Question about piercings= Prices, maintainance,etc?

Where did you get your Piercing?

How much did they cost?

Why did you get them?




I am still considering getting them, but here are the major facts:

A: Money
B: Maintainance
C: Knowing Me, I would probably pick at it almost constantly.
D: Deciding where to get it.


How often do you need to clean them, and all that other stuff?

So far, the best price is way expensive for now, since I currently dont have a job, even though I am still searching. ( Off Topic: I had an interesting encounter with some alligators while applying for jobs, as I was crossing the road.)

Anyways, the best price range around here is 150, to 200$ from the people I have asked. How is that for a piercing, since that is WAY to expensive currently, and I would probably rather get the Tattoo before the Piercing.

I had some other similar questions but forgot them currently.

All of my piercings were done by friends in the business , so I paid for none of them. And jewelry choice makes a big diffrence in the cost. Maintaining them is thoughless depending on where you get one. And you shouldn't have anything to "pick" at unless something goes wrong. Clean it daily and use a little A&D ointment if they become irritated.

I got all mine done just to be cool.. but seriously.. purely decorative purposes. They make me feel good.

Im still not sure where I would want them , even though I am still considering getting them very strongly.

I find you get what you pay for, cheap isn't always good. Hepatitis will cost you alot more than a quality piercing. That said, 150 to 200 seem way high to me unless your getting something very unusual.
Appearance means less to me than the act of being pierced. It feels like a rite of passage, or a battle scar.
As for care I like H20cean. I make body jewelery for a living so I am partial to quality. If you want I can find links for you, to care sheets etc.
Check out BME, alot of good info, Tribalectic.com buys alot of our jewlery and has alot of info as well.

also average price around here is 40-50 including jewlery.

tounge and frenum. they cost about $40 each and I got them done for sexual reasons. when you first get them done it takes about a month to heal depending on what you have peirced. you have to clean them all the time at first then once they heal you clean them in the shower.

i get all mine for $20 including jewelry the only exception is something really weird or something that uses two needles like an industrial. maintenance depends alot on the piercing

I think the biggest thing is find a piercer you are comfortable with, that way it will make your experience more pleasurable. Ummm as far as price I've also been pretty lucky and didn't really have to pay for anything done... But from what I've been told a good honest shop is about $60 I've heard around the trendy parts of town they can hike up by about 20 bucks more or so. I feel that things like piercings and tattoos are works of art and to approach someone with a number in mind cheapens the work of art... With that said though, dont be a sucker. Just talk to piercers get to know them a little, if they are pricks then just go to another shop till you find the right one. Think of it like dating, after all They will be penetrating you ;) , it'll feel good, then you'll bleed.... And if you don't bleed well then...ummm..I guess dead and that's ok too...


^v^-ouchi so good!
German

DIY, don't be a pussy.

other than tongue and genital peircings which require knowledge of anatomy because these areas contain delicate nerves that can be bad if peirced in the wrong place, the rest is just sticking a needle through flesh. all these professional peircers mean only one thing- that they spend a lot of money on fancy products that are sold to them by companies that charge lots of money for fancy products- but in the end what are you really getting? a guy that knows how to stick a needle in someone and is using sterlised equipment. think about it... do you know how to make a quick motion with your hand while holding something? do you know how to sterilze metal which can be done using bleach, water and heat? if so, then you too can be a peircer.

I've seen people peirce ears, nose, lips, eyebrows, and nipples on themselves and others with no "professional" knowledge of peircings and equipment, just what I said above, and they turned out just fine.

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Originally Posted by Morning Glory

DIY, don't be a pussy.

other than tongue and genital peircings which require knowledge of anatomy because these areas contain delicate nerves that can be bad if peirced in the wrong place, the rest is just sticking a needle through flesh. all these professional peircers mean only one thing- that they spend a lot of money on fancy products that are sold to them by companies that charge lots of money for fancy products- but in the end what are you really getting? a guy that knows how to stick a needle in someone and is using sterlised equipment. think about it... do you know how to make a quick motion with your hand while holding something? do you know how to sterilze metal which can be done using bleach, water and heat? if so, then you too can be a peircer.

