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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think piercing a child's ears with a gun should be banned?

138 replies

lovesthosebeeps · 12/08/2021 11:39

Okay, people must insist it's done because xyz

Mine was done with a needle as a tiny baby. However, it appears most tattoo places that do piercings won't touch a baby/small child.

But I've always known guns are worse. A tattoo/piercing artist I know personally just posted this image on FB

She says the gun isn't a clean go, and can cause damage to surrounding tissue etc.

AIBU to wonder why this is still allowed, with a gun, because it can cause so many issues later on?

Obviously it would be best if people didn't bother getting small children done at all but at least abolish bloody guns?!

To think piercing a child's ears with a gun should be banned?
OP posts:
NautaOcts · 12/08/2021 12:40

I’m sure needles are better but that illustration isn’t exactly scientific is it

disco123 · 12/08/2021 12:41

Is there evidence of anyone being damaged or infected by a gun? I'd never let a child get their ears pierced but perhaps when they are teens. I would really like to know. I wouldn't really want to take my DD into a tattoo parlour.

Mommabear20 · 12/08/2021 12:43

Had mine done with a gun as a child and had years of issues with them not healing properly, had over 20 piercings done with a needle since and never had a problem with them at all, needles hurt much less and are much cleaner.

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 12/08/2021 12:44

I thought with a needle it took a little core of flesh out? It doesn't show that in the diagram.

I presume with a needle you have to have it pierced and then put an earring through, which does in some ways sound worse than it being done in one go!

Original poster
lovesthosebeeps · 12/08/2021 12:45

@disco123

Is there evidence of anyone being damaged or infected by a gun? I'd never let a child get their ears pierced but perhaps when they are teens. I would really like to know. I wouldn't really want to take my DD into a tattoo parlour.

Why not? They're just people... I don't have any tattoos but my ex BIL owned a studio/was an artist. Very nice people!

OP posts:
Fountainsoftea · 12/08/2021 12:46

Dd has been begging me to let her have hers done for ages and ages. I was 12, so I've been saying no. She's 9 and the last in her class. I let my mate do it with her gun. Dd didn't even flinch.

Her older brother was... less stoic.

OneTC · 12/08/2021 12:52

I prefer needles, mine were either done at home or in a studio (all ears)

But banning what is a basic home operation would surely just result in an increase of that home operation. People go and get them done with a gun cos it's marginally more simple than doing it yourself. It's considerably more than marginally more safe when proper disinfection is followed though

NotMyCat · 12/08/2021 12:53

@Meredusoleil

My dd1 (aged 12.5) recently had her ears pierced at my beauty salon. I was so reluctant when I heard it was going to be with a gun because of everything I had read online about them. But the only alternative to get a needle was to take her to a tattoo parlour, which I sure as hell wasn't going to do given I have never (and intend to never) set foot on one myself!

Anyway, I'd warned her it could hurt a lot and she was absolutely fine! She wondered why I had made such a fuss about it all 🙄

Why? Most tattoo studios are set up with a reception, you don't see anything except chairs/sofas and the reception desk then go to a private room The place I go has tattooing upstairs, and a piercing room downstairs and a lovely guy on reception who brings you cups of tea while you get tattooed Grin
LokiOfAsgard · 12/08/2021 12:55

@DeflatedGinDrinker

Claire's done my ears and nose with a gun and both were painless. My friend had her nose pierced with a needle and said it hurt.
I don't think you appreciate your luck here. Piercing a nose with a gun is a ridiculous thing to do. Guns shatter the cartilage and more often than not leave a granuloma lump. Almost all of gun piercings that result in those have to heal and be re pierced.

As for it hurting with a needle. You're choosing to have a hole poked in your body, what did she expect?

To think piercing a child's ears with a gun should be banned?
ComtesseDeSpair · 12/08/2021 12:59

Is there evidence of anyone being damaged or infected by a gun?

There’s a lot of anecdotal evidence that gun piercings are more likely to become infected; but that could be because guns are more likely to be used for piercing younger children, who are also more likely to play with or touch their piercings and clean them less thoroughly.

In the grand scheme of things I doubt there’s an enormous amount of difference, and since I’ve spent my adult life putting all kinds of cheap junk into my ear piercings, that I had them pierced with a gun is probably the least of the issues with them. But broadly, when it comes to inserting things into your flesh, it’s pretty much guaranteed always to be the best option to have that done by somebody trained using sterile equipment than a retail assistant with a multiple-use device, isn’t it?

PatsyJStone · 12/08/2021 12:59

Nearly everyone I know had piercings with a gun 35/40 years ago. Are we suggesting hygiene and risks weren’t a problem then but are now? We’ve all still got our ears intact and wearing earrings. The only people I knew with problems had done it themselves with a needle.

dementedpixie · 12/08/2021 13:01

@Meredusoleil

My dd1 (aged 12.5) recently had her ears pierced at my beauty salon. I was so reluctant when I heard it was going to be with a gun because of everything I had read online about them. But the only alternative to get a needle was to take her to a tattoo parlour, which I sure as hell wasn't going to do given I have never (and intend to never) set foot on one myself!

