Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think ear lobe piercing with a gun really isn't that bad?

183 replies

AngryAtYouTube · 07/02/2020 13:48

Been asking around for local recommendations as my daughter has been begging for years.

And get lots of the "don't go anywhere that uses a gun" replies.

Which I get - I have numerous tattoos and piercings. But my ear lobes were all gun and were all fine (have 6). As are anyone else I've met who has ear lobe piercing.

It's pretty hard to find a piercer who'd needle pierce someone under 13 anyway.

OP posts:
Singlebutmarried · 07/02/2020 13:53

DD got hers done at a tattoo parlour at aged 8.

Healed beautifully.

I personally wouldn’t go fir a gun.

FudgeBrownie2019 · 07/02/2020 13:55

I wouldn't use a gun for any piercing for anyone.

Wubbawubba · 07/02/2020 13:56

YABU. You're intentionally creating a wound. Why wouldn't you do it in the most hygienic, safest way possible, especially in the case of your child?

Urkiddingright · 07/02/2020 13:56

My lobes were always done with a gun and they healed fine, I also had numerous ear piercings over the years. Cartilage shouldn’t be pierced with a gun but I don’t know many piercers who pierce lobes with needles.

Amanduh · 07/02/2020 13:59

Every single person i know and have ever known the past 35 years had them done with a gun 🤷🏼‍♀️

LR33 · 07/02/2020 13:59

I have my own; piercing gun and have pierced mine and my oh ears and his nose, all have healed perfectly fine.

Scarlettpixie · 07/02/2020 14:00

Most people will be fine with a gun but as there is a safer better way why wouldn’t you choose it. Piercers will do lobe piercings with a needle on a child with your consent. Can’t see any scenario where gun is better/preferred.

Original poster
AngryAtYouTube · 07/02/2020 14:02

@Wubbawubba - because I have no proof that a lobe piercing with a gun has ever done anyone any harm. The only piercing I've ever had a problem with was one done by a needle (navel) I even had a gasp cartilage piercing done by gun and it was 100% fine.

Plus a gun somewhere friendly is a lot less anxiety ridden than a big needle, in a tattoo shop. Which is a large factor with my daughter.

OP posts:
MaggieAndHopey · 07/02/2020 14:04

"Piercers will do lobe piercings with a needle on a child with your consent"

Actually this depends where you live. I had a lot of trouble trying to find a piercer who would pierce my 9 year old's ears.

amusedbush · 07/02/2020 14:05

Sure, go ahead and let the 17 year old Saturday girl at Claire's pierce your kid's ears with a gun that can't be sterilised properly, after a half day's training. A bit of blunt force tissue trauma never did any harm.

MyEnormousTurnip · 07/02/2020 14:05

Nobody I know has ever had their ears pierced with anything other than a gun. Mostly in Claire’s (Shock) All of dds friends and any siblings included. None of them has had any issues. In fact I wouldn’t know needle piercing was a thing if it wasn’t for mn.

I’m not suggesting needle piercing isn’t superior but it’s most definitely uncommon.

BlueEyedFloozy · 07/02/2020 14:06

How old is your daughter?

If she is worried/stressed about the environment then she isn't mature enough to have a piercing.

Sparklyring · 07/02/2020 14:08

A gun is fucking horrendous. Do proper research and find somewhere that doesnt use a gun. Dont just do the easy option!!!

PepePig · 07/02/2020 14:09

I have 6 lobe piercings done with a gun- all fine, I wouldn't spend too much on lobe piercings if you tend to heal well.

However, any other piercing is a huge no. I only go to one piercer now for anything else. Conch, cartilage piercings, septum and nipples (when I had them in) were all done with a needle and healed well.

However- if I was taking my child to get her ears done, I'd go to my piercer and get it done with a needle, just to further minimise the risk of infection. If I was going myself for another lobe, I'd just run into Claire's because it's cheaper, I heal well and I know what I'm doing.

So in short- take your kid to the best place. Do whatever you want if it's yourself.

Noconceptofnormal · 07/02/2020 14:10

Why is a child under the age of 13 getting their ear pierced?

Looks very common on kids under the age of 14-15 in my opinion.

smashstore · 07/02/2020 14:11

It's pretty hard to find a piercer who'd needle pierce someone under 13 anyway.

Is it?

Butchyrestingface · 07/02/2020 14:11

I'm so far behind the curve, and it's been so long since I had my ears pierced, that I didn't know using a gun was remotely controversial.

Don't know that I even knew there was any other way to do it. Apart from in the bathroom with a needle and an ice cube, like Frenchy and Sandy in Grease. Confused

Butchyrestingface · 07/02/2020 14:12

Looks very common on kids under the age of 14-15 in my opinion.

What changes at 14-15 that it goes from common to acceptable?

EerieSilence · 07/02/2020 14:15

DD had them first done at Claire's. It was horrendous, it was infected, inflamed, we let them be and they closed again.
Two years later, we went to a GP. A bit of pain but no redness, healed fantastically. Was a tenner as opposed to the Claire's 70 quid for a botched job.
Go to a GP or a decent tattoo parlour, avoid the shops at any cost.

EerieSilence · 07/02/2020 14:16

@Noconceptofnormal - my nieces, all of them, had their ears pierced few days after they were born. So had I.
Never had any issues, no pain as there are barely any nerve endings and feeling there at the age and it heals beautifully.
Why not at a younger age?

Leebeemarie · 07/02/2020 14:17

Guns can't be sterilised.

www.goodhousekeeping.com/beauty/anti-aging/a35208/piercing-guns-bad-dangers/

Original poster
AngryAtYouTube · 07/02/2020 14:19

@amusedbush "Sure, go ahead and let the 17 year old Saturday girl at Claire's pierce your kid's ears with a gun that can't be sterilised properly, after a half day's training."

Please give me a little credit. just because I'm considering gun piercing doesn't mean I don't give a shit.

The woman I am considering had pierced the ears of at least 20 local girls we know, and I can see reviews/photos back 5 years on her business Facebook page. A local lady who has a home salon and it very well known/respected/professional.

OP posts:
smashstore · 07/02/2020 14:22

my nieces, all of them, had their ears pierced few days after they were born. So had I.

That's fucking barbaric

Never had any issues, no pain as there are barely any nerve endings and feeling there at the age

Really?

okiedokieme · 07/02/2020 14:25

I didn't even know there was another way to pierce - mine and DD's were done with a gun 25 years apart of course. The key is after care. Most tattoo type places are strictly over 18 due to licensing

ILearnedItFromABook · 07/02/2020 14:26

I'm in my early 40s. Had my ears pierced with a gun when I was fairly young (7ish?). One of them got infected, but it was hardly the end of the world. I just took the earring out, my mother kept it clean, and it healed up fine. I tried again later (years, not sure how many), again with a gun, and had no problems at all.

My point is that if a piercing does happen to get infected, it's hardly the end of the world, as long as you're healthy and have access to medical care. It didn't traumatise me or anything, either.