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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

DD is having her ears pierced on Saturday. Who wants to bet she comes out of the hairdressers with one side done and not the other?

92 replies

Reality · 24/07/2013 13:21

Judging from her comments over the last few weeks...

DD: 'it doesn't HURT hurt though does it?'

Me: 'Yes darling, it really hurts, you don't have to have them done'

DD: 'Oh but I really want them done'

and so on and so on.

I have finally given in after years of her badgering reasoned arguments. She's nine.

It's going to be awful, isn't it? I shoudl never have said yes.

OP posts:

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 26/07/2013 17:06

DD had hers done today (Claires) .
They explained everything, wore gloves, pre/post swabbed, did L/R at the same time.

DD is 11yo and had to wait till she finished Junior School (no earrings at all at Junior).

I splashed out on the 18ct gold for her (it was those or Titanium but she liked the gold) because I have base metal allergies and I didn't want to risk it with DD ears.

She's delighted

FrenchRuby · 26/07/2013 20:44

With all due respect.... You didn't want to risk allergies but the risk of germs, diseases and ear damage was worth the risk? Genuine question.

BigBoobiedBertha · 26/07/2013 20:58

I had mine done in a hairdressers with a gun. It was a long long time ago but it didn't hurt a bit. They sprayed both earlobes with something to freeze them and just got on with .

the other women in the hairdressers were more concerned than me. It all went quiet just as the woman was lining up the gun and then as she did the first piercing somebody actually yelped. It didn't bother me in the slightest.

As I remember it, it didn't hurt at all afterwards either and I still remember the smell of surgical spirit I had to clean them with twice a day.

My grandmother did my mother's with a needle. They are wonky because after having the needle and then having to feed in the earring for the first ear she flinched when the second came to done and my grandmother missed her mark. I can't see how using a needle is better. If I had had to have a needle and then somebody fiddle about putting an earring in I wouldn't have it done. With a gun, one fire and it is all done.

ravenAK · 26/07/2013 21:28

A piercing needle isn't quite the same as your gran footling about with her best darning no. 8, you know! .

Procedure was explained upthread.

BigBoobiedBertha · 26/07/2013 22:12

Mmm. I read it. Still seems a lot more faffing than a gun. How can it not bleed if you are feeding things in and out of your ear ? There was no blood with the gun.

Still, I have boys and I can't imagine either of them having piercings whilst I am still responsible for them (we had a conversation about it earlier in the week funnily enough) so it doesn't matter what I think really. If they ever decide to have something done, it won't be my advice they will be asking and by then, they won't need my consent either.

Having mine done was very, very quick, painless and problem free and I can only go on my experience.

FrenchRuby · 26/07/2013 22:24

Explanation about why guns are bad:

www.safepiercing.org/piercing/faq/#guns

I'm not sure if that will be clicky or not because I'm on my phone. This is why I'd rather wait until dd is old enough to go to a studio and be pierced by a needle.

FrenchRuby · 26/07/2013 22:25

www.safepiercing.org/piercing/faq/#guns

ravenAK · 26/07/2013 22:27

Yeah, it bleeds a little bit. Piercer wipes it with a tissue, job done.

I had my lobe piercings done with a gun too, as an 11 yo, & it didn't hurt much. Went quite manky though. Subsequent cartilage piercings by a proper piercer haven't.

Tbh, I won't be taking my dc to Claire's or similar because of their policy of piercing wailing babies, as well as their crappy hygiene & lack of training.

But like you I'll be making mine wait until they're old enough to have it done without my permission, so they'll make their own choices too.

VikingLady · 26/07/2013 22:46

Had mine done with a gun in the wig department of Debenhams! That was where everyone I knew (in Nottingham, mid 80s) had theirs done!

They did get massively infected though, as did everyone else's.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 26/07/2013 22:59

Local piercing and tattoo parlour talked us out of using a needle. Told us it made no difference to outcome and asked if I'd been reading horror stories on the Internet. Also told us it would cost £40 as opposed to £5. Would have walked out at that point but everywhere here seems to use a gun and if we didnt do it this week we'd have had to wait til next summer as dds school is really strict on earrings out for pe.

Fortunately a week later all is looking good. No crusting and no redness. Dd is using saline and not rotating. Don't think I'd recommend them though.

ravenAK · 27/07/2013 01:03

£40?! Bloody hell. £15, max, for a needle piercing.

But they'd do it for a fiver with a gun? & the APP's own advice = 'horror stories on the internet'?

I'd have walked out. They, ahem, do not sound like a reputable establishment.

It'll almost certainly be fine - generations of us have had our lobes 'gunned' before we knew any better! But yeah, don't recommend them.

(& seriously - don't ever go back there for a tattoo!)

sashh · 27/07/2013 03:43

FrenchRuby

I can't actually read that link, the page hurts my eyes. I have read the wikki entry - and it appears guns used in the UK are not the same as those in the US.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_piercing_instrument

OhYouBadBadKitten · 27/07/2013 07:18

There is no way I'd recommend them for a tattoo!!! Probably does count as a horror story on the Internet. Funnily enough they were highly recommended locally! (Probably by their best mates in hindsight)

FrenchRuby · 27/07/2013 08:54

They still have the same dangers. I've worked in Claire's and a proper studio. Any decent piercer will tell you to steer clear from Claire's and guns. A proper piercer will have years of training including anatomy and disease prevention. Claire's have ten minutes reading a folder of bad information and practicing on one friend the you're allowed to pierce any customer with an unsanitary instrument, I know which one id prefer.

onedogandababy · 27/07/2013 09:11

I'm slightly stunned when people say how much it hurts. I had mine done at 7, nearly 8 and have no recollection of pain. I've since had them pierced a number of times and have never felt a thing...I honestly had no idea that some people feel pain from a standard lobe piercing.

Original poster

Reality · 27/07/2013 19:29

All done, gun was disposable and sealed so no contamination issues, DD was fine and is chuffed to bits.

OP posts:

Hulababy · 29/07/2013 17:07

Glad she's happy.

Dd has had hers in just over a week now and is continuing to keep them clean etc. and still loves them.

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