Claires bitches
I fucking hate Claires Accesories. The piercing is utter stupidity. The only training the bints that do it need is 'heres a button, press it.' Those guns are dangerous! All they do is use sheer force to crush a blunt earring into your flesh, and it hurts! I have a fair few piercings and so have learnt a bit since my early needle and ice days, but it doesn't take a genius to realise something sharp is going to slide through much more smoothly than cramming in a blunted piece of metal. And using hands and a needle is much more precise than a bulky gun than so easily jams, it's honestly heartbreaking to see a child crying with one of those stuck inside their ear.

It sickens me when I walk past a Claires and see a wetherspoons patron lifting her child out of a pushchair to be put through that, whose to say an 16 month-old child wants gold hoops hanging from their head? It just disgusts me to see it.
(MissUnexpectedNuttering Mad to live, Mad to talk, and burn, burn, burn...., Sat 29 May 2010, 15:21, 13 replies)

Yeah, pet hate of mine too.
Who's choice should it be?
( Blind Meach Cautiously optimistic, Sat 29 May 2010, 15:29, closed)

It's the fact that it's public that gets to me.
I'm used to getting piercings, but even I wouldn't want every random shopper passing to see me react when I get a needle through my ear.
(Sivvus trolley collision in the fruit aisle led to a jam, Sat 29 May 2010, 15:33, closed)

I
agree, why does a baby need earrings in the first place? I think it looks really tacky. Claires is one of the only places in my town centre that do it as some places have signs saying they won't pierce babies and young children.
As for where they pierce the people, it always seemed a bit unhygienic to me. Whenever I've been pierced in the past you're always taken to a separate room and all the equipment is sterilized in front of you.
(FootOfTim, Sat 29 May 2010, 17:48, closed)

All babies? O_o
While I agree that yeah, those huge Elizabeth Duke-type hoops can be quite tacky on tiny ears, what about piercings for religious/cultural reasons? Where I come from, (South Asia), all gal-babes (and even certain types of boy-babes) have their ears needle-pierced at 31 days - half cultural, partly a convienience thing, as it hurts the flesh and cartilage much less when young..exceptions, there, surely?
(ifonly, Sat 29 May 2010, 18:11, closed)

I'm
not sure if they make exceptions for cultural reasons, I think its likely that they would. I'm guessing they're just against the whole piercing babies for vanity reasons.
(FootOfTim, Sat 29 May 2010, 19:44, closed)

No.
Mutilation of a child is mutilation of a child, no matter how you wrap it up in this PC crazy world. I think it should be the choice of the person who is being stabbed whether they want to be stabbed or not. You can't make any choices as a baby.

Saying something is OK because lots of people do it is about as stupid as it gets.
(robbersdog, Sun 30 May 2010, 9:43, closed)

I agree, the entire world should adopt and adhere to Western cultural values.

( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Sun 30 May 2010, 14:22, closed)

But I wasn't saying that..
Mutilation? Bit harsh, it's not like they're hammering huge holes or nails into them or anything... they are just small earrings, holes made with a fine needle, put in at a early age. If the child grows up and decides they don't want 'em? It's simple; they take them out, the hole closes over. Simple as.
Think of it this way; the child's most likely going to ask to have its ears pierced at twelve/fourteen/whenever anyway, what's wrong with getting it done earlier, when it's a lot less painful? How many teenage girls do you know that have never wanted their ears pierced? I'm told I slept right through mine the first time - had my second pair of piercings done recently, and screamed like a pig..
I honestly wasn't trying to be PC or say that everyone should follow it, I wasn't; just trying to point out that different cultures have different values, and sometimes there are exceptions to the whole vanity/selfishness reasons..
(ifonly, Mon 31 May 2010, 10:01, closed)

Ah, Religion.
I'm sure it has some random fucked up reason for changing a childs natural appearance before they can even hold up their own head. But if it must be done, at least it's done with a needle, it hurts a lot less and is so much safer.
(MissUnexpectedNuttering Mad to live, Mad to talk, and burn, burn, burn...., Sun 30 May 2010, 20:51, closed)

Oh no- it's not always necessarily religious; a lot of cases it's more a cultural/social/let's get it done early type thing.. Like drinking ages across the word- ish.
(It doesn't change the natural appearance that much, surely? They're only earrings, and it's much more of a normal boring thing over there than here, where they've only recently become mainstream and widely worn, so what's considered a natural form for a hild there might be quite different)
(ifonly, Mon 31 May 2010, 10:07, closed)

I agree...
My daughter is making the decision herself!

Also, piercing guns are truly retarded. Sterilised needles are much much safer - would never have had my lip or tongue done in any other way! My friend had the top of his ear pierced and Claires and the gun shattered his cartilage because the gun jammed. He ended up losing the top part of his ear.

Got 7 grand compensation, but personally, I'd rather my ear.
(satanstolemyteddybear Mu hõljuk on angerjaid täis, Sun 30 May 2010, 10:16, closed)

Guns are stupid
Why any piercer uses something solid to force the skin and flesh apart rather than using a sharp hollow needle to take out a nice neat section is completely beyond me.
( sanityclause is waiting until, Sun 30 May 2010, 16:56, closed)

well
i've 15 piercings in my left ear and i did most of them myself sitting in chemistry class back in high school. my experience is that using a regular blunt earring instead of a pointy piercing earring hurt a lot less. i dunno, i guess i'm a freak.
with regards to babies, the mothers who do it say that this way the child will be so young they won't notice or remember the pain. kinda like circumcision. i guess i can understand that reasoning. but i agree, if i had kids, i'd let them make the decision themselves.
(fai is rocking khaz modan server as of, Mon 31 May 2010, 4:19, closed)