Industrial piercing in Auckland
A needle, never a gun, at 389 Parnell Road. Open seven days.
How much is it?
titanium
the bar sized to your ear
The piercing and the jewellery, both in the price.
It is more than a single piercing because it is two of them and a bar cut to your ear. Nothing is added at the chair, and there is nothing to pay when you book.
Where it sits
One straight bar through two points on the upper ear, running across from the front of the rim to the back.
It depends on the shape of your upper ear. The bar has to run at a clean angle, so we check at the table.
Every spot on the ear
Does it hurt?
It is two piercings in one visit, each no worse than a helix. The healing asks more of you than the piercing does.
Who pierces it
Tom or Kat, one client in the room, forty-five minutes. Sixteen and over. Everyone brings photo ID.
TomWednesday to Sunday
KatSunday to Tuesday
How long does it take to heal?
Ten to twelve months
- Day onePierced, and your checkup booked before you leave
- Four weeksYour checkup, free for everyone pierced here. The bar comes down if it is ready
- Ten to twelve monthsHealed
No over-ear headphones while it heals. In-ear buds are fine.
Sleeping on that side is hard for as long as it takes, because the bar is long enough that any pillow reaches it. A travel pillow with a hole in it, so the ear sits in the gap, is not optional here.
Long hair catches on a bar, so clip it away from the ear before you wash or brush it. Beanies, headbands and helmets all press on the same part of the ear, so if one of those is part of your week, weigh that up before you book.
Warm water in the shower once a day is the whole clean. Nothing else goes on it.
Any problem with a piercing we did, the look is free.
What goes in it
A straight titanium bar, sized to your ear.
Its length is measured to your ear, and that matters more here than anywhere else. Too long and the bar slides, working at both holes as it goes. Too short and it pulls inwards on both. This is also the one spot we do not put gold in: it is titanium, cut to fit.
What happens at the appointment
Forty-five minutes, one client in the room.
It starts at the low table with a mirror in your hand, working out whether the two points line up. Then both marks, which you see and agree with before anything else happens.
Each hole is one pass of a single-use sterile needle, and the bar goes through both. A needle, never a gun. Your checkup goes in the book before you leave.
Not every ear has one
This is the placement most often ruled out by the ear itself, and it is the first thing we look at.
An industrial is one straight bar through two points on the upper rim. Those points have to line up so the bar runs between them without pushing at either end, and some ears do not offer that: the rim runs too tight, or curves in a way that puts the two workable spots out of line.
Put a straight bar through an ear that will not hold one and it pushes on both holes every day it is in. Neither settles. An industrial that has never come right six months on is harder to fix than not having had it, so sometimes the answer is no. If you have been told no somewhere else, that was probably the right call.
Why it heals slowly
Because the bar ties the two holes together. Neither can move without the other.
A single piece sits close to the ear with its flat back against the skin, and very little reaches it. A bar spanning the ear is the opposite: long, rigid, and anything that catches on it is felt at both ends at once. Every knock counts twice. That is not a reason to leave it alone, but it is a reason to know what you are taking on.
If one end plays up
Treat it as one piercing, not two. A bump at one end usually means something is wrong at the other, or with how the bar is sitting across the ear, so working on the end you can see rarely fixes it.
Come in and we will look at the whole thing. If we pierced it, the look is free, healed or not.
Book an industrial
$180, in titanium only. Nothing to pay when you book.
389 Parnell Road, Parnell, Auckland. Open seven days, by appointment. Directions