California law regarding piercing states that any person under the age of 18 must be accompanied by their parent or legal custodial guardian. <\/em>Aunts and uncles, grandparents, siblings, and family friends do not count, even if they were given permission by the parent\/guardian. There are no exceptions. We cannot accept written notes, phone calls, emails, or video calls, the parent\/guardian MUST<\/strong> be present for the entirety of the appointment and be actively supervising<\/em> their child. The parent must also be able to provide a currently valid photo ID and fill out a legal release document where you will need to designate your relationship to the child.<\/p>\u00a0<\/p>
Non-earlobe piercings available to minors-<\/p>
- Upper cartilage (no industrials) 14+<\/li>
- Nostril 14+<\/li>
- Septum 14+<\/li>
- Eyebrow (traditional only, no surface or dermal) 14+<\/li>
- Navel 16+<\/li><\/ul>
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Absolutely no nipple or genital piercings offered for minors, even with parent permission; It is the law!\u00a0 <\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\u00a0<\/p>
- Why don\u2019t you offer certain piercings for minors?<\/em><\/strong><\/li><\/ul>
We love being able to work with children and teens to help them have a safe, professional piercing experience. Not all piercings are suitable for younger clients and each of those piercings has its own reasons. Nipple and genital piercings are absolutely<\/em><\/strong> not offered and are illegal<\/strong><\/em> for children and teens to receive, no exceptions, ever. <\/em><\/strong>We do not offer Industrial piercings to minors. Industrial piercings are some of the hardest piercings to heal, even for adults, so we do not feel that minors are typically capable of healing these types of piercings well. If your child has already received and healed several<\/em> upper cartilage piercings very, very well, you may reach out to discuss an industrial piercing with one of our piercers, but they may still decline the piercing if they do not feel the child is ready; keep in mind that we rarely make this exception. We do not offer oral piercings to minors. Oral piercings are not easy to heal, require constant care, and often do damage to teeth and gums, we feel that clients should wait until they are 18 years old before getting oral piercings (and do plenty of research beforehand, so you know what to expect as far as care and potential oral damage).<\/p>\u00a0<\/p>
- Minors may not accompany clients as \u201cguests\u201d. All minors in the shop must be constantly supervised by their parent or legal custodial guardian for the entirety of the time they are in the shop. We cannot be responsible for children waiting in the lobby and cannot allow children in the piercing rooms if they are not the person being pierced. Children may not be held by a person who is getting a piercing.<\/em> We have many biohazards and delicate equipment in the studio, so safety is of the utmost importance; we would never want to endanger the lives or health of our clients, their children, or our staff!<\/li><\/ul>
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- Please see our FAQ regarding kids appointments and piercing before booking an appointment for your child and please give us a call if you have any more questions!<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAftercare - Healing<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t- Aftercare is the most crucial step in successfully healing a new piercing! Putting in the effort to keep your body healthy and your piercings clean is a huge task, even the fastest healing piercings take at least a month, while others can take upwards of 9 months, so make sure you are committed to putting in the work for a solid amount of time when considering a new piercing.<\/li>
- The conversation surrounding aftercare is ever evolving as we learn new and safer techniques within the piercing industry! Here at The Exotic Body, continued education is an important part of our piercers\u2019 careers; we believe in always doing our utmost to be informed, up to date, and accurate in the information we\u2019re giving our clients.<\/li>
- Our number one source for up to date information is safepiercing.org. Check out this amazing resource if you\u2019d like to do any of your own research regarding piercing!<\/li>
- If you lost your aftercare card that you were given at your appointment you can access a digital copy with the same information at exoticbody.com\/carebasic or you can always reach out to one of our staff for a refresher!<\/li>
- Aftercare needs can differ from one region and climate to another and not all products are widely available, discuss your specific needs with your body piercer, especially if you are coming into the shop while traveling!<\/li><\/ul>
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- We recommend that our clients wash once a day with a mild, unscented soap. Soap will be able to break down any biological materials that are on\/around the piercing.<\/li>
- Most piercings will need more than one cleaning in a day; especially in the beginning stages, but using soap too often can dry out the skin in the area and inhibit the healing process. To prevent this, we recommend additional cleanings be done with a sterile saline wound wash <\/em>once or twice a day (<\/em>not nasal or eye care saline, they are similar, but different products!)<\/li>
- If you notice that your piercings need additional cleaning: maybe they get snagged, you notice they have some crusty buildup, or they bleed a little, you can flush them with your saline wash. While using the soap too often can lead to overdrying, you can use as much sterile saline solution as you need to keep the piercings clean, it won\u2019t hurt them!<\/li>
