To Pierce or Not to Pierce !! My girls want earrings!

I REALLY agree with going to a percing shop!!!!! In fact, I was one of those 'shmucks' who was given a gun in the mall and was allowed to pierce....it made me nervous as hell, especially when moms would bring in their little babies...I hated that.
But I'd say let them make the decision themselves. However, do something like buying stick-ons or clip-ons or something for a while and explain that you want them to take care of their ears like they were if they were percied. Then after you've seen them do it for a while (what ever makes you happy), take them to get it done. The last thing you want is two 3 year olds with infections!!!!!

 

actually, i was always told the opposite...when I worked at Ardene piercing people, and by my piercer....and as a person who has been pierced repeatedly....Skin will not adhere to a stud. Turning the stud will only aggrivate the piercing and cause more bactiera to get in. Just simply cleaning the stud will do fine.
Guns really are the absolute worse things to pierce with! I've had my ears done many times with them and my nose when I was 14!!! I've seen them not go thorugh all the way, and a lot of the time these 'trained' piercers will almost, inevetably always end up really crooked. Mine are all over the place...I pierced on poor guys ears crooked...one was too far foward and the other too far back...I felt HORRIBLE! The guy actually said that it was alright, but i couldn't help but think how much I disapointed that guy.
Yeah, like i said above, it's really worth the extra money to go to the professionals!

 

It's really kind of barbaric either way when you think about it. But they still look pretty, dont they?

I never knew all of this about the piercing guns. It makes me sick just thinking about it.

 

Thanks everyone for your input!
All the Pros, and the Cons! I have very thougroughly explained all the goods and bads to them. And they are pretty understanding kids. I am pretty honest with them, sometimes too honest! They are consistent with brushing their teeth, and love it. So I think if it came to cleaning of the earrings, I wouldn't have a problem with it. Also my other half is in the medical field and they let daddy take care of all their cuts and scrapes, etc. But it is still essentially up to them in the long run.

Also I know of a pretty refutable, clean, piercing place. They are know for their cleanliness. I would never let them do it at a mall....at all. I am a huge germaphobe, and need to know (mentally) for myself, that all untensils there were previously sterilized to the upmost potential. But anyhow, it is their final decision when and if that time comes, next week or five years from now! We'll see what happens...

 

If and when they do get their ears pierced tell them to take a deep breath slowly and let it out three times and let the piercer know that on the third breath in to pierce the ear. I find that this is a good technique for distracting the person getting pierced. It keeps the mind busy and off the fact that there will be alot of pain. This is just a suggestion you dont have to do this if you dont want. good luck and have fun

 

I think this is a good idea.

 

Wow, I didn't know that. The last time I was with one of my kids when they were pierced, was 12 years ago, (Sunshine conveniently didn't take me along when she had her navel done. ) so perhaps they have changed the recommendations. Thank you.

I wonder why the earring back had the skin grow ever it, then? It was very unpleasant to have to break that skin on my child. It was NOT the piercing stud, though, this was a tiny gold earring, with a tiny gold back that Moon wore (probably too long without changning it) after she was able to change earrings. It must have been some other reason.

 

Maggie, maybe Moon got it caught on something and tore it a tad and the skin that grew over the back of it was just scabbing. I was 9 when I got my ears pierced, and a definite rough and tumble kid, so my ears were always getting stretched and torn (not completely out, though, before anyone gags, lol). She also may have had a slight allergy to the earring back, when I have allergic reactions to my earrings, they often get icky and reheal over the backs (it's been a long time, though, I don't wear studs, so I always take my earrings out before bed). It is puzzling exactly why that happens, but I had it happen a lot when I was little, too.

 

really? never heard of that happening.....kinda feel like a dumbass now.....but that's seriously what I've been told many times.
I still hear lots of those hairdressers saying that people should turn them, but I generally chose to believe the professionals.
How long did she wait unitl she did change the stud? Does her body heal slower than normal? Usually the waiting period shoudl be about 8 weeks.

 

Piercings should not be turned. When you wiggle the jewelry around in a fresh piercing there is a good chance that you are going to irritate the piercing by pulling the crusties (and bacteria and other yuckies) back through the hole. The best way to care for a new piercing (IMO) is to do sea salt soaks 1-2 times a day and use a moistened cotton swab to gently clean away the crusties. The reason tiny earring backs grow into the skin is because the jewelry does not leave enough room for the swelling that usually accompanies a fresh piercing. A tiny fixed bead hoop or labret stud would be a better choice for new ear piercings because they would allow for swelling. Even well healed piercings tend to swell from time to time-and that mall jewelry is too tiny to allow that to happen.

 

good advice!
sea salt is awsome for piercings!!!

 

awww...this thread took me back to when my daughters ears were pierced, 17 years ago. She was a cute little gal with black ringlets. She loved her new earrings. Now at 19, she has piercings all over..

 

I would agree. I just repeated what I learned more than 10 years ago, my dh's tattoo artist didn't say anything about it, as he never pierced Bear or me.

It wasn't the stud, it was an earriing set Bear bought her, gold, one of those "children's earrings" (the ones my mother calls "Latina Baby Earrings" )from the jewelry store, with really small backs. The skin just grew around them, it was awful. I don't remember how long it took, couldn't have been more than a few days, or a week at the most. We tend to heal quickly here.

It does make sense now, not to disturb what is at first an opened wound. I will remember this if and when Sage wants to get her ears pierced. (Or if Lennon does, or if Sunshine pierces anything else that I know about. :H )

It was on both ears, at the same time, and it wasn't a wound, just newgrown skin. It happened to me, when I got my ears pierced, in the first year of wearing earrings, but the hole just kinda closed up almost overnight. Sunshine tore her navel ring and that looked totally different, and kinda scabbed over ect. I have no idea why my family does this, maybe because we tend to heal quickly. ????

 

i meant the stud she got it pierced with, the orginial one; how long did she wait until she took those out?

 

Excellent idea!

My girls have their ears pierced, but I have a rule, they have to be old enough to take care of them themselves. Which may be different ages for different kids. Get them the stick ons and they can have "earrings" without the permanence or shock. If they're still asking in another year or two, go for it.

 

lol, haven't seen you around in a whiel brighid, welcome back

 

Wow, Kirsten, it was over 12 years ago, I can't even remember what I had for breakfast, most days. I really don't know, as long as they told us at Claires, as at the time, I didn't know any better.

 

They usually say 6-8 weeks until taking the original studs out. In one case I left them in for over a half year, because I like them so much (made from surgical steel with a little circonia in front), another time I took them out two weeks after shooting, because I had a reaction towards the material. It was some goldblend (normal gold is too soft for shooting purposes) and I had a problem with a material that was in that metalblend. I just replaced them with clean sterling silver studs and everything went well.


The material used should either be surgical steel, titanium or niobium. everything else is either too soft for the shooting process (gold and silver) or it's cheap and contains stuff that's just not right for open wounds or jewlery at all.

 

lol, i don't know why i didn't clue into that sooner.....duh:&
claires is the same kinda place as ardene where i worked, they have a habbit of only saying a short amount of time, like 4 weeks.