Surface Piercing
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Saturday July 26th, 2008 @ 6:37 AM
Filed under: Surface/Unusual
Hi!
I have had a vertical tragus surface piercing for about two years now. However, the bar that was put in at piercing has legs that stick out quite far from the side of my head. I ordered a surface barbell that has a shorter rise height and i was wondering if it was possible to change the barbells on my own? the bar’s have 90 degree angles so i’m not sure how removal/insertion is possible? I’m worried that if i go to my piercer to change it, he’ll get mad at me or refuse to put it in because i didn’t order the bar through him even though he way overcharges and takes forever to get jewelry in.
Thanks for any suggestions!
Mary
Provided the jewelry you ordered is of adequate quality the piercer should have no problem putting it in, although they might charge you for the changing. Question though where did you buy this said piece of jewelry? And do you even know who manufactured the piece?
The only thing a professional piercer should have a problem with, is if the jewelry is inadequate quality. And even then they shouldn’t just flat out refuse and not provide an answer why. Anytime anyone brings me inferior jewelry quality I sit down and explain WHY its inferior.
Also how can you be 100% sure he “overcharges”? Do you know what companies he orders jewelry from? In what sense are you comparing the numbers to prove that he “over charges”…Never EVER compare what a shop charges to what a online retailer charges. As realistically you’re thus comparing apples and oranges…Both are still fruit but very DIFFERENT fruit…Did you specifically purchase said jewelry from a different studio? All I can say on this is quite often consumers are completely misunderstanding on the prices of body jewelry.
Take the piece of jewelry to your piercer and have them analyze it to see if its a suitable piece of jewelry to be used. If it is they shouldn’t have a problem inserting it for you, for a fee…However if its not suitable they should be willing and able to provide a logical reason as to why they won’t use it.
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4 Responses to “Surface Piercing”
Hey Mary,
Just as a personal story, I’ve got the same piercing that’s about a year old. For work, I have to remove the ends of the jewelry and put some tape over it. Without the ends to hold them in place, the bar sometimes slips out. I am able to put it back in, but it takes a lot of wiggling around and it does tend to flare up afterward for a day or two. I would say you could probably switch it out yourself, but every time I have to do it I always have that moment where I think I’m gonna have to go to the piercer. You really have to wiggle it around and pinch the skin to get a good line.
Just my two cents.
Matt on July 26th, 2008 at 12:14 pmHey,
I ordered the bar from Body Circle Designs (online). I guess i’m mostly hesitant to deal with my piercer, not specifically because of him, but because of past experiences trying to order jewelry from his shop. Just for the record the shop i’m talking about has a known reputation for bad customer service but unfortunately has one of the only piercers that actually knows what they’re doing when it comes to surface piercings. In the past i tried to order a surface barbell through the shop, and i know that they order their bars from Industrial Strength. I found industrial strength barbells online significantly cheaper than what i was charged, and where it took me 6 months of run around from the shop to get my downsize bar, it probably would have only taken me a few weeks to get it online.
But, i will put up with having to deal with his shop, and take my body circle design bar down to the piercer and get him to check it out for me. Thank you Warren and Matt for your comments!
Mary
Mary Milner on July 29th, 2008 at 4:30 pmThe Body Circle bar should be acceptable provided you bring him ALL the information regarding the purchase…Just don’t bring him the barbell and go: “Yeah its from body circle”…It’s best to bring the receipt/proof of purchase,etc.
Also, I’m about to go bald once again from pulling my hair out about this topic, of course when you buy jewelry online its going to be cheaper. They just end up having jewelry lying around waiting to be sold,etc and because the internet is global an online store is able to sell to anyone and anywhere with a credit card/paypal,etc.
This is why A LOT of piercers are getting upset with manufacturers giving priority to online jewelry retailers, over the studios. Granted a company is a company and its job is to make money regardless, but nowadays NOBODY cares about the shops or the people they work in…Well that’s not true only a SMALL percentage cares…
But the fact is since most of our clients are no longer coming to us to buy jewelry, instead opting to purchase online, how can you not expect the time delay of 6 months or so? We simply just can’t place an order for ONE piece of jewelry, unless you’re willing to pay for the jewelry AND the shipping&handling of that singular purchase.
Studios buy in bulk and distribute the s&h accordingly and into the cost of every single piece they order.
Another thing I’m a firm believer of is that if a customer wants to request a custom piece (that the retail cost is already known, like a surface bar,etc)…Then the customer should fill out a “Custom Order” form and leave a 50% deposit, and be given a receipt to provide when the jewelry arrives, to pay the balance owing,etc.
But just remember guys the more you buy jewelry online…The harder it is for us, shops, to actually compete and stay afloat or get you the jewelry you want/need.
Warren Hiller on July 29th, 2008 at 10:28 pmi guess its just the fun nature of capitalism.
Mary Milner on July 31st, 2008 at 1:49 amLeave a Comment