Children’s ear piercing
From five, with you in the room, and never a gun.
- Age
- From fiveYour child needs to be old enough to say yes, so we do not pierce babies.
- Price
- $150 one lobe, $200 bothIn titanium. Gold from $350 one lobe, or from $600 both.
- The room
- You stay beside themForty-five minutes, one family in the room, and never a gun.
Ready, not old enough
Parents ask what the minimum age is. The more useful question is whether your child is ready.
Lobes from five. A helix from twelve, with a parent there. We do not pierce babies.
Every step explained before it happens
- Your child meets their piercer, and picks their earrings first.
- Both lobes are marked, and you both check them in the mirror.
- Nothing happens until your child says yes.
- Both lobes, one after the other, and it is over quickly.
- If they want to stop, we stop, and you only pay for what was done.
- The aftercare is for you, and you take it home written down.
Placement matters more than people realise. Too close to the edge and the jewellery is more likely to migrate or tear. Too deep and it sits awkwardly. We mark where it will heal well and still look right years from now, show your child in a mirror, and mark it again if it is not right.
Then everything is opened in front of you. The needle, the receiving tube and the jewellery all come out of sealed, single-use packaging while you watch. Nothing is set out and waiting.
We ask your child to take a slow breath in, and pierce on the way out. The needle passes through in under a second and the end goes in at the same moment. Then the other lobe the same way, usually before they have had time to think about it.
Never a gun, and here is why.
A needle is sharp, so it parts the tissue cleanly. It swells less and it heals faster. The feeling is different too: a sharp needle is quick, and most children describe a brief pinch. A gun stud is a stamping sensation that takes longer.
The questions we hear most
Can you pierce my baby?
No. We pierce lobes from age five, when your child is old enough to understand and say yes.
Does it hurt?
Less than most children expect. The needle is sharp and quick, so the moment is brief.
What should we bring?
Your photo ID. We ask everyone for photo ID, and for a child it is the parent’s. A guardian who is not the parent brings written consent too. Your child should have eaten.
Photo ID for the parent or guardian who is coming in. A guardian who is not the parent brings written consent as well. A child who has eaten in the last couple of hours, because an empty stomach makes feeling faint more likely. Hair tied back, which helps with the marking and keeps hair off the jewellery afterwards. Everything else we provide.
What if they want to stop?
Then we stop. If one lobe is done and they are not ready for the second, that is fine, and you only pay for what was done.
Looking after it
Rinse once a day under warm running water, and no swimming for six weeks. The checkup is at four weeks and it is free, and the bar comes down then if it is ready.
Rinse it once a day under warm running water and pat it dry with a clean paper towel. That is the whole clean, and it is done in the shower. Nothing else goes on it: no saline, no sprays, no antiseptic cream, no tea tree oil. Those are the most common cause of the irritation we see, and more cleaning is not better.
Do not turn the jewellery. A lot of parents were told that rotating stops the skin growing over the stud. It is old advice, and it disturbs the tissue that is trying to heal.
No swimming for six weeks. Pools, the sea and lakes all wait. A shower is fine.
Hands washed before anyone touches it, your child's included. That is the main way an infection gets in.
Hair products go around the ears rather than on them. Nothing tight over the ears early on: a loose hat is fine, headbands and helmets that press on the jewellery are not. Sleeping on their back helps.
The checkup is at four weeks, when the post is shortened so the end sits close. It is booked before you leave and it is free. A different style waits until it is fully healed, which for lobes is at least six to eight months.
Can they have gold?
Yes, the same as adults: from $350 one lobe, or from $600 both, chosen at the table.
Older children
A helix from twelve, with a parent there.
There is no charge. Come back when they are.
Is this normal?
Most of what you will see is healing, not trouble.
If your child has a fever, or redness is spreading away from the piercing, see your GP or an after-hours clinic that day and tell them it is a healing piercing. Then let us know.
Anything else can wait until morning. Leave the jewellery in, put nothing on it, and call us on {phone}. We would always rather you asked.
A bump beside it, or an end that will not stay on, we can usually fix. If we pierced it, the look is free.
What it costs, and why
{titanium} for one lobe, {titanium_pair} for both. The price covers the piercing, the jewellery, the aftercare and the checkup, and nothing is added at the chair.
That is more than a shopping centre gun piercing. The difference is sterile single-use equipment, implant-grade jewellery sized to your child's lobe, forty-five minutes with one family in the room, and somebody to call for as long as it is healing. It is a permanent hole in your child's body, so it is worth doing properly.
389 Parnell Road, Parnell
By appointment only, so there is no waiting room and no queue. Park on the street, or in the paid parks along Parnell Road.
Book for your child