Choosing a piercer shouldn’t be a hard thing. Taking your time and following a few basic guidelines will make finding a quality piercer much easier.
If you are lucky and live in a well sized city you will have a few options on where to go to get your piercing. Smaller cities may not have this luxury so you might consider traveling a little. If you have a few piercers in your city you should make it a point to go to as many as possible.
Friends are also a great resource. Listen to your friends stories about various piercers. Most people will have a story to tell about their piercer and it is great to get as many opinions as possible. Keep in mind though that your friends might not be the best source of knowledge and might just be voicing an opinion. The final decision on where you go should always be your own and not
made by your friends.
Visit your local piercer and take a look around the shop. Look to see if the shop looks clean and well taken care of, the shop does represent the workers and you should never go somewhere you feel uncomfortable inside of.
The most common mistake for people getting their first piercing is being quiet. The whole process can be intimidating and overwhelming and most people tend to just clam up and nod at whatever the piercer says. The best thing to do is talk to your piercer. They are the best source of information you have access to and you should ask as many questions as you can think of. Ask any and all the questions you can, start a dialogue, listen to the piercer, I guarantee it will calm you down before the piercing.
A few questions that you should ask your piercer:
These are a couple great questions any piercer should be able to quickly answer. It is also a great way to learn a little bit more about your piercer before committing to anything. There are no right or wrong answers to these questions though, just see how you feel about their answers. That can tell a lot about a piercer.
If you feel comfortable in the shop and with the piercer you should ask to see them set-up for the piercing. You are looking to see if the equipment they are using is all individually pre-packaged. You should watch them break the seal on the blister pack before they pierce you. The piercer should also always be wearing gloves and changing the gloves if they handle anything else in the shop.
When it comes to aftercare, I have heard hundreds of different treatment regimes. from sea salt to soap to ointments. I have heard good things about all of these treatments and I have heard horrible things about these treatments. The best aftercare advice I can give though is, always follow your piercer’s instructions on how to take care of your new piercing.
If something doesn’t feel right go back to the piercer and ask them look at it. They shouldn’t have a problem taking a look at your piercing to see if it is healing correctly. If you don’t think that the piercer helped, go see a doctor. I cannot stress this enough, no one is going to be able to tell you what’s going on, or going wrong with your new piercing without actually seeing the piercing. If your piercer cannot help go see a doctor to find out what the issue may be.
Finding a piercer isn’t a hard thing it just takes time and some common sense. Be patient and wait to find the right piercer.