- If you wash your piercings in the shower it is best to do so as your last step, so that dirty water from cleansing your hair\/body doesn\u2019t wash back into the piercing.<\/li>
- You shouldn\u2019t use items like cotton swabs or washcloths to clean the piercings, the fibers from these types of items often get snagged and wrapped around the jewelry, which can cause irritation.<\/li>
- We don\u2019t recommend using soaps that are labeled as antibacterial or antimicrobial, as these are generally too strong to use on a fresh piercing. Additionally if you use a bar soap we would recommend using the bar to transfer soap onto your fingers and use those to apply the suds instead of using the whole bar on your piercings.<\/li>
- We NEVER recommend clients mix their own salt water solutions to use in place of wound wash. There is no way to make sure the water, soap, and the bowl itself are sterile and you wouldn\u2019t want any debris\/particles to get into your mixture and cause an infection. Sterile wound wash is a pre-mixed ratio of purified USP grade water and pure sodium chloride in a fixed ratio. If you don\u2019t get the ratios of water to salt correct you run the risk of burning the flesh around the piercing and accumulating a buildup of salt crystals in the entrance or exit points of the piercings, which can cause major issues to both the health of your piercings and your body.<\/li>
- The brand of sterile saline that we carry is NeilMed wound wash for piercing aftercare. You can always stop by during regular business hours to pick some up, you don\u2019t need an appointment! NeilMed is widely available online from major retailers like Amazon, Target, Walgreens, etc.<\/li>
- The brand of soap that we carry is Dr. Bronners unscented castile baby soap. You can always stop by during regular business hours to pick some up, you don\u2019t need an appointment! Dr. Bronners is widely available both through their website, and at places like Whole Foods, Amazon, Target, etc.<\/li>
- You should only touch your piercings with CLEAN hands! Including just a quick adjustment! Touching your piercings is the #1 way piercings become infected!<\/li>
- When cleaning your piercings it is super important that you are fully removing any buildup on the jewelry. You can gently <\/em>manipulate the jewelry in order to get behind it and make sure it\u2019s clean.<\/li>
- You should never \u2018soak\u2019 your piercings. Occasionally we will suggest that a client use a warm (not hot!) compress on their piercings to help soften dried on blood or buildup that is difficult to remove with just washing, but the compress should only stay on your piercing for a few minutes (no longer than 5) and the piercing needs to be dried VERY WELL so there is no residual moisture around the area. You don\u2019t need to do this unless your piercer specifically suggests this aftercare step, we mention it only to steer clients away from fully soaking their piercings.<\/li>
- Alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, Betadine, Hibiclens, harsh soaps, and\/or ointment(s) are not<\/em><\/strong> appropriate products for the care of a healing ear or body piercing. You should not be using topical products like neosporin or aquaphor on your healing piercings.<\/li>
- You should never apply essential oils to healing piercings<\/li>
- Exercise is fine during healing your piercings, just be sure to do a thorough cleaning immediately after and remember to be mindful not to knock into the piercings or use equipment that has the possibility of snagging, catching, or ripping your jewelry out. Listen to your body! If you find certain stretches, moves, or poses put pressure, rub or irritate the piercing area in any way you should refrain from that specific exercise until further along in the healing process.<\/li>
- Make sure your bedding and clothing are kept clean while healing your piercings and be mindful of materials that may be fibrous or snaggy, like sherpa or lace.<\/li>
- Swimming is not advised while healing your piercings, especially in public pools\/hot tubs and natural bodies of water like lakes and rivers. If you must <\/em>swim while healing a piercing it is crucial that you do a thorough cleaning immediately after exiting the water and ensure your piercings are well dried.<\/li>
- Showers tend to be safer than baths while healing a cleaning piercing. If you do take a bath make sure the water is not too hot, so you don\u2019t scald the delicate skin around your healing piercing, and be sure to clean the tub prior to use. You should rinse your piercings well and pat dry after a bath.<\/li>
- Unfortunately there is A TON of misinformation and outdated information available regarding piercing on the internet! The piercing industry is still a rather new industry, with its mainstream popularity growing in the late 1990s; so the information we have regarding healing and aftercare is also still new! We\u2019ve found the most success in healing piercings with the aftercare routine that we currently suggest to clients. If you have any questions about healing, the products we recommend, or anything else, please reach out to your piercer, we are happy to help!<\/li><\/ul>
\u00a0<\/em><\/p>What is Normal while healing a piercing?<\/em><\/p>- Discoloration: reddish, brownish, pinkish, or purplish; can remain for many months on navel, surface, and other piercings.<\/li>
- Swelling\/Induration: localized; may be significant with oral piercings such as the lip or tongue, and usually lasts for several days following the initial piercing.<\/li>
- Excretion: exudate of interstitial fluid, dead cells, etc. that forms a small amount of crystalline-appearing crust at the openings of the piercing; should not be copious, malodorous, or green.<\/em><\/li><\/ul>
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