30 Replies

well...

i got my ears pierced there 8-ish years ago, and the worst thing that's happened to me was on i think the first night i had them, the studs fell out of my ears. everything was fine though and i got them fixed like a day later. i think they're slightly uneven too but it's not very noticable.

however, i seem to be one of the luckier people lol. ive heard absolute horror stories, from what i can tell good/decent experiences like mine seem to be the minority. i honestly wouldn't do it if i were you, i would go find a place that specializes in piercings and uses a *needle* instead of a piercing gun. (piercing guns are very unsanitary because they're difficult to clean and pierce through the skin in a way that can potentially be unsafe.)

(tldr: i had an okay experience personally but after doing my research several years later i Would Not advise or recommend anyone to get a piercing there or return if i were to want another piercing, there's far too many health and safety risks.)

@SammyTheFujoshi: (TW barf) This whole week I keep thinking of the story my high school pal Todd told me, of the time he was taking the downtown mall escalator that looked down into a glassed-in earring shop. (Was there a franchise called Piercing Pagoda? It might've been that.) A girl was getting her ears pierced, but she was so terrified that after the clerk did the first ear, she bent over and puked all over the floor. Todd got an aerial view of it. Then his ride ended, so no word on whether she got the second one done.

please look into good piercers in your city! piercings are a long term commitment and, if done wong, can be a medical nightmare

noooooo omg

CW: talk of needles, piercings, and infections, piercings gone wrong.

I got mine done at Claire's and they didn't use the right kind of metal so my piercings got infected and to this day there's a solid rock feeling thing around the piercing, I havent had that with literally any of my piercings before and I've had my ears pierced 8 times.

also they use a piercing gun and piercing guns are kinda unsanitary because theyre hard to clean, which makes infection and rejection more likely. the difference between a piercing gun and a needle is that the piercing gun basically uses blunt force to pierce your ear but the needle pierces your skin in a much more gentle and safer way, and imo its less painful to get it with a needle. (the gun hurts longer after and feels like a pinch & punch but the needle just feels like a pinch)

also a lot of the workers at claires are not professionals so they might not know what theyre doing.

it may be cheaper to go to claires but in the long run its definitely safest to go to a reputable professional piercer to get your piercing done because Claires especially has a history of incorrectly doing peoples piercings

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!

Let me be your Internet mom for a second: Go to a licensed professional at a proper piercing studio. Do NOT go to Claire’s or anywhere else that uses a gun.

Claire’s, fiveBelow, and the several jewelry stores that use piercing guns are NOT trained or licensed professionals. In most cases, the only training provided is using the piercing gun on cardboard sheets or plush animals.

If you can stomach watching such a thing, I heavily recommend looking up a video of piercing needles vs piercing guns, and the damage they cause to your skin. It’s a major difference!

I got 2 sets of lobe piercings at Claire’s, in 2005 and 2010, and neither have properly healed to this very day. I followed their directions to the letter and I still have to be extremely careful.