Commonly asked questions:

Riley Rebecca

Why Are Piercing Guns Bad?

Let’s imagine you’re cutting a tomato. In the drawer, you have a plastic butter knife and a brand new steak knife. Sure, both will get the job one but let’s look at the details. For a butter knife to cut the tomato, it requires brute force from the knife with a firm grasp of the fruit. You may have two pieces, but they will be mostly mashed, warped, torn, and leaking a lot of juice. When using a steak knife, very little pressure is needed to accomplish a swift and smooth gliding motion, causing less damage to the fruit or skin layers, making no mess.

Please keep in mind that your skin is the tomato in this analogy. Now, imagine an untrained 14-year-old who was hired as a retail associate to be in charge of the tomato and butter knife. Meanwhile there is professional Chef with a fancy steak knife at a nearby specialty shop. They have years of hands-on training relating to their craft, and take pride in each dish they create making sure the kitchen is clean, their knives are sharp, and food is fresh.

Which would you prefer?

As if that wasn’t enough, that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Those piercing guns use blunt force trauma to create a hole, causing skin tearing. There’s no guarantee of the accuracy of placement, and, worst of all, there’s no way to sterilize the gun properly!

Really think about that for a moment. Imagine a Walmart that’s been open for a handful of years. You have to assume they’ve most likely pierced a couple thousand people with the same gun. That cannot be cleaned properly between piercings! To assume that not a single person had a bloodborne pathogens disease is statistically improbable, making every person after a potential carrier. And you’re going to take your small child to that?

Can I Be Pierced Through Scar Tissue?

YES!!! When tissue is scarred it has less living cells to help heal and regenerate, but there’s no reason you can’t safely place quality jewelry through the scar tissue. Piercing through scar tissue should not increase your risk of infection, alter the way you clean your piercing, or affect the style of jewelry you would wear. But it may be a tad bit more pinchy!

Do You Pierce an Infant’s Ears?

HARD NO.

I will only pierce when the client is able to independently express to me that it’s something they want. I refuse to hold down a child to inflict pain without their consent!

That’s straight-up abuse no matter how you want to try to decorate it. Also, the earlobes tend to scar. Many people grow up to never want jewelry in their ears. I truly believe they should not have to live with looking in the mirror every day and seeing a reminder of what someone else wanted them to be.

To put it into perspective, culturally, a lot of people pierce little girl’s ears, but not boys. However, gender fluidity and gender transformation is becoming so rapidly relevant, that the cultural beliefs may not even end up appropriately line up with the wearer’s self-gender identity, defeating the purpose.

Okay, I realize these are my personal feelings, so, I’ll also include my professional response:

Professionally, I advise against it because ears are one part of the body that grow exponentially during the formative years. Often the piercing placement migrates drastically from infancy t0 teenage years. They are left with terribly placed scars for the majority of their life. Also, the scarring makes a large portion of earrings unsuitable for wear, further defeating the purpose of having pierced ears.

How Long Do Piercings Take to Heal?

It depends on the piercing and your lifestyle. Tissue is always regenerating, and many piercings feel healed within a few months. However, I like to warn everyone that all piercings can take up to a year to heal depending on their day-to-day lives.

A computer programmer and a nurse both getting a tragus piercing will most likely experience different healing times due to one wearing a stethoscope, causing friction against the jewelry. But with proper procedure, jewelry, and aftercare, you should feel healed within days/weeks.

A general rule of thumb a lot of piercers go by is that cartilage base piercings take roughly 8-12 months to heal while the fleshy areas usually heal between 4-6 months.

Will it Hurt?

I mean.....life hurts.   ;)

Why Can’t We Do All 6 Piercings at Once?

Your body needs a chance to heal. If you pierce too many different parts of the body at once, your body will get confused on where it is supposed to direct its energy and things will heal very slowly, or experience months of troubleshooting during the healing process, or may never heal at all.

Why is it so Expensive?

“Expensive” is an interesting word choice. Some luxuries do come with a higher investment, but everyone puts their focus on different areas. To some, a luxury vehicle is practical since they commute around town every day. While other people may view anything beyond basic running cars as unnecessary and therefore expensive. Some people send their money on shoes, others artwork, and for some it’s self-adornment…Let’s break it down and talk about what you’re actually paying for when you come see me in my studio:

In all of my standard piercing set ups are individual packets of water-based lubricant, iodine, alcohol, chlorhexidine, single use skin scribe gentian violet, sterilized gauze, Q Tips and rubber bands, along with the needle, jewelry, insertion pin, non-sterile gloves and sterile gloves and any tools necessary to assist in the piercing. You’re paying for my years of experience, my bedside manner, my supplies needed to perform your piercing, and I also send you home with aftercare.

You only need to get each piercing done once and it can be worn for a lifetime!

It’s funny that people can spend the same money on a pedicure, and not see the difference. What are you paying for when you get your nails done? Nail polish? No, you’re paying for a skill set. Except my piercing won’t grow out every two weeks. You can absolutely find cheaper piercings, but with that comes cheaper materials and a cheaper experience.

You get what you pay for. What are you worth?

What Happens if it Gets Infected?

Can I pull a Mean Girls movie reference and just answer with:

“Do not touch your piercing. You will get pregnant and you will die. Don’t touch it at the gym, don’t touch it at work, don’t touch it at the mall. Just please don’t touch it. ‘Cause you will get pregnant and die. Alright kids, now everyone take some soap.”

Of course, I’m entirely kidding. Although, any untreated infection will spread and can absolutely become septic. And if continued to be untreated the tissue can become necrotic. Any severe enough infection through the bloodstream can possibly kill you.

What if I want to get a few piercings, but have no idea what I want?

Have no fear, that’s why I’m here!! I do a lot of designing piercing projects based on your likes/dislikes, anatomy, and lifestyle! We can sit down together and talk about what’s practical and viable. I’ll put little gem stickers on your ears to give you a good visual of how it would end up and once we find what you like can hold up different pieces of jewelry and really pinpoint what you’re drawn to!! —or we could browse jewelry first and if you fall in love with a certain something then we can find the best place for it to live!

Can I bring my friend (or significant other) with me to hold my hand?

“Of course!! This is your experience and I want you to feel at your most comfortable—sometimes people like to get pierced together as a bonding experience, and sometimes it’s just nice to bring along your favorite moral support, either way, I’m happy when you’re happy and want to be as accommodating as possible!”