Chris Saint | Piercing & Scarification

Piercing or Tattooing at home? Get the facts….

Hey everyone!

Are you piercing your friends at home? Are you letting your friends pierce you at home? We are in full support of saving money, but even if you’re saving money, do you know what you’re risking by being pierced by someone outside of a clean shop?

You should know that even if you are being pierced with a pre-packaged sterile needle, you might not be protected. Are the tools clean? Is the jewelry clean? Does your friend know the risks of bloodbourne pathogens? Do they understand cross contamination protocol? Do they know CPR if you loose consciousness? Chances are amateur home-piercers don’t even know what “clean” means, let alone proper bloodbourne pathogen training that will keep you from getting HIV, Hepatitis and a lot of awful infections!

The only way to be 100% sure that you’re in good hands is to go to a shop that is using a medical grade auto clave sterilization system. This is the kind of sterilization that they use for surgical tools and materials in the hospital. Would you go to a hospital that wasn’t cleaning their tools? Even if you don’t choose our shop, don’t risk your health and safety just because you want to get something for free. Hepatitis is free too…

Don’t be fooled by so called “home-sterilization” methods. Boiling tools and jewelry will not kill hepatitis, HIV or even the common cold virus! Holding jewelry, needles and other things to a flame is useless for everything except dust particles. Does your friend have an auto-clave at home to sterilize with? We hope not, because without training and constant maintenance that is not available to “at home” artists autoclaves can be very dangerous. Starting to see why it’s important to go to a professional in a shop?

For those of you that choose to be pierced at home because you aren’t 18 and Mom or Dad said no, we understand that you are frustrated. Be patient. Is getting that lip ring worth a life-threatening disease? Remember, your parents most likely think you aren’t old enough or mature enough and getting pierced in a hazardous environment only proves that they are right. If you really want to show them you’re ready, do your research! Choose a shop that is clean and know what a clean shop is! www.safepiercing.org for info on what to look for in a shop.

Those of you piercing at home because you’d like to follow a career path in Body piercing, keep in mind that it is illegal to pierce outside of a clean, sterile, registered shop! If you really want to be taken seriously as a piercer, go through an apprenticeship, follow the right steps to be respected by your peers. You might be hurting people you care about simply because you weren’t aware that you were doing something dangerous.

Remember, Piercing is a semi-medical procedure and you are at risk if all the proper training and methods haven’t been observed no matter what your friend says.

A friend who pierces you out of the house is not a true friend. 

Thanks for reading and please inform your friends of the risk of home piercing. At CS Body piercing we care about happy, healthy piercings not money. Please, if it’s just a money issue, come talk to us! We will happily work with your budget, don’t put yourself in danger.

Chris Saint
csbodypiercing.com