Needles, Not Guns.

Helping to spread the word for piercing safety. Follow the page to join the petition and the cause. No spam, no bullshit. /ask or /submit to tell your own stories.

[safepiercings]

So I recently got my tragus pierced and when I touch it feels sore and swollen and it kinda itches, its that normal or?

Absolutely normal! 

Piercings are never going to be 100% happy when you first get them done because after all you are breaking skin and leaving yourself open to infection. Make sure you do regular sea salt soaks and if it gets any worse go see your piercer! 

Frequent cleaning is the most important thing.

(:

[safepiercings]

Ok so because of reasons, I'm not able to get my ears professionally done in the near future. Is piercing at home with hollow needles and stuff a thing I should def avoid?

I only condone getting piercings done professionally. 100% do not recommend home piercings, always go to a professional! Obviously without knowing those reasons I do not know what your limitations are when it comes to getting the piercing, but still can not give you any better advice than go to a professional. 

[safepiercings]

Are you a professional piercer or piercing apprentice?

I work in as an assistant in a tattoo and piercing studio, haven't yet started my practical training (:

[safepiercings]

Do you know what guage Claire's pierces lobes? Cartilage?

They don't pierce a gauge because they just use a gun to shoot the jewellery through your skin at high speeds, no needle involved. The jewellery itself isn't of a good standard and can vary in width I find but is normally around 1.2mm. If you're thinking of getting a piercing there, don't. The guns are extremely dangerous and are never sterilised properly. The jewellery being forced through your skin causes serious scarring that sometimes never goes away and you'll be very prone to infection. Fine a professional piercing studio in your area and make sure they'll pierce it with a needle, they'll talk you through aftercare (:

[safepiercings]

Has anyone ever lost their hearing after the tragus piercing or the conch piercing?

I want to say no... The piercing is through the cartilage in the ear, if that gets infected it doesn't effect the ear drum or your brain, unless an infection gets spread into your ear? But it would be super unlikely it leads to deaf-ness. Simple antibiotics and cleaning routines will clear up an infection

[safepiercings]

Hey I was wondering if you would recommend h20 sea salt spray for conch piercing cleaning, and if so what stores sell it? Planning on getting my conch along with a helix done in a couple of weeks. :) Thank you

Hey there! I've never used it myself but have heard nothing but good things, as far as I'm aware it's completely safe.You could probably buy it online, or, it would probably be both cheaper and easier to buy some sea salt, dissolve a quarter of a teaspoon in about 500ml of warm water and then soak your piercing in that and it will heal perfectly! (:

[safepiercings]

Feeling overwhelmed by all your messages!

Got a lot to post over the next coming weeks, but keep your stories coming! (:

[safepiercings]

Is it safe for a 14 year old to get their nose pierced?

Where I come from you’re not meant to legally get nose piercings until you’re 16 years old, but as long as you’re getting it done at a professional studio with a needle rather than a gun and use the correct after care it’s safe no matter what age you are. Going professional is the key!

Just remember that piercings are a big commitment and if you do decide you don’t want it any more as you grow older you may be left with a small scar!

[safepiercings]

Do you have any tips on a female teenager getting her nipples pierced without feeling self conscious

It depends what you mean by self conscious, as in conscious about letting the piercer see your nipples/boobs? 

In which case you have to remember that professional piercers and tattooists see many different body parts every day, in all shapes and sizes. They’re not going to sit there and judge you on how you look! 

Unless you meant self conscious about your boobs in general, in which case why not get a sexy piercing to make you feel better about yourself? 

I’m sure you’re a beautiful human being, and if you want to get pierced just go for it! They won’t judge you, it’s their jobs. 

Go for it honey! I hope it looks amazing 

[safepiercings]

Hi, I got my helix "pierced" with a gun like 6 yrs ago. It wouldn't heal for like two years and even after that it hurt everytime i slept on it. After 3 yrs I took it out. But still my cartilage is indurated. Always go to a professional!

Please help spread the word that piercing guns are dangerous, reblog this post to make others aware!

[safepiercings]

Sorry every one! Been having a bit of a break recently due to personal reasons but we're back and ready to go!

Still need some more submissions and stories, and remember to keep spreading the word about how important safe piercings really are.

[safepiercings]

So I've never gotten a piercing before, just my ears that I got done at Claire's when I was eight, and they've been okay but took ages to heal. I know needles are much safer and generally a better idea, but can someone like tell me about the pain levels? I'm a little freaked out by needles, especially the idea of a hollow one going through my nostril. Does it hurt less than a gun, or about the same? Just curious. This blog has informed me a lot!

Hi there! Obviously I can only inform you based on personal experience.

I haven’t had a piercing with a gun for many many years, but I remember when I did, the feeling of the gun almost stapling my ear always really unsettled me. No I have 12 piercings that have been done with a needle, including two nostril piercings! 

