Questions

[NativeGirl]

:) Hello I'm new here and I want to become a body peircer but I do not know like what school/training I would need could you help me?

[Choppers4Life]

Body piercers, like tattoo artists usually do a formal apprenticeship in a studio. Your best bet in general is to locate a studio that you like and start hanging around to see if maybe you could get in good with their body piercer and maybe take you on as an apprentice.

[MontanaPiercer]

I bet I get asked for a job at least once a week. I am actually looking for someone to take on, but I am looking for someone with my drive for knowledge.....quite frankly a monkey can push a needle through somebody....it's your peripheral knowledge and inherent understanding that can make you great. I look for fanatical drive, average or above intelligence and someone who understands that apprentices (unless you are paying for your training) are shop bitches who get the dirty end of tools and tubes......you also have to understand that it can be a good while before you can make any money, so be prepared to eat Raman noodles if need be, cause unless you have another job, you are going to be a broke ass bitch

[MedusaQueen]

Yeah, I hear ya Montana! My boyfriend is looking for someone to take on as well, but unfortunately the world is a big place and it's mostly filled with f**k-offs. Seems no one gives a shit about the medical aspect and how important it is to know almost everything about the human body first; they just wanna be the cool guy behind the needle.

Hey girly. The body is a dangerous playground. Unfortunately even some "professional" peircers don't know half the shit they need to. Make sure that who ever you go to has boo-koos of experience and will not lead you astray. If they only peirce navels, tongues and noses (oh my!) they are WAY under qualified to teach you shit about peircing. Wouldn't even hurt to bone up on medical books from the library before you venture into a shop, just so that you will have some kind of knowledge of what you are getting into. Peircing is mostly medical, not just sticking holes and pretty jewelry. There has to be a very high level of maturity to take on the responsibility of manipulating another human beings body.

[MontanaPiercer]

The point about the responsibility reminds me of something I heard once :
"If you play god and fail, you will know the wrath of man"
It applies :(

[Anonymous]

I have been tattooing in a shop now for almost a year , I have been watching and learning form my boss the piercer ...I am getting my lisence next week . The piercer has been piercing off and on now for the last 25 years , full time fror the last 10 . She dosnt travel around to seminars anymore , or try assosiate with any others in the perfession.

She has told me to never do bridge piercings , or the bottem of the navel ...because she used to attend APP seminars , and was told that there is are some kinda nerv endings at the bride and base of the navel . And if there is an infection , it can easily spread into the eyes, or stomach . Has anyone ever heard of this?

And about aftercare, when people get little absess or keloids growing by the new piercing , what have u found that helps to remedy the situation? also what causes this ? bsides the recent hole in the skin....Usually she says to use a wet asprin and hold it on the spot everyday...

[MontanaPiercer]

She is OLD SCHOOL brother and needs to update her knowledge, shit has changed in the last 25 years, and definitely in the last 10,,,so.....first....listen, I am a certified phlebotomist, in addition to my other medical training, and I can assure you that as a piercer, performing normal piercings on those areas is NO MORE dangerous than piercing ANY other area of the body. Reasons not to do a bridge....ummm...cause they are hard to get to look straight for some? Lower navel.....because they are more truly a surface piercing and many times require custom jewelry? Those are the only true concerns for those piercings. I do tons of both of them. I use PTFE (Teflon) barbells for the bridge to allow it to form to the natural bend of the bridge, for lower navels I use a curved bar or a custom bar, bent similar to a 'J'. The APP have a history of being an overly cautious bunch, but I can't imagine even them, putting out something like that. Neither piercing passes through ANY kind of structure, but simply lies under the skin like any other piercing. That is not to say that damage could not be done, but I would have to to be damn near intentional.
Now as far as the aftercare issues, abscesses are different than keloids. Too many un-informed piercers call every little bump of irritation a keloid. Keloids take time to form, and there is usually a period of hypertropic scarring long before, and aspirin usually does little as a home remedy, but can show some improvement for hypertropic scarring, for keloiding surgical removal or cortical-steroidal injections are needed. In a fresh piercing those little pimple like eruptions next to the piercing holes are actually boils. They are like a pimple in the fact they are a little pocket of fluid trying to be expelled. Boils are little pockets of infection, usually staph. Abscesses are deeper, and usually happen somewhere along the length of the jewelry, underneath. For boil, a hot compress 4 to 6 times a day with the application of a triple antibiotic ointment like Neosporin in addition to normal salt soaks will usually clear it up in 7 to 10 days.

[Anonymous]

Ya she does seem to have a "I've been doin this for 25 years , so there"
attitude sometimes, not very open to new things...but shes old and dosnt wanna work much longer so whatever...
as for the boils, or whatever they are , ther're not fluid filed , they are hard , and dont seem to respond much to anything , I had pierced my girlfriends ear cartilage , and she developed one right beside the piercing , seemed to come up in a short time of having it done , a few days. it wouldnt go away til she took it out .

since u seem to know alot about scarring and keloiding , I was gonna ask if u knew of a wayto get a raised scar (from an overworked tattoo) to go down. I have heard of methods of using teatree oil ? or vitamin E and massaging it into the scars every day , and they will go down a bit ...but I have never tried it , I have a customer wfho wants a cover up of a shitty tattoo he got elsewhere, but I cant do it will the raised scars he has ...

[MontanaPiercer]

Try Medurma scar treatment. Dermatologist have access to stronger stuff, with steroidal salves that might work. A lot of things might work. Vit E is not a bad idea, hell, I have even seen someone use an emery board to sand them down.
Usually if a bump comes up quick and right next to a piercing, it is a boil....here is a link for you
http://encyc.bmezine.com/?Boil

[ambria]

I am a fairly new piercer but I am quite confident in my knowledge and skills. I follow all protocol for sterilization and cleanliness. My big questions are basically about positioning of a customer for comfort, angles of the needle to get a straight and clean piercing and some basic techniques. Can anyone help me out with this?

[oz tattoo]

Montana Piercer- I plan to eventually expand my business to piercing as well, and I noticed you mentioned your medical training- what classes (within reason in price and time frame) would you recommend to increase your knowledge base in this field? My medical training includes being a CNA, which gave me the education on blood born path., but there isn't much else I can use from it in this business- I have considered phlebotomy, but isn't that a pretty extensive venture?

[MontanaPiercer]

I took the phlebotomy course. It cost about 200 to 250 bucks and was 2 nights a weeks, 2 hours a night, for 10 weeks. I am also Adult and Pediatric CPR certified. Bloodborn pathogens certified. And I have been trained and certified in basic first aid, first responder as well.
You can never have too much knowledge, but unless you are doing heavy shit like scalpel scarification or implants or full body surface piercing work you probably wont see much use for the phlebotomy course, as the standard piercing locations are really safe with little underlying structures to worry about.