Get her ears pierced only at a body piercing / tattoo shop
One Saturday morning, my 6 year old asked me, “Daddy, can you take me to get my ears pierced?” I was actually taken aback as the question came out of the blue. “Why?” I asked. Apparently she’s been thinking about it for some time and now she’s ready.
The other thing that caught me off guard was the fact that she asked me, instead of her mom. She had her reasons. And given that she wanted a simple pierce in each lobe and not something outrageous (like a scaffold), I said ok. I told her that I’d do some research on the internet and we can go tomorrow while she goes and calls her mom. This is importance guys. We have shared custody and even though I do not legally require the mom’s permission, it’s best not to surprise her either. I simply told my daughter to tell her mom that daddy would take her and that was it.
The next day, we went to a mall with several big name jewelry stores and we looked for my daughter’s first earrings. We went to a couple of places, looked around and spoke to some very helpful associates. It became clear to me that our first place isn’t the jewelry store, but an actual body piercing and tattoo shop that was not found at the mall at all. In fact, it’s in a different part of the city!
A girl’s first pierce shouldn’t be about the earring, but about recovery.
The reason why you want to take your daughter to a tattoo place is summarized in 3 words: health and safety. First of all, these places are licensed to use non-reusable needles and have proper ways to dispose of biohazards. Second, the piercer is experienced — either as an apprentice or certified member of a professional association. This means that the practice is regulated and they should have clearly written policies of what they can and cannot do. Also, no reputable place will tattoo a child or pierce unnecessarily. If they are loose with these policies, I can’t imagine their attitude toward equipment and cleanliness. If you are in a place like this, take your daughter and walk out of that place immediately. A girl’s first pierce shouldn’t be about the earring, but about recovery. Her first pair of earrings has to stay in place for 6 weeks to allow the ear to heal and it cannot be taken out. Surgical stainless steel is the ideal choice.
My daughter’s experience was very pleasant. We went to the shop early in the morning and were met by a very nice young man who had ink all over his arms. I said we were here for her and he immediately introduced us to the piercer who was a young lady, likely in her 20s, with a few pierce in each ear. She had explained the whole process to us. Then I filled in a few forms and we were led to her work space. She showed us the sealed needles and proceeded to measure her ear for the location of the pierce. While fitting the stainless steel earring on her ear, one of the parts fell and dropped to the floor. Without missing a beat, the young lady grabbed the part off the floor and threw it in the trash; took off that one latex glove and threw it away, too. She grabbed a new package and donned a new glove to finish the job. After she was done, she gave my daughter a gift bag that included stickers, picture book and a bar of glycerin soap (it’s moisturizing) along with cleaning instructions.
She followed the instructions diligently and daily and the healing took far fewer than 6 weeks. In the end, she chose to keep the initial earrings in her ear!