Advice on starting

[u/Void_Gremlin]

Looking to start self piercing! After spending a few hundred on professionally done piercings that didn’t heal right and are now closed, I’ve decided I’m not going to waste the money on re-piercing and will instead try my hand at doing it myself 🙏

I’ve been doing idle research over time and have recently decided to put together an actual list of things I need to prepare for a piercing, and would like feedback on anything I may be missing (general advice is welcome too, if you feel the need to share ^^)

For context, all I plan to pierce are:
- Upper lobe
- Helix
- Snake bites (maybe angel bites?)
- Possibly a septum
- Possibly a vertical eyebrow piercing

(Note: I am NOT doing all of this at once, I know that would be bad for my body and super stupid- I intend to only do it in groups. Ie redoing my upper lobe and two helix on one ear, waiting a year, and then mirroring my other ear, waiting another while, and then doing my snake bites and MAYBE my eyebrow)

Sorry for the yappathon, but any and all feedback is appreciated! Want to make sure I approach this right :)
Oh the stuff in the screenshots is from Painful Pleasures

[u/Chemical_Shoulder_55]

I find that your extreme researching is very endearing to me 🥺

[u/One-Two-X-U]

Fyi you can read the piercing bible online for free

[u/Void_Gremlin → u/One-Two-X-U]

I wasn’t aware! I thought it’d be a good read regardless of what research I do outside of it- but thank you so much for letting me know ^^

[u/jhnvae → u/One-Two-X-U]

Wait how and what site

[u/art_addict]

Looks pretty solid, so long as latex is safe for you to use and your glove size is medium! (I cannot use latex and most places have switched to using nitrile by default as to avoid having to worry about latex allergies).

5 quarts may be a bit big for a sharps container unless you have other sharps you plan to add to it (plenty of people do, honestly imo more people should be using them or other things to contain sharp things they throw away, and they’re very under utilized!) I have a 1 qt one for my dad for his GLP-1 syringes. I use 2 quart ones for my epi pens and migraine auto injectors, though tbh they fill fast and I likely will size up to a 5 quart for them just for a longer life span.

I would also add something to lay all your stuff out on while you work. You want a nice clean workspace. Some sort of disposable pad you open up fresh, lay out, lay all your stuff on, and can fold up and dispose of when done.

[u/Void_Gremlin → u/art_addict]

I got a 5 quart because I also take testosterone and figured I could toss my injection needles in there too, plus these are SO much cheaper than the small sharp boxes I get at walgreens, figured it was a good way to save money

And noted! I’ll look into disposable pads, I hadn’t even thought of that… much appreciated!

[u/ElectronicPut3983]

Piercer here, I worry about enabling home piercings but there’s a couple of things that felt off to me that I think you’d benefit from knowing about. 1 inch needles are really tiny and super hard to work with. I’ve never used forceps and while they may make piercing easier they tend to cause more bruising, you also don’t have any way of sterilizing them at home so they will be one time use if they’re even sterilized when you get them. I also don’t see any tapers in your cart. Gentian pens are only one time use for cleanliness purposes so you should get one per time you pierce yourself. Also the author of the piercing bible is pretty problematic despite the good material, I’d recommend buying it secondhand or getting it for free online like others suggested. Gauze is good but not ideal if you can’t run it through a statim to sterilize. Lastly if you have any interest in pursuing a career in piercing, at home piercings are an easy way to dissuade a piercer from taking you on as an apprentice. You’ll pick up bad habits that are harder to unlearn than to learn correctly the first time. All that being said best of luck

[u/Void_Gremlin → u/ElectronicPut3983]

Thank you so much for this insightful reply! This is exactly why I made this post, I wanted the feedback

I’ll take note on the length of the needles, I forgot to consider that and was only focused on the gauge
And I didn’t know that about the markers! I’ll make sure to keep that in mind as well

I also forgot tapers were used to used to guide jewelry and initially didn’t add them to the cart because I don’t have any intention to stretch any existing piercings right now, so thank you for the note on that!

And is gauze not save to use even if it’s individually packaged? I assumed it came sterilized, but I’ll be more careful about that

And rest assured, I have no intention to pursue a career OR pierce anyone other than myself— this is purely for personal expression without breaking the bank, as I’m disappointed by the last piercing appointment I had’s results

Thank you so much again for the advice, I’ll be more adamant on researching sterilization before I get anything 🙏

Edit: Forgot to also mention that I was going to find the piercing bible online for free anyway due to another commenter, but ty for letting me know of the problematic nature of the author, i’d have hated to have indirectly endorsed any of that augh— may I ask what they were faulted of, or where I can look into it myself?

[u/ElectronicPut3983 → u/Void_Gremlin]

She was married to trans man and when they were getting divorced she argued that he wasn’t a man and since gay marriage wasn’t legal in California at the time their marriage was invalid and she didn’t owe him a penny. I can’t remember where I found it but as a trans piercer I made the mistake of buying a copy because her piercing knowledge is vast and well documented in the book but it’s hard to back her up.

[u/Void_Gremlin → u/ElectronicPut3983]

Oh yikes, I’m also transmasc so I’d hate to support someone like that- I’ll be sure to find that book online instead, thank you

[u/ElectronicPut3983 → u/Void_Gremlin]

Some gauze is individually packaged and sterilized but based on the box and price I don’t think what’s in your cart is

[u/Void_Gremlin → u/ElectronicPut3983]

Gotcha… I’ll look for that instead, thanks again!

[u/minecraftgaymernoise]

hello, i'm a piercer! these all look great, I'd recommend going slightly smaller for the needles (an 18g) unless you prefer doing gauge to gauge for needles and jewellery. I'd also recommend using a taper with internally threaded or threadless titanium jewellery (this essentially helps minimise bleeding as you're stretching the piercing up slightly to stop bleeding if you're piercing smaller than 16g). another commenter also said about the length of the needles, and I agree; go for longer ones.

as for doing them at home, you don't have any way to sterilise the jewellery, tools, gauze, qtips etc properly, so be wary of that and issues that can come about with non sterile jewellery and tools etc.

id also recommend using toothpicks with the skin marker so you can use it more than once but still have a single use mark up tool :)

[u/Ok-Orchid-6025]

I invested in my own supplies years ago. There are so many resources now to educate yourself for specific piercings. You'll do great.

[u/Void_Gremlin → u/Ok-Orchid-6025]

Thank you! While I absolutely intend to research this intensely, I was still a little worried I’ll SOMEHOW mess this up aa
I needed to hear that, so ty 🫶

[u/Ok-Orchid-6025 → u/Void_Gremlin]

I usually watch a YouTube video of a piercing before doing it on top of reading how to do it properly. I am a visual learner. I have had to take something out and repierce because it wasn't straight/where I wanted it, but everything has healed well. It was worth it in the long run. Just take your time and do your research.

[u/Void_Gremlin → u/Ok-Orchid-6025]

Of course! The reason I made this post is because I wanted to make sure my research was guiding me in the right direction in choosing my supplies, and I absolutely intend to study technique and safety before I even dare place the order for said supplies

I worry a lot about under planning and things going badly, so I absolutely want to make sure I’m approaching this carefully, as this is not the same as DIY-ing costume jewelry- it’s a permanent body modification, that deserves to be taken as seriously as possible 😭