Professional ear piercing in Columbus, Ohio?

July 28, 2008 11:25 AM

Ear piercing in Columbus, Ohio.

My mother and her best friend are in their mid fifties and have both decided they need ear piercings (my mom's first, her friend's second). Being home to OSU the area is rife with piercing and tattoo parlors, but I don't think that's so much what they're going for. The mall experience isn't what they want, either. Are there places to go with professionals that cater less to the extensively body-modded crowd than the places near campus? Do spas do this or anything?

(No offense met to any body-modded individuals out there. Some of my best friends... etc etc. I just have a conservative mother.)

posted by olinerd to clothing, beauty, & fashion (9 answers total)

Unfortunately, I think you're stuck with one or the other - tattoo/piercing parlors or mall shops. Mall shops use guns, which are bad for a number of reasons (impossible to sterilize, more painful, more difficult to heal). Of the places in Columbus I would recommend Piercology. While the people working there do tend to be rather heavy on the piercings, they are very polite and professional, and I think the shop would be a little less frightening to your mom than some of the other places in the area. And I have had great luck with the piercings I've had done there. Feel free to mefi mail me if you have any questions!
posted by thejanna at 11:36 AM on July 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

Have you tried calling a doctor? I got mine pierced at our family doctor's office, and my daughter's pediatrician did hers.
posted by Addlepated at 12:02 PM on July 28, 2008

Have you asked your mother and her friend why they want to shy away from the piercing/tattoo parlors? Nearly 100% of the ones I've been to are staffed with people who are patient, professional, and understanding. I can see why these people may not want some crazy body-modded dude to pierce their ears, but try and find out what it is that's bothering them the most about these establishments.

I would say with a high degree of positivity that the employees at a piercing/tattoo parlor would be more professional than the mall kiosk employees.
posted by King Bee at 12:08 PM on July 28, 2008

Not to mention know more about piercing than doctors. A good piercer will follow sterile procedure better than most doctors I've seen. And will have the skill to make it a better experience. I still heve my bloodletting done at the barber's though.
posted by piedmont at 12:12 PM on July 28, 2008

King Bee, I think it's more discomfort with the other clientele than with the staff. Whether that's logical or not, the fact is my mother's already nervous about this (omg needles, you know) and it makes her more nervous to think of sitting in a waiting room with a bunch of crazy modded twentysomethings.

But I'm pretty sure she'd choose piercing parlor over mall piercing. She was with me when I got my ears done in a mall as a kid, and the gun/my freaking out/the inexperienced piercer traumatized *her* enough to avoid getting her ears pierced for the last fifteen years.
posted by olinerd at 12:12 PM on July 28, 2008

The most skilled piercers are the ones with the heavily-modified clientele.
posted by box at 12:41 PM on July 28, 2008

That actually makes a lot more sense than what I was thinking. Those places can be intimidating to the "uninitiated", based on the clientele alone.
posted by King Bee at 12:42 PM on July 28, 2008

That said, if she and her friend make an appointment, and if they're the first one of the day, the place will probably be significantly less crowded, and the sitting-around will be minimized.

(Evolved and Stained Skin are two other decent shops in Columbus, for what that's worth.)
posted by box at 12:45 PM on July 28, 2008

Seconding Piercology; I've heard nothing but good things, it's in a docile little residential hood (mine!), and it's honestly not that busy; I doubt the waiting room would be full of Burning Man refugees with bleeding labrets.
posted by Juliet Banana at 2:34 PM on July 28, 2008