To not let my daughter get her ears pierced at Claires?

[Hdaniels11]

My Dd has just turned 9 and has been begging me to let her have her ears pierced so i agreed but i told her that we will have to go to a "proper" piercing place and not Claire's. I didn't really know much about Claire's until i started looking into it and apparently it's got a really bad reputation for piercings and i have read multiple things online about how piercing guns are bad?Im not sure how true that is tho. My Dd specifically wants them done at Claire's because she loves the shop and that's where all her friends got them done but i don't want to risk her going there and getting a nasty infected piercing. I do feel mean saying she can't go there but i don't know what else to do.
Should i give her a choice between getting them done at a reputable place or no piercing at all?

No you can't.

With TWO guns and TWO people, you can pierce both ears at the same time.

You can also have two piercers with needles doing that at the same time.

Piercing guns are the problem, no matter who is using them, Claire's or otherwise. They can't be cleaned properly because they're plastic and can't be autoclaved. The store's arguments are that only the stud touches the ear therefore the practice is safe: discount this. Cross contamination is still possible. Detritus from the blunt force required to lodge the stud into the ear will still be present because it can't be autoclaved off.

I can't believe these places are still licensed to use these things. And please tell me they are not being used on cartilage?

For me it would be needles or nothing (and I never had any less than 1.6 gauge because it reduces the risk of migration). Rings are best for healing but you can get some pretty longer barbells with stones in the balls.

I'd say your response was spot on, OP.

We had a really good experience at Claires - the piercer explained everything as she was going along, was so reassuring to my daughter, drew the holes on first and let us check and double check, got another piercer to come and do the other ear at the same time, paused while my daughter had a little panic, gave her as much time as she needed then eventually did it quickly and painlessly - no infection afterwards and my daughter remembers it as a positive experience.

Meh, we did Claire’s, no issues this is a total MN thing. It’s not an issue

https://youtube.com/shorts/YRwvq9uueYU?feature=share

This is useful though I am not sure what they're using might be fake skin like piercers use to practice on...

The gun clamps the ear around where the hole will be, and then the spring loaded mechanism forces the post of the stud through the flesh of the earlobe.

Whilst some posts are pointier than others, none of the ones available for use with guns could be described as actually sharp. So theres likely a lot of crush and bruising. The gun can fail to force the post all the way through or in some cases (generally via poorly trained staff) the gun can cause part of the stud to end up inside the ear lobe (this also can happen if the lobe is infected and swells hugely).

The needle method uses a forceps clamp to clamp the ear around where the hole is marked to go, and then the needle is pushed through - as it is SO sharp it goes through very easily and so there is far less chance of bruising or crushing (though if someone is heavy handed with the clamps that can happen. It is less likely as its much easier to see the ear lobe with this method, there isn't a clunky gun in the way).

Then once the needle is through the earring is put in the end of the hollow needle, pull back and that pulls the post through the hole and the ball or sparkly front is screwed on. These flat back types are much more comfy, theres no pokey end sticking out of a butterfly cap, and they have enough room to allow for the ear swelling slightly.

Some people don't clamp - they use the back of the needle cap to provide resistance - you can see it clearly here ignore what he's doing threading the sleeper through both holes, its the same piercing type.

Here he uses a needle with a sleeve, remove needle, leave sleeve, push the post or the sleeper up the sleeve and pull that back to leave the post/sleeper in the new hole.

As you can see from the first video... this is quick and very low pain when done properly.

I had my first piercings done in a jewellers with a gun and they HURT, all subsequent piercings done in a piercers, with a needle, including tongue - verrrrrry little pain indeed and much faster healing too.

Is it the studs she wants? You can buy them and ask the piercer to put them in. A proper piercing place might be off putting for a young child tho Maria Tash is £££ but more Claire's like. To be honest I had mine done with a gun x3 and they healed fine. Piercing guns can't go in an autoclave but can be sterilised with liquids.

Op I had no intention of allowing my dd to have her ears pierced at Claire’s until I looked into it & found that Claire’s was the only place near me where both ears could be pierced at the same time. I couldn’t fault them & bought the dearer earrings. They explained everything very well & were very professional.

I worked at Claires for about 3 weeks one summer, the training was non-existant and I would always go to somewhere specialist, or at least where training is more than one go with the Piercing gun on a piece of card. 😬