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Image: Bianca Cross
Image: Bianca Cross

SocietyNovember 16, 2022

Beware the cheap piercing deal

Image: Bianca Cross
Image: Bianca Cross

Botched ‘backyard’ piercing jobs are plaguing customers around the country, leading some in the industry to call for tighter regulations. 

The woman was noticeably bow-legged when she walked into The Crystal Ball Clinic in Thames one grey afternoon. Gingerly ambling up to the counter, she explained to shop owner and veteran piercer Wendy Berkhan that she’d recently had the hood of her clitoris pierced, and was experiencing huge amounts of discomfort. They went out the back to the piercing room and registered nurse Wendy saw something she had never seen before in her 21 years in the industry. 

“The piercing was nowhere near the clitoris,” she recalls. “They had pierced the labia lips at the top with a horizontal bar and it was pinching like you wouldn’t believe. I was shocked.” 

This is just one of dozens of horror stories that Wendy can rattle off from her time in the piercing trenches, along with penises “strangled” by their Prince Alberts, infected nipple piercings “dug out” of swollen breasts, and ear lobes that have “swallowed” earrings. It was her own daughter’s dodgy piercing that originally got the registered nurse into the piercing industry. “It was done in Hamilton and was so badly placed and then got so infected,” she explains. “There was no piercer in [Thames], so we decided I’d do a course and set up a better service for people.”

As one of only three piercing shops in the country that has a registered nurse onsite administering piercings, Wendy and Pete at The Crystal Ball in Thames have welcomed pretty much every type of customer through their doors, from 78-year-old divorcees getting their belly buttons bejewelled to teenage girls getting their tongues transfixed. They are also very used to customers seeking advice on botched piercings that have been done elsewhere at bargain bin prices. “It’s profit before people,” Wendy says. “They rely on volume, and that’s when people get sloppy.”

Down in Ōtautahu at Absolution piercing, owner Eden has seen much of the same. The piercing studio has been in business since 1996 and has two members on staff who belong to the Association of Professional Piercers (APP), an international organisation dedicated to the dissemination of health and safety information about body piercing. “The most common troubleshooting we do is for clients who have been pierced in studios operating at below what are considered minimum standards,” he says. “We see this almost daily.”

As one expert warns: ‘Good piercings aren’t cheap and cheap piercings aren’t good.’ (Photo: Alex Casey)

Wendy from The Crystal Ball once called the authorities after discovering a piercing tent at the Keltic Fair in the Coromandel that was not only using an ear piercing gun to pierce noses, but wasn’t cleaning the equipment or wearing gloves. In 2011, Hawke’s Bay Today reported that customers of Trendez piercing and clothing store in Hamilton were being tested for hepatitis after a raft of infected piercings due to unhygienic practices. “There’s a real risk of cross-contamination and these infections can lead to septicemia,” says Wendy. 

Safety is another ongoing concern, especially when it comes to intimate body piercings such as genitalia and nipples. “I knew of a piercer who used to tell girls that he had to put ice in his mouth and then suck on their nipple to get the nipple hard,” she says. “There’s a total lack of professionalism right through the country.” She says that piercing studios should provide a private area for piercings of this nature, as well as a towel for modesty. “Some places will just get you to take your top off in front of everybody. No privacy, your dignity goes out the door.”

The rise in poor placement, cheap jewellery use and bad hygiene and safety practices has meant that those in the piercing industry are now calling for stricter regulations. Last updated in 1998, The Ministry of Health guidelines for Safe Piercing of the Skin is in “desperate need of an overhaul” says Eden at Absolution. Wendy and her husband Pete, who contributed industry feedback to the guidelines back in the 90s, also agree. “If you tried to plumb your own house, the government would step in and say ‘you can’t do that’ and you’d get fined,” he says.

“But if you pierce someone from your house, they can’t do anything about it. There’s no real rules, there’s nothing to stop you doing it.” 

