Do We Pierce Children's Ears?
Cold Steel America loves to pierce everyone seeking to decorate themselves and of course that includes kids!
The importance of children getting their earlobes pierced is common for many cultures, and we are happy and honored to be a part of that celebration of tradition.
How Do We Do It?
We only pierce those who are old enough to ask for the piercings and can also show us they understand the responsibility and commitment that comes with having their earlobes pierced.
We feel very strongly that there is no safe ear piercing gun design, so we do not use them. The Association of Professional Piercers says “While piercing guns may seem to be a quick, easy and convenient way of creating holes, they have major drawbacks in terms of sterility, tissue damage and inappropriate jewelry design”. You can read their thorough explanation here.
All piercings at Cold Steel America are performed the same way, with single use sterilized needles.
Does It Hurt?
We get this question just about every day, and we believe in being honest with our clients: yes it may hurt a bit, kind of like getting a shot from the doctor. But it's very fast - most of our younger clients leave excited, proud of themselves and ready to show off their fancy new earlobes!
Our piercers are very skilled, knowledgeable, and great at creating an environment of trust and confidence, but for some youngsters this big step can be a bit tougher, so we also believe that it's very important that "no" be taken as an answer from your child. If at any step during the process the piercer, your child, or you feel like this may not be the right time, then that will be taken seriously. We don't mind a little "wasted" time if it means you and your child have the safest, most comfortable experience possible.
Can We Bring Our Own Jewelry?
Because of our high safety standards we must insist on using only the highest quality implant-grade materials, that we can verify have come from the best manufacturers - so outside jewelry is not a possibility. But this means that jewelry will be custom fitted to your child, securely and comfortably - no sharp ends to poke, and no bulky backings to tangle in hair and collect bacteria.
We stock a wide variety of options to choose from, which means prices will range depending on what is chosen. Feel free to drop by with your youngster and we'll happily walk you through the options and numbers.
What Do We Need to Bring?
At Cold Steel we require some form of photo ID for your child - a school ID, state ID, or passport are the most commonly brought in - as well as a valid state or government issued photo ID for whichever parent or court-appointed legal guardian will be accompanying.
You can find our list of acceptable ID's and documents in our policies section.
What If Everything Is Ready To Go, And Today Isn’t The Day?
We never want any client to feel rushed, whether its their first or tenth piercing. There are some instances with piercing appointments where our staff have styled jewelry, gone over aftercare, sterilized our tools and jewelry and sanitized the room, marked the piercing, and a child (or sometimes adult!) just isn’t ready for the final step. This can sometimes take the entire 30 minute time slot or longer, and may result in us retaining the $40 deposit paid online for our staff’s time and cost of the materials that help us keep the piercing room safe.
What About Care and Cleaning?
You can find our aftercare instructions here, as well as they will be thoroughly explained during your visit, and you will be provided a printed pamphlet. Consultations are provided for free, so never hesitate to come see us if you feel like something may not be going the way it should, or even just for a check up.
We also recommend being mindful of school activities or other plans that may not coincide with healing piercings; swimming, camping, sports, etc. Earlobe piercings can take around 4-5 months to heal, with initial jewelry needing to be left in during that entire period.
Feel free to contact us with any other questions you may have, and we hope to see you soon!
