#gee maybe the reason that it's common for men to complain about women being gold diggers and wanting expensive jewelry

[artykyn]

When will you share that rant about Claire's and piercings? I am very invested

The Long Version

The Short(...er) Version:

Disclaimer: Most of my gripes apply to pretty much any shopping-mall piercing kiosk. Claire’s is not the ONLY place I have an issue with, they’re just the best known.

1. There are two main piercing methods: a hollow needle, or a piercing gun. Piercing guns are objectively in every way worse than a needle. But Claire’s, which uses the gun, markets it as “No Contact! 😃” and “Needle Free! 🥰” while failing to mention that also means it is a “Higher Infection Risk! 😉” and “More painful! 😇”

2. It’s okay to use cheap low-grade jewelry in a piercing that is already healed. But using low-grade metal in a fresh piercing increases your risk of healing and health problems (and can even put you at risk of developing metal allergies that will last the rest of your life!). Claire’s sells both cheap and high-grade metal, but fails to properly counsel customers on what metals are appropriate for a first piercing, and ultimately lets you pick whatever you’re willing to pay for. 

3. Claire’s employees are not professional piercers. They are retail workers with basic piercing training. Trusting them to give you good piercing advice and sell you appropriate products is like trusting a pet supply store cashier to give you good animal care advice and appropriate products. There are always better people to go to, and they might be more expensive, but ultimately, you are getting exactly what you pay for. Make your own choices, at your own risk.

4. General gripe about piercing culture: there are mothers out there who are so obsessed with enforcing gender roles that they will get their infant baby girl’s ears pierced. Piercings are a type of body modification and you should not be forcing that upon someone without their consent. Let your kid grow up and choose to have a piercing. It’s exciting to go out and get pierced! Why rob your child of that fun experience?

Piercings also are an open wound which needs special care, which babies do not comprehend, leaving them at high risk of accidental infection and even permanent scarring and disfiguration in some cases. A lot of professional piercers have age restrictions for this very reason. But Claire’s (among others, whom I take issue with) will gladly pierce your infant’s ears.

Having metal allergies is relatively common. Interestingly, the percentage of the population with metal allergies is noticeably skewed towards women. Gee.... perhaps it might be related to so many women getting cheap piercings in order to fulfill gender expectations.