Now I don’t like to think of myself as someone with a high pain tolerance, I’m a bit of a wimp! But if I’m 100% honest with you, all of my piercings really aren’t that bad. Especially with a needle. In fact, I found them to be quite a relaxing experience compared to the shock of the gun puncturing your ear! My nose piercings were done at the same time and the piercing itself you barely even feel, like a slight stinging sensation at first, and then it’s all over with. It may feel a bit uncomfortable having the needle push through the cartilage as the force is the most uncomfortable thing for most people. You don’t even notice that the needle is hollow as well! After having my nose pierced (baring in mind it was both sides so more swelling) it took about 2 weeks for the pain to go away and then it was fine most of the time (unless irritated of course!), a friend of mine had one piercing done on her nose with the gun and it was still healing a month later, with what looked like keloids and raised skin on both sides.

If I was to put all of my piercings on a scale of 1 to 10

1 being my helix which I didn’t even feel

and 10 being my lobes (which were pierced with a 4  gauge needle, rather than a standard 16!)

My nostril piercings would probably be number 3

If you have any more questions let me know, I’m glad the page has been help for you!

(:

[safepiercings]

I was wondering what the issue with piercing guns is. I've heard something about not being as safe or sanitary, but I have triples in my ears, all were done with guns, and they've never been infected once.

Some of us are luckier than others I guess!

Despite the fact you’ve never had an infection, it still stands that they cause lots of infections in other people, and can cause damage.

You see, the way piercings needles work is by removing the skin so the jewellery can sit comfortably in the hole. Piercing guns don’t actually pierce the skin, they just force the blunt jewellery through which causes the skin to be irritated, scarred and often causes infections. 

Especially in cartilage piercings, they can cause serious damage to your cartilage. 

There’s some good information about it all on this page here:

http://tattoo.about.com/cs/psafety/a/piercing_guns.htm

But yeah, even though you’ve had no problems with your piercings that you can see, doesn’t mean that there’s no internal scarring or anything around them. I still have scars in my ears from the piercings I got with a gun when I was 6 years old. 

[safepiercings]

I had my ears pierce at Claire's several years ago and now I want to stretch my ears, Should I wait for the holes to close and then have them pierced with a needle? Or just stretch with crooked, almost closed holes?

I don’t like to *tell* people what to do because at the end of the day it’s down to your own personal preference, so I’ll give you some opinions.

I had my ears pierced at Claire’s when I was about 6 years old and I took them out and left them to heal up maybe a few months later, then 10 years later I went to get them pierced with a needle to 4mm rather than the standard 1.2 or 1.6mm. Now when I went to get in done, the piercer automatically noticed I had scar tissue in the middle of the ear lobe and warned me that it would probably make it harder for the piercing to heal. Luckily, I didn’t really have any problems with the healing of my piercings, but that’s not to say that no one will have any problems if they do that.

If you’re getting them re-pierced to a normal size the needle may have to go directly through the scarring which could be a problem. Luckily with mine because I got mine pierced to 4mm it mostly cut around the scars, so maybe that’s an option to consider. If you’re going to get it re-pierced with a normal needle it may make it harder for it to heal up and so the stretching process would take a longer time. Maybe if you go straight to stretching them it might not look so crooked, but it all depends on how crooked it looks at the moment. I can’t really advise you without seeing it!

Thanks for messaging anyway, that’s really the best I can do without taking a proper look at your piercings.

Happy stretching!

[safepiercings]

This blog is perfect, you're awesome for warning people about the Hell that is piercing/getting pierced with a gun. What people don't realize is the gun just pushes a hole, giving the jewelry no room to move where as a hollow needle removes enough flesh to give it ample space to fit in and get comfy. Keep up the good work and keep spreading the word.

This means a lot, thank you! 

Thank you for helping the cause.

[safepiercings]

I've had my lobes and one of my helixes gunned, years ago now. All I can say is that the healing process was hell on earth, especially with the helix. I have a very vivid memory of reading in my room one day, when without warning I felt something warm and dripping coming from my ear. The swelling and heat from the gunned helix was so intense that I hadn't even noticed either an infection or some sort of nasty blister, and blood was pouring down the side of my head. Learned my mistake!!

Even getting your lobes pierced with a gun is dangerous!

Please could every help spread the word by reblogging and submitting you’re own stories.

It only takes a minute and you could help someone who’s unaware about the dangers!

[safepiercings]

I don't normally do this, but seeing as they asked so nicely...

If anyone here wants to submit tattoos or piercings that they're proud of, go to:

http://tattooed-generation.tumblr.com/

They're accepting submissions to try and make a blog filled with Tumblr's tattoos.

Thanks guys!