When asked how they enforce their recommended safe piercing practices, the Ministry of Health pointed to local authorities and to Medical Officers of Health employed by Te Whatu Ora (Health NZ). “When there is an applicable council health protection bylaw in force, council employees investigate complaints,” a Ministry of Health spokesperson told The Spinoff. But not all local authorities have bylaws around piercing practices and those that do (such as Auckland and Dunedin) are “vague and dated”, says Eden at Absolution. 

Absolution in Ōtautahi. (Photo: Supplied)

The Ministry of Health told The Spinoff that it has “long been aware of and concerned about the heightened infection risks posed by “backyard” establishments which may have poorly trained staff, inadequate sterilisation of equipment practices and unhygienic surroundings.” In 2018, Public Health embarked on a project looking at the state of the wider appearance industry in Aotearoa, including piercings, with the intention to eventually review the guidelines. However, due to “competing priorities, including responding to Covid-19”, the project has not progressed. 

In the meantime, the responsibility largely lies with consumers to do their research ahead of getting a piercing. If the studio doesn’t use single-use disposable instruments, Pete says it is essential that they have a regularly-serviced autoclave machine to carry out adequate sterilisation. “It actually is the only way that you can kill the hepatitis virus,” he explains. “Running boiling water doesn’t do it. Alcohol doesn’t do it. You can’t kill a virus any other way except through an autoclave. And if your autoclave is not performing, it’s just pointless.”

Customers should also ensure that piercers are changing gloves (ideally three times) during the procedure, and are using good quality, nickel-free jewellery. “Unfortunately very few studios are using jewellery that is safe for wear in the body,” explains Eden, who uses 100% biocompatible metals at Absolution. “Some studios also can be quite misleading with what they offer and what is accepted among reputable professionals as safe.” Wendy at The Crystal Ball now sources all her jewellery from the UK thanks to their nickel-free market

Aftercare is another crucial part of the piercing process, says Wendy. “It doesn’t matter how good a piercer you are, unless you give the right aftercare instructions and aftercare information, your piercing is going to stuff up.” Eden at Absolution agrees, saying that dated aftercare practices are “unfortunately commonplace” and can “say a lot about a studio and their willingness to stay current.” The most up-to-date aftercare instructions for the piercing industry can be found on the APP website.

Despite the rise of cheap Friday the 13th $13 piercing deals and free piercing at chain jewellery stores like Lovisa, Wendy says customers should expect to pay a bit more if they want the job done right. “It should not be costing you $20. If you’re using good quality jewellery and sterilising properly, that costs around $20 alone.” She says that people often go for the bargains because they think they are saving money, but end up spending more in the long term on doctors, medications and getting the piercing redone. “As a client, always question everything and always trust your instincts,” says Eden. 

“And remember: good piercings aren’t cheap and cheap piercings aren’t good.” 

‘Hutt Valley, Kāpiti, down to the south coast. Our Wellington coverage is powered by members.’
Joel MacManus
— Wellington editor
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(Photo: Getty Images)
(Photo: Getty Images)

OPINIONSocietyNovember 15, 2022

Why do I find it so hard to say I’m a good parent?

(Photo: Getty Images)
(Photo: Getty Images)

My husband looks at our happy kids and figures we must be doing something right. All I see is a mountain of things I’m getting wrong.

This story was first published on the author’s newsletter, Emily Writes Weekly.

As I sat down to watch The White Lotus with my husband, he tipped his wine glass toward me and said “cheers”. I said “chin chin” and wondered what we were toasting.

“I’m very proud of the boys – they’ve settled back into school so well,” he said. Ahhh there it is. Yes. Good stuff.

Then my husband said: “We’re good parents”. He says this a lot and it always astounds me. He genuinely thinks we’re good parents. When I suggest he’s a good parent but I’m not, he rolls his eyes at me and says: “I don’t know how you can think that. You’re a great mum and we’re a team. And look at the kids – they’re happy”.

