What a piercing price should include

Ask what a piercing costs and you'd hope for one number. I think that's exactly what you should get: one number, with the jewellery in it, that you know before you sit down. Here is how a piercing price can add up, what to ask so you can compare quotes fairly, and what we charge, spot by spot.

What a piercing actually is

A piercing isn't the needle on its own. It's the jewellery that goes in, the metal that jewellery is made of, the time it takes to find the spot, the aftercare advice before you leave, and the checkup a few weeks later when the long post comes down to one that sits close. Every one of those is part of getting pierced. If the number you're quoted leaves any of them out, it isn't the price yet.

So I'd rather put it all in one number. You can plan for it, compare it, and nothing new turns up at the end.

How a fee plus jewellery adds up

A common way to price a piercing is a fee for the piercing with the jewellery charged on top. There is nothing wrong with that on its own, as long as you can see the whole sum before you start. The trouble is that the sum tends to arrive in parts, some of them later:

• The jewellery. The fee covers the piercing. The jewellery is chosen and priced separately, sometimes at the counter on the day, once you've already decided to go ahead.
• A metal choice. Titanium at one price, gold at another. The gap may not be written anywhere you saw before you came in.
• A shorter post later. A new piercing goes in on a long post to leave room for swelling. A few weeks on it needs a shorter one so it stops catching. That shorter post is another piece of jewellery, and fitting it can be another fee.
• A checkup. Some prices include a visit to see how it is healing. Some don't.
• A change of jewellery. Wanting a different end once it has settled can mean paying for the piece and a fee to put it in.

Each of those can be fair on its own terms. Added together, they make two quotes very hard to compare, because the first number you hear isn't the number you pay. A price you only learn at the counter isn't really a price. It's a surprise.

What to ask before you sit down

Wherever you go, these six questions turn a starting number into a real one. Ask them before you book, and write the answers down.

1. What metal is the jewellery? For a fresh piercing you want implant-grade titanium (ASTM F136) or solid gold, and you want to know the karat. Plated or filled gold is a layer over something else, so it doesn't compare with solid. If nobody can say what the metal is all the way through, that's an answer too.
2. Is the jewellery included in that price? If not, what does the jewellery I'd actually want cost, in that metal?
3. Is the checkup included? And when is it?
4. What does the shorter post cost? Every piercing done on a long post needs one. Ask what it costs and whether there's a fee to fit it.
5. What does a change of jewellery cost? If you start in titanium and want gold later, ask how that's priced.
6. When do I pay? Is there anything to pay when you book, and what happens to it if plans change?

Then add the answers up. That total is the number to compare, titanium against titanium and solid gold against solid gold.

What we charge

Our price is one number with the jewellery in it. Most ear and face piercings are:

• $150 in implant-grade titanium, the jewellery included.
• From $350 in solid 14k gold, made by BVLA in Los Angeles. You choose the piece at the table, and the price on it is the price in your ear, piercing included. The sum behind it is simple: the piece you choose plus $40, never under $350. The case runs from $350 to $1,730, and every price on the case is what it costs pierced.

Gold is pierced fresh here. You choose the piece first, then the spot is found for that piece, and it goes in at the piercing rather than months later.

The rest is in the same number:

• The checkup is included for everyone we pierce, at about four weeks. The post is shortened then if it's ready, and that's part of the price too.
• A gold end later can go on at the checkup. If we pierced you, it is priced on the piece alone, with no charge for fitting it.
• Aftercare advice before you leave is included.
• Nothing to pay when you book. You pay at the end of your appointment, by card or cash. There is no deposit.

Pierced somewhere else? A look at a piercing done elsewhere is $30, about twenty minutes with no needle, and it comes off a piercing or a piece fitted the same day. If we pierced it, a look costs nothing. That's a second look.

Our prices by spot

These are the same figures as the prices page. Each one covers the piercing, the jewellery, your aftercare and the checkup four weeks later.

So a helix is $150 in titanium or from $350 in gold, and a nostril is the same. A septum is $150 in titanium or from $500 with a solid gold ring. Every spot, with healing times, is on where it goes.

What the number pays for

Our price pays for a single-use sterile needle, opened in front of you. Implant-grade titanium or solid gold, nothing plated. Forty-five minutes with one piercer, with the spot marked with you in the mirror before anything happens. One client in the room at a time. And a checkup four weeks later to make sure it's settling. The right spot, a piece you love, and all the time it takes.

If you'd like to hold the gold before you book a needle, the Gold Viewing is thirty minutes at the case with Tom or Kat, no needle, nothing to buy and no charge.

Booking in Parnell

We're at 389 Parnell Road, Parnell, Auckland, by appointment, seven days. Tom pierces Wednesday to Sunday and Kat Sunday to Tuesday. Bring photo ID. Book the piercing when you're ready, or call 09 949 0940 and ask us any of the six questions above.