Anyway, I'd warned her it could hurt a lot and she was absolutely fine! She wondered why I had made such a fuss about it all 🙄

You sound very snobbish about tattoo parlours

You dont even see the artists from reception and the piercer will have their own private room to do the piercing.

RocketPanda · 12/08/2021 13:02

The needle literally pinches for half a second and then you don't feel it and when the jewellery is inserted it's being put into a specially made hole so again no pain. The needle is designed to go in as painlessly as possible. Forcing an earring through a lobe is causing blunt force trauma to the surrounding tissue. Even years after an experienced piercer can feel the damaged tissue from use of a piercing gun. Tattoo and piercing parlors are usually scrupulously clean and hygienic with most body contact equipment designed for one use only.

From DD who has worked in the industry for years.

MedusasBadHairDay · 12/08/2021 13:07

Anecdotally my needle piercings healed much quicker and with less issues than my gun piercings. My nose piercing, which I got done with a gun, ended up being taken out because it just wouldn't heal properly.

No such problems with needle piercings. I had a piercer explain that it was less about hygiene and how with a gun you are punching a hole, and therefore have the additional trauma of that force on top of the healing of the hole in your skin.

CupoTeap · 12/08/2021 13:08

I've had both and for the lobe I really can't get worked up about using guns.

Movingsoon21 · 12/08/2021 13:10

I don’t get the issue? I had mine done with a gun at a pharmacist when I was 8. I begged my mum for over a year, she certainly wasn’t doing it for vanity reasons and thought I was beautiful as I am, but wanted me to have the choice about what I wore.

I had zero issues and have loved wearing earrings ever since (now mid thirties). Most of my class had theirs done around 7-10 yes old. Oh and we’re quite posh middle class, so not sure why people always make this out to be a trashy thing to do!

HelloDulling · 12/08/2021 13:10

@Meredusoleil

My dd1 (aged 12.5) recently had her ears pierced at my beauty salon. I was so reluctant when I heard it was going to be with a gun because of everything I had read online about them. But the only alternative to get a needle was to take her to a tattoo parlour, which I sure as hell wasn't going to do given I have never (and intend to never) set foot on one myself!

Anyway, I'd warned her it could hurt a lot and she was absolutely fine! She wondered why I had made such a fuss about it all 🙄

What on earth do you think goes on in a tattoo studio? They are not sex dungeons.
DoTheNextRightThing · 12/08/2021 13:15

I asked to have my ears pierced at age 6. Got it done at Claire's bc back then the dangers of guns weren't public knowledge like they are now. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't let anyone get their ears pierced with a gun. My ears have always been fine but certain earrings really irritate them and they become itchy and sore. I don’t know if that's due to the gun or the metal in the earrings or both. I also got bored of earrings after a few years and wear them a few times a year now at most lol.

Original poster
lovesthosebeeps · 12/08/2021 13:29

@Movingsoon21

I don’t get the issue? I had mine done with a gun at a pharmacist when I was 8. I begged my mum for over a year, she certainly wasn’t doing it for vanity reasons and thought I was beautiful as I am, but wanted me to have the choice about what I wore.

I had zero issues and have loved wearing earrings ever since (now mid thirties). Most of my class had theirs done around 7-10 yes old. Oh and we’re quite posh middle class, so not sure why people always make this out to be a trashy thing to do!

Have you missed the part where I said babies/small children? 7-10 isn't a small child really

OP posts:
edwinbear · 12/08/2021 13:39

DD (9) had hers done at the start of this summer holiday as a lot of her friends either have them already, or getting them done this holiday. I took her to a reputable tattoo parlour as I assumed they would use a needle - they actually used a gun. She said it didn't really hurt and we've had no issues, we have followed the aftercare advice to the letter however and they were quite specific about how we needed to care for them.

N4ish · 12/08/2021 13:43

Totally agree, should be banned. I had to leave a Claire's shop recently because they were piercing the ears of a tiny child and I couldn't bear to listen to the distressed screams.

Bookworm20 · 12/08/2021 13:44

Is there evidence of anyone being damaged or infected by a gun?

My DD14 had a piercing done at claires accessories with a gun. And one ear was damaged, we had to remove the earring in the end. The earring actually broke in her ear during the piercing so thats probably what caused the damage. Wouldn't have happened with a needle.

And totally agree. Seeing young babies/small children with pierced ears is grim. Poor little sods. Why a parent would punch holes in their tiny child in the name of vanity is beyond me.
Why would a baby need to have 'pretty ears' FFS.

Hemingwaycat · 12/08/2021 13:45

I’d just ban it completely for under 16s if I had my way.

OldTinHat · 12/08/2021 13:46

I've had eight piercings with a gun. Never had a problem with any of them. Fast, painless and healed well.

BungleandGeorge · 12/08/2021 13:48

I’m confused, they don’t use a normal earring in the gun and just jab it through? They have a pointed end just like a needle. I can quite believe a skilled person can be more accurate and gentle but the two things are not so different?