Piercing a child's ears: what to know first

Almost everything written about piercing a child's ears is written by somebody selling a gun at a kiosk. This is not that. We pierce with a needle, we pierce children, and there are things worth knowing before you walk into anywhere, including here.

Two of them change the outcome more than anything else you will decide: what the hole is made with, and whether the child can look after it afterwards.

The age question, and why we will not answer it on a web page

There is no minimum age set in Quebec law. No statute names a number for piercing, which surprises most parents. What the law cares about is consent, and our full age and consent page sets out how that works, including the fact that from fourteen a young person can generally agree on their own account.

Below that, the decision is yours, and studios set their own floor. Ours is a conversation, not a number we are going to print here, because the honest answer depends on the child in front of us rather than the birthday on the ID. Call the studio and ask. (450) 682 1777. You will get a straight answer in a minute, and it will be the current one.

What we will say plainly is this. We have turned children away, and we will again. Not because of an age, but because the child did not want it and had been brought in by somebody who did.

The needle and the gun, which is the whole thing

If you take one thing from this page, take this one.

A piercing gun does not make a hole. It fires a blunt stud through the ear by pressure, which tears the tissue apart rather than removing a channel through it. A needle is sharpened and hollow, and it takes out a core of tissue the exact width of the jewelry that follows it.

The difference is what heals afterwards. A torn wound has ragged edges and crushed tissue on either side of it, and crushed tissue is slower to repair and more likely to react. A cut channel has clean walls that close against the jewelry.

There is a second problem with guns and it is worse. They cannot be properly sterilized. An autoclave uses steam under pressure, and most guns are plastic assemblies that would not survive it, so they get wiped down between customers instead. Wiping is not sterilizing. Anything that has been in contact with one person's blood and then touches another person's is a route that should not exist.

Ask the question anywhere you go, in these words: is it a needle, and can I see it opened? The answer should be yes, from a sealed single-use package, opened in front of you, into a sharps container afterwards.

What the ear can and cannot take at a young age

The earlobe is soft tissue with a good blood supply, which is why it is the one placement that suits a child. It heals faster than anywhere else on the ear and it forgives more.

Cartilage does not. A helix, a conch, a tragus and the rest are firm tissue with a poor blood supply, and they take months rather than weeks. Our healing times page has the real figures for every placement, and they are longer than most people expect.

For a young child, lobes, and only lobes. A cartilage piercing on a child who cannot yet be trusted to leave it alone, sleep off it and clean it twice a day is a piercing that will spend a year going wrong.

One ear at a time, or both together

Both, and there is a practical reason rather than a sentimental one.

A child who has one lobe done and is then asked to sit for the second, having just learned exactly what it feels like, frequently says no. That leaves you with a single piercing and a child who now associates the studio with being talked into something.

Two piercers working at once, one on each side, removes the problem completely. Ask whether the studio can do that. Not all can.

There is one argument for doing them separately and it is worth hearing. Sleeping is easier with one side clear. For an adult with a cartilage piercing that matters a great deal. For a child's lobes it matters much less, because lobes tolerate pressure far better than cartilage does.

The jewelry, which is where most of it goes wrong

The reaction parents describe as her ears rejected it is very rarely a rejection. It is almost always the metal.

Cheap studs are nickel-bearing alloys with a plating over the top. The plating wears, the nickel underneath meets a healing wound, and the ear does exactly what an ear does with nickel. Nickel sensitivity is common, it is more common in women, and once it develops it is for life. A child who reacts at six is a person who cannot wear costume earrings at thirty.

Initial jewelry should be implant-grade titanium. Not surgical steel, which contains nickel, and not gold plating over something unnamed. Solid gold of a stated karat is also fine. Our page on what jewelry is actually made of goes through the materials properly.

The second thing about the jewelry is its length. A fresh piercing is fitted with a post deliberately longer than the ear needs, to leave room for the swelling. Once the swelling settles that post has to be swapped for a shorter one, and this is the appointment almost everybody misses.

The appointment nobody books

Downsizing is a five-minute visit a few weeks after the piercing, and skipping it is the single most common reason a lobe that was healing perfectly starts catching on hair, jumpers and pillows.

A long post on a small ear moves. Movement in a healing channel is what produces the lump people call an infection and usually is not. Our page on bumps and what they actually are covers the difference.

Book it when you book the piercing. Put it in your phone. It is the cheapest thing you will ever do for the result.

Aftercare a child will actually do

Adult aftercare instructions assume an adult. For a child the honest plan is that you do it, not them, at least for the first few weeks.

Sterile saline, twice a day, on both sides of the lobe. That is the whole routine. Not alcohol, not hydrogen peroxide, not tea tree oil, not the antiseptic in the bathroom cabinet, all of which damage the new tissue they are supposed to be protecting. Our aftercare page is the full version.

Hands washed before touching, every single time. This is the rule that gets broken and it is the one that matters most, because the bacteria that cause trouble arrive on fingers.

Do not turn the earrings. This is the instruction most parents were given as children and it is wrong. Twisting a stud drags the crust that is trying to form back through the channel and reopens it daily. Leave it alone.

Hair, pillows, swimming and school

Long hair is the main enemy of a healing lobe. Tie it back for the first few weeks, particularly at night.

Pillowcases washed often. A clean pillowcase is doing more work than most of the products sold for aftercare.

No swimming while it heals. Pools, lakes and hot tubs all carry bacteria that a healing channel has no defense against. Showers are fine.

School sport is worth a thought before you book the date. Many schools require studs to be removed or taped for contact sports, and a fresh piercing cannot come out. Piercing at the start of a long holiday solves this and costs nothing.

What a good studio does differently with a child

Watch for these. They separate a studio that pierces children from one that processes them.

They talk to the child, not only to you. The child is the person being pierced and should be asked directly whether they want it.

They mark the spot and let you both look. In a mirror, from the front, before anything happens. Lobes are not symmetrical and neither are ears, and a mark that looks right on one side sometimes needs moving on the other.

They will say no. If the anatomy will not carry it, if the child is frightened, or if what is being asked for is a cartilage placement on somebody too young to look after it. A studio that agrees to everything is not being accommodating.

They explain the aftercare to the person who will be doing it. That is usually you.

If it goes wrong

Redness for a few days is normal. Spreading redness is not. Heat, real pain after the first couple of days, swelling that increases rather than decreases, or anything discharging thick and colored is a reason to be seen.

Ring the studio first. Most of what parents worry about is irritation rather than infection, and the two need opposite treatment. If it is genuinely infected, that is a doctor, and the jewelry usually stays in, because taking it out can close the surface over an infection and trap it. Ask before removing anything.

What the appointment actually looks like

Parents ask how long it takes and are usually surprised by the answer. The piercing itself is seconds. Everything around it is about twenty minutes, and the twenty minutes is the part that decides the result.

First there is the paperwork and the ID, and then a