For the ban on the “piercing gun”
Today we're going to discuss "piercing" with a gun. We write "piercing" to make it clearer, but "butchery" would have worked just as well.
But let's start at the beginning, what is a gun?
This is an instrument that is used in bad jewelry stores (We won't mention the names of the chains here, but it's itchy) to do bad piercings. The gun is often made of plastic, which makes it incompatible with an autoclave (the machine that sterilizes). So, an instrument that is not at all sterile, often disinfected quickly and hastily with alcohol (alcohol does not destroy HIV or hepatitis) between two customers. It's very rare, but there are cases of cross-contamination between several customers with this type of equipment.
This is just the beginning of the trouble! Because the gun doesn't "pierce" the ear, it tears it by forcing the jewelry through the skin.
This can lead to quite significant healing problems, or even an intolerance of the body to certain materials for many years. Because in addition to tearing your ear with something that isn't sterile, the jewelry installed is ALWAYS of extremely crappy quality: bad steel not even good for a kitchen countertop or even "gold plated". This plating comes off quite quickly and underneath it's poop. You can wrap a piece of shit with pretty wrapping paper, but it doesn't change the content. Often it's a piece of jewelry with a butterfly clasp that is installed, just to really compress the ear: we remove these famous butterfly fasteners far too often, which become one with the ear because of the pressure.
Oh, and there's also the fact that this demon's instrument doesn't allow for maximum precision, so hello to asymmetrical lobe piercings.
The results can be dramatic on lobes, which are known to be relatively painless and easy to heal, but that's where we hit rock bottom: some chains also use the gun for helix and nose piercings. And it's frankly dramatic because the gun explodes the cartilage in the process, the damage can be quite serious and can even lead to hospitalization.
A quick highway update: just because you got pierced with a gun and weren't hospitalized doesn't mean you should trivialize this practice and say everything's fine. I often play soccer on the highway and I've never been knocked down, but that doesn't mean I'm shouting from the rooftops that it's safe based on my little personal experience. If we're talking about it, it's as professionals who are unfortunately used to catching up on the bullshit of this kind of shitty channel.
A very brief point about consent because it's important: at the shop we only accept earlobe piercings on minors over 8 years old, with a first visit to the shop beforehand to be able to explain what will happen to the child and to reassure and involve them. Piercing a baby is torture without consent. It may seem a bit harsh, but can you imagine tattooing a 3-year-old? No? So it should be the same for a piercing or any other body modification. Not to mention the fact that babies' ears clearly haven't finished growing, and the piercing location will inevitably move. If you don't see a problem with butchering a baby in disgusting hygienic conditions and having several people immobilize its head while it panics, resists and cries... well, move on!
The employees who do the piercings have no training, did I forget to mention that?
Anyway, let's get to the point: avoid this kind of shitty chain at all costs! It's more than surprising that the regional health agency hasn't yet put a stop to this kind of practice. We, as a shop, are required to follow more than strict hygiene standards. This kind of shop absolutely does not respect any of them.