I've seen people peirce ears, nose, lips, eyebrows, and nipples on themselves and others with no "professional" knowledge of peircings and equipment, just what I said above, and they turned out just fine.

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Unfortunately its a bit more complicated than that. you have to get the piercing done straight in most cases which isnt exactly easy if your doing it yourself (or if your doing your ears you have to get them to be even which is really hard to do on yourself i tried it like three times and it never looked good) and if you reall want to do it yourself at least buy the specialty needles that they use they are usually pretty cheap and you can buy them from BME.

It depends on what you get really. Some piercings take a month or two to heal completely, some can take over a year, some never heal at all. 200 bucks for a piercing?? Thats insane. Quality jewelry is NOT expensive to make, but some shops like to charge insane amounts for it. Yeah its true you get what you pay for, but dont be taken advantage of either. Ive never seen a piercing over 80 bucks, both on east coast and west coast...even for more elaborate piercings. Are you talking 200 for multiple piercings or just one?

Now Im just talking from my OWN experience after managing shops and piercing out of them.

As far as cleaning, if you take a shower everyday, thats all you need to do. Just use antibacterial soap, and a sea salt wash. I personally dont use sea salt soaks, since in my experience my piercings have grown out after using them. I just wash them in the shower or anytime I felt dirty (after sweating, etc). Do not over clean! Thats a huge thing that people do, and itll dry out the area around the piercing and kill the new cells trying to heal you up. There IS good bacteria, and you dont want to take all that out of it. I would NOT use A&D ointment (sorry Evilbink) or any other ointment. It will actually attract dirt and trap the bad stuff in.

And if you have a habit of picking, you need to get over it. You should not touch your fresh piercing, unless its to clean it. And, if you have something to pick at with a percing, you need to go see your piercer;p

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Originally Posted by Jax

I would NOT use A&D ointment (sorry Evilbink) or any other ointment. It will actually attract dirt and trap the bad stuff in.

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i forgive ya ...but only because its you. :hearts:

i got my tongue peirced for $35 from the "van man" freshmen year in highschool... im lucky i dont have hepititis! ;) i got a tongue ring because i thought they were cool since i was little... i hadn't even made out, so no i didn't get it for sexual things... but thats why i keep it in ;)

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Originally Posted by BrightStar

Anyways, the best price range around here is 150, to 200$ from the people I have asked. How is that for a piercing, since that is WAY to expensive currently, and I would probably rather get the Tattoo before the Piercing.

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Thats from people with piercings that I asked, not the piercers.

damnit i wish i still had my piercings...they all closed up. mantainence is important.

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Originally Posted by BrightStar

Thats from people with piercings that I asked, not the piercers.

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those people either got seriously ripped off or where just screwing with you.

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Originally Posted by Kidthorazine

those people either got seriously ripped off or where just screwing with you.

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Lol, I was thinking the same thing;p

here's the basic thing.

If you're just getting a few, "<5" then you'll probably end up paying between 40-60 per piercing.

If you're going all out ">5"...... then you should make friends with a reputable piercer, or summer job with one, or something along those lines. (And if you don't have time to invest, some piercers do have a "Bulk Pierce Discount" or prefered customer plan.)

Of course, regional pricing/availability issues may apply. (In my home town, there are 3 reputible piercing artists, and they compete against each other for customers.)

i like the place i go they are very reputable and most peircings are only $20 unless it uses more than one needle (i.e industrial) requires specialty jewelry (i.e eyebrow spiral) or is really rare hard to do and dangerous (i.e. horizontal tounge piercing)

tribalectic.com has alot of great info and alot of piercers hang out on the message boards so if you have a more direct question that isn't covered in the faq or previously asked on the board you can ask and usually get good info(any bad info will get corrected pretty quickly) plus they have a piercer board where they will debate treatments and exp. for ever... which is good b/c then on the piercing side you get info based on alot of technical data and hundreds of piercers all chiming in their knowledge and experience... although its been awile since i have been on bme the last time i checked... they only had a handful of piercers answering questions that you could search through... andwhile i did really respect them... it was always based on one persons answer (if 50 educated pro's tell you one thing and 1 educated pro tells you another i would lean towards the 50.) and that has nothing to do with any personal issues between triabalectic vs bme or any one person period.

