could introduce bacteria to the wound. But there are neck pillows, the C shaped kind, that are great for this, because your ear can go in the middle. Or you can just sleep on the other side for the first couple of weeks. Once it is no longer painful to sleep on it, you should be okay. If you're worried, just put a clean towel or t-shirt or something you can change easily over your pillow and sleep on that.

Since it is just through flesh, you will likely be getting a small size. If they use a ring, it is very unlikely to get caught on anything. A barbell has a higher chance of getting caught, but the two round beads should make it easy to untangle from most things. So you'll probably be fine with volleyball. Tape is definitely an option, but you are correct, it's not going to be clean enough for the piercing for a while.

The thing with piercings is that you're 1) making a fresh, open wound and 2) trying to convince your body to accept a piece of metal. Healing a piercing wound already takes time, as it needs to heal inside and out. Then you're adding metal that your skin thinks shouldn't be there. So your body needs time and rest to heal it properly. So I try to get pierced when I'm not going to be doing much, like excessive exercise or taking a new medicine. I want my body to concentrate on healing that piercing as quickly as it can.

You can still get pierced even before those things, it will just take a little longer to heal. So I just try to make it as easy as possible for my body.

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