It’s true that when we used to take long, sad walks on the beach with our old dog we used to talk incessantly about what we wanted for our One Day Baby. We never dreamed with all of our years trying to get pregnant that we’d ever have babies plural.

“I just want them to be happy” was a huge thing for us. We also said healthy but realised quickly in the first minutes of parenthood, holding a beautiful but very sick baby, that healthy wasn’t the centre of it all (at all).

In those early days of parenting we didn’t know what to do, but we had people we trusted to help us. We were cocooned and in love. We were in a honeymoon.

Then, so quickly, the outside world came in and suddenly – Breastfeed but not for too long no breastfeeding never hurts if it hurts you’re doing it wrong no formula why won’t you give them formula are you trying to starve them he isn’t gaining weight how often are you feeding don’t feed on demand feed to a schedule don’t feed to a schedule feed on demand don’t ever co-sleep keep your baby near don’t use a bassinet don’t use a cot you’ve got to put them in their own room don’t put them in their own room don’t use a dummy don’t use too many blankets don’t use a rattle don’t use a mobile make sure you read to them but not those books these books don’t bath them too often make sure you have baths with them for secure attachment make sure you baby wear don’t baby wear it means they won’t be independent buggies are bad for reflux…

It just went on and on. And now – ten years later – I can see that none of the things I thought mattered so much actually mattered at all. But gosh, when you’re in it… when you’re in it, it’s all that you can see.

I have happy kids. They get angry and sad and worked up sometimes just like we do. And they struggle with their emotions just like we do. But they’re mostly just happy kids. They delight and annoy me just like I delight and annoy them.

I’ve been thinking about all of this a lot. About how the endless noise about how to have a happy baby turned into endless noise about how to have a happy toddler and that turned into endless noise about how to have a happy pre-schooler.

My husband just tuned it out. Right from the get go.

While I went online and looked for advice and listened to podcasts and read endless articles about how to be A Good Parent. He just did what he thought was right and if he wasn’t sure if it was, he asked me or he rang his mother. If she didn’t know, he asked kindy teachers or school teachers.

If it worked, he kept doing it. If it didn’t, he stopped doing it.

All of the messages I was getting were:

  • You must do this.
  • You have to do that.
  • You should do this.
  • Don’t do that!
  • Never do this!

No wonder I’m the one who can’t say I’m a good parent despite the supporting evidence in the shape of two happy kids.

My brain is just a negative roll of all of the things I’m doing wrong. I have an endless list of musts and never-dos that I can never, ever stay on top of. And he has his gut and a handful of trusted people who care about us.

No wonder he’s confident and I’m exhausted!

I have spent so many years worrying so much about getting it wrong that I rarely see when I get it right. I feel so overwhelmed by love for my kids that I worry I’ll fuck them up if I’m not perfect. I feel like I should never raise my voice, should spend more time with them, should be more engaged in their play, should sit down with them more for meals, should work less, should read to them more, should, should, should.

I need to be better for them. I always think that. I need to be the best for them.

But I’m not the best. I’m just their mum. And I was always good enough for them. I was always enough for them. I was always going to do my best. And my best is enough. I feel like this is a mantra that I’ve been repeating since my baby’s first cry – how long does it take to sink in?

I said to my husband once that I thought I’d be a parent who enjoyed playing with my kids. “You know, playing Lego and shit like that? I just don’t want to do that.”

“Well, you don’t need to, because I play Lego with them. You take them swimming. It all works out.”

“It all works out” is his mantra in life.

And in knowing this and knowing he’s doing enough – he can see the joy and delight in it all.

That feels like the key to it all. To just know it will work out. That all the noise is just that. That you know your child better than some expert on a podcast who thinks all kids are the same.

To scale the mountain of guilt and opt instead to just abseil down the side not giving one single fuck about all the shoulds and musts and never dos.

Can we do it? I’m not so sure. I’m trying though. I’m tired but I’m definitely trying.


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