How to choose a piercer in Auckland

Search for the best piercing in Auckland and you get photos and star ratings. Neither tells you what happens in the room. This is the list I would give a friend: what any customer can check, at any piercer, before the needle. None of it needs inside knowledge, and a good piercer will be glad you asked.

The short checklist

• A new, sterile needle, just for you. Taken from its sealed pack in front of you. Ask to watch.
• A needle, not a gun. Never a gun on cartilage.
• Metal with a name. Implant-grade titanium (ASTM F136) or solid gold, 14k or higher. Not plated, not "surgical steel" with no grade.
• The mark, in a mirror. You see the dot and agree to it before the needle comes out.
• The price before you sit down. One number, with the jewellery in it.
• Aftercare in writing, in plain words. Short enough to remember.
• A checkup after. Someone looks at it again once the swelling settles.
• Someone willing to say no. If your ear won't hold the look, you hear it before, not after.

What Auckland's rules actually require

Skin piercing in Auckland comes under the council's Health and Hygiene Bylaw 2013 and its Code of Practice. The code sets out what happens before you are pierced. You sign a consent form that covers your medical history, and the records are kept for at least two years. Anyone under 16 needs written permission from a parent or guardian. And you must be given written aftercare advice before the piercing, not as you walk out.

What the rules do not cover

New Zealand has no register of piercers and no required qualification. A 2024 report to the Health Minister from the New Zealand Institute of Environmental Health said no national framework or legislation exists for the industry, only council bylaws that differ from place to place. In Auckland, the one personal requirement in the code is that at least one person on the premises holds a current workplace first aid certificate.

That makes the next question worth asking: how did your piercer learn, and for how long? Ask about sterile technique in particular.

The needle, opened in front of you

Auckland's code says any instrument with a hollow lumen must be single-use and disposable. A piercing needle is hollow, so every premises must use a new one for each piercing. The code also allows a pre-sterilised instrument to be used when it is taken, in front of you, from a pack the manufacturer sealed and labelled sterile.

That second part says "may", so opening it in front of you is not a legal duty. I think it should be. Ask to see the pack opened. You are looking for an unbroken seal, a sterile label, and gloved hands opening it.

While you're there, ask how the jewellery and tools are sterilised, and how often the steriliser is tested.

Needle or gun

Auckland's bylaw and code do not mention piercing guns, so they are not banned here. The Ministry of Health's 1998 guidelines say guns are only appropriate for the lower lobe, used by trained operators, and that they may damage tissue anywhere else on the body. Those are guidelines, not law.

My view is plainer. A needle for every piercing, lobes included, children's lobes included. A gun on cartilage is a no, whoever is holding it. Ask what will be used, and on which part of you. If the answer is a gun near your helix, walk out. More in needle vs cartridge piercing.

The metal that goes in

The council's list for a first piercing is broad: 14 or 18 carat gold, surgical grade stainless steel, titanium, niobium, platinum or inert plastics. It names no grade. Treat that as the floor, not the advice.

Ask for one of two things. Implant-grade titanium certified to ASTM F136, the standard for the titanium alloy used in surgical implants. Or solid gold, 14k or higher, not plated and not filled. Then ask whether the supplier can show a certificate for that titanium. A piercer who buys it properly will know what you mean.

Be wary of words that name no standard. "Surgical steel" or "hypoallergenic" on their own tell you nothing about what sits in a healing piercing for months.

The mark, the mirror and your yes

Before any needle, the spot should be marked on you and shown to you in a mirror. Look at it straight on and from the side. Ask for it to move if it isn't right, as many times as it takes. The needle comes after you say yes.

Your two ears are rarely the same, and a spot that looks right in a photo can sit wrong on you. If the mark is rushed, the rest will be too.

A price before you sit down

You should know the whole cost before you are in the chair. Ask what is in it. Is the jewellery included, or extra? Is the checkup included? What does it cost to change the post later? Clear answers here usually mean clear answers everywhere.

Aftercare in plain words

Good aftercare is short. Mine fits in a sentence: warm running water over it once a day in the shower, pat it dry with a paper towel, and nothing else on it. No tea tree, no Savlon, no antiseptic, and don't turn the jewellery. If the advice comes with a shopping list, ask why.

Ask too who you call if something worries you. The full routine is on the aftercare page.

A checkup after

A new piercing usually goes in with a longer post, to leave room for swelling. Once the swelling settles, a long post catches and moves, so it should be swapped for a shorter one. That needs a second visit. Ask whether a checkup is part of the price, and when it is. We do ours at about four weeks.

Being told no

Not every ear can hold every look. Some spots need a fold of a certain shape, and some combinations crowd each other. A piercer who says "that won't sit well on you, here is what will" is saving you from a piercing you would take out. Take a no seriously. Be more wary of someone who says yes to everything.

The same goes for the "3/2 rule" you may see online. It is a styling idea, not a safety rule, and nobody official stands behind it. Spacing depends on your ear, and it should be marked with you, in a mirror.

How we do it in Parnell

This is the list we work to at Platinum Point, 389 Parnell Road. One client in the room at a time, by appointment. A single-use sterile needle opened in front of you, never a gun. Implant-grade titanium or solid 14k gold, the spot marked with you in the mirror, the price before you sit down, and the four-week checkup included: the right spot, a piece you love, and all the time it takes. Ask how I learnt sterile technique, and here is how the room runs. When you're ready, book a piercing, or call 09 949 0940.