Piercing at tattoo studio (Centreville, Fairfax: live, babysitters, shops)

[Doppelganger69]

It's getting time for me to make good on my promise to let my daughter get her ears pierced. For several reasons (mostly relating to hygiene), I'm leaning toward having them done at a tattoo shop. Can anyone recommend a clean, reputable tattoo studio that does piercings in the NoVA area? Thanks!

[OrangeFish]

A friend of mine had her daughter's ears pierced at Comes a Time Tattoo shop in Fairfax City.

[slduvall]

How old is your daughter? I had my 9 years olds ears done at Icing's (not Claires, owed by the same group, but one caters to adults and the people that work there are older) at the mall. The hygiene was fine. They gave her complete instructions on what to do for 6 weeks, along with a bottle of antiseptic.

I don't think a tattoo parlor is where I would take my daugher - depending on age of course. And the older she is..then definitly not! I don't think I want her to see other options for piercings etc.

No offense to tattoo parlors or those that have tattoo's intended.

[oneasterisk]

I've got no piercings and no intention of getting any, but my coworker is into that stuff. He's worked in a couple of tattoo shops over the years. He says whatever you do, do not go to a place that uses a piercing "gun", instead go to one that uses the piercing needle. He went into this whole diatribe on how you couldn't clean a piercing gun properly and how it tears the skin and is a lot more painful than using a needle.

[roninsedge]

Originally Posted by oneasterisk

I've got no piercings and no intention of getting any, but my coworker is into that stuff. He's worked in a couple of tattoo shops over the years. He says whatever you do, do not go to a place that uses a piercing "gun", instead go to one that uses the piercing needle. He went into this whole diatribe on how you couldn't clean a piercing gun properly and how it tears the skin and is a lot more painful than using a needle.

I have to agree with Oneasterisk's friend. Best thing I can recommend is for you to go and check out something close personally. Whereabouts do you live? I might be able to recommend a couple of spots to check out.

[michgc]

We did ours at the pediatricians. I imagine the hygiene is pretty good there!

[ChristineVA]

My DD had her nose pierced at Marlowe Ink in Fairfax City. The piercing didn't work out long-term, but that was not the fault of the establishment. They did try to work with her on it but her body just had a reaction to it.

Her friend gets a lot of stuff done at the Good Times shop in Centreville. Considering she lives about 30 miles from there, she must like something about the place. She feels that do good work there.

[Alltheusernamesaretaken]

I asked this question several years back before getting my daughter's ears pierced (which we did at one of those center-of-the-mall kiosks and it was just fine).

The advice I got was that it's fine to do the kiosk/Claire's/etc for a first piercing (center of the earlobe)
but for anything higher up on the ear you should go to a [reputable] tattoo/piercing shop because of the risk of damage to the cartilidge.

[slduvall]

Originally Posted by michgc

We did ours at the pediatricians. I imagine the hygiene is pretty good there!

Didn't know you could do that! Do you have to bring your own posts? Or do they have them.

[Doppelganger69]

Thanks, everyone, for your responses, and special thanks to OrangeFish and ChristineVA for the shop recommendations. I will check them out and am definitely open to more.

Roninsedge, I'm in Vienna - and michgc, if you'd be willing to let me know what ped does them (and if you're happy with the job s/he did), I'd appreciate it. A friend searched hard to find one who did it, but I don't think her daughter got a good aesthetic result.

Slduvall, I do have some apprehension about exposing my daughter to the piercing/tattoo world as a normal thing. I have a very close friend with prominent versions of both, but so far DD thinks they're disgusting, and I'd like to keep it that way (I love my friend and am not bothered by his choices, but don't want to see them on my tweenage daughter.) That said, she does know that quite a few of her (awesome) teachers and babysitters have (less visible) tattoos, so she's already getting a fair amount of exposure.

My main concerns about a mall-type place include those listed: that piercing guns can never be completely cleaned, and that their mechanism can cause more injury than a needle. Also, no matter how common and benign, this is a permanent alteration of her body, and I'd rather it be done by someone with some real training in technique, aesthetics, and sterility. Having a teenager at a mall induce a permanent physical change just feels distasteful to me.