pricing unless you are getting something really really crazy i would expect to pay between 40-80 plus tip any less and i would be very very questioning on quality and technique and equipment any more and thats just rediculous i know tribalectic and bme both have check lists thingys that allow you to know what to look for in a shop/piercer.

as far as healing...i am all about the sea salt soaks... 1/4 teaspoon of non-iodized salt per 8ounces 3 times a day plus anti bacterial (gold dial) in the shower most other creams and ointments ext will leave a residue that won't help the keep the germs but will either make it slimmy or overly dried out neither of which are good for your piercing...

in my experience if you are having increased irritation or possibly the onset of an infection i personallly had good results when i increased the salt to a full teaspoon per 8ounces. this made it a little extra dry but it cleared up the irriation within two days when before i was battling it for about a month or two...

also if you get pierced somewhere that is normally covered(ie genitals) give it air... spend as much time as you can without clothes on airing it out... just don't get arrested;)

i can go on for hours but i have to leave now

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Originally Posted by skully

pricing unless you are getting something really really crazy i would expect to pay between 40-80 plus tip any less and i would be very very questioning on quality and technique and equipment any more and thats just rediculous i know tribalectic and bme both have check lists thingys that allow you to know what to look for in a shop/piercer.

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Ive been piercing for 7 years, worked and managed shops, and our usual rate for most piercings was about 30 bucks. That is why most piercers and tattoo artists supply portfolios, so you know you are getting good quality for a good price. Most jewelry is VERY inexpensive to make, and I shudder when people charge 20 bucks for a simple barbell. Our jewelry in the stores I worked in was always through industrial steel or a similar quality company. We were OSHA approved, all the employees went through red cross training for cross contamination, CPR, and first aid. So, my advice would be to check out the place. Get the vibe. Never get pierced by someone who wont give you the time of day and wont answer all your questions. Ask to see portfolios and their clean room. Make sure you see them take the needle out of the sterilized pouch. Never let them pierce you more than once with the same needle. etc.

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Originally Posted by Jax

Ive been piercing for 7 years, worked and managed shops, and our usual rate for most piercings was about 30 bucks. That is why most piercers and tattoo artists supply portfolios, so you know you are getting good quality for a good price. Most jewelry is VERY inexpensive to make, and I shudder when people charge 20 bucks for a simple barbell. Our jewelry in the stores I worked in was always through industrial steel or a similar quality company. We were OSHA approved, all the employees went through red cross training for cross contamination, CPR, and first aid. So, my advice would be to check out the place. Get the vibe. Never get pierced by someone who wont give you the time of day and wont answer all your questions. Ask to see portfolios and their clean room. Make sure you see them take the needle out of the sterilized pouch. Never let them pierce you more than once with the same needle. etc.

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i totally agree with you on what prices should be i guess in the end it really depends on where you are and how saturated the market is in your area or whatever other business factors people use to justify crazy mark-ups(greed high rent lack of competition etc) unfortunately i know that going down to the jersey shore in summer time is a crap shoot... they can be visably clean and talk a good game and have a good looking portfolio but you don't really know how good they really are at piercings and in this instance the cheap places charge less b/c they are trying to undercut everyone else but make up for it in sheer volume while the places that charge a little more (usually)take the time to go over everything with you and will in general do the better job. although rare (for good and bad reasons) i am most impressed with the portfolios that have the intial pictures combined with pics once the piercing/tatt are a little older.

all in all bottom line don't rush educate yourself as much as possible don't do it unless you feel comfortable to be in the situation.

I do my own, and I normally make my body jewellery out of glass. If you have a distaste for pain, or it clouds your brain, you should have someone else do it, just so its even.