Busting the myths on getting a piercing
PIERCINGS: NOTIONS THAT SUCH STUDIOS ARE ‘FRIGHTFULLY SCARY’ PROVED TOTALLY WRONG
Everything I had known to be correct about piercings was not...
Ihad always said that I would leave having my daughters ears pierced up to her; when she was old enough to ask, I would take her. And she waited way longer than I expected. She was eight and the last of her friends to finally take the plunge.
Having my daughter’s ears pierced by a professional has always been the number one choice for me.
To a parent, tattoo parlours and piercing studios still hold the stigmas of dark, dirty, heavy-metal blaring establishments, with the artists’ being frightfully scary, covered in numerous piercings and facial tattoos.
Conrad Feldman, a professional body modification artist and entrepreneur who has been piercing for over 12 years, greeted us at his shop Beyond Body Modification in Parkhurst, Johannesburg where there was no heavy-metal music blaring in his open-aired, white-walled studio with large windows.
Sporting the longest dreadlocks we’ve ever seen, he had both facial tattoos and piercings.
He was not all intimidating. He hunched down to my daughter’s eye level and greeted her warmly, putting both of us at ease.
While waiting for Feldman to get ready, my daughter happily paged through some piercing books, giggling at the many places other than your ears that one can pierce.
His piercing studio mostly represented a dentist’s office, lots of sterile equipment and some jewellery, completed with antique dentist chairs. Feldman explained in detail the exact steps of the procedure to my daughter, telling her how to breathe. He also didn’t sugarcoat the fact that it would hurt.
Professional piercers use a hypodermic needle to create a hole in the ear, then an earring is inserted, unlike a piercing gun that punches through the ear.
He said: “While the ears and earrings can be sterilised before the piercings, there is often backsplash on the gun, which cannot be sterilised since most are plastic.”
The earrings are also different. Feldman uses Implant Grade Body Jewellery. There is no standard “butterfly” which often causes infection.
Once both her ears were pierced, without a single tear shed, Feldman inserted the sparkly crystal studded earrings, and explained in great detail how to care for the piercings.
Everything I had known to be correct about piercings was not.
She was to wash the piercings with a mild soap and apply arnica gel twice daily – not use rubbing alcohol, as I believed.
She was also not to twist or turn the earrings, which also may cause infection.
Feldman emphasised to use a professional piercer and not just go to a shop that does piercing.
He only pierces from four years old and up.
“I believe that piercing should be a choice for the child,” he said after the delicate operation.
We left with the knowledge we could go back if we had any problems and Feldman said he would follow up in two weeks to make sure all was fine.
Exceptional service from a shop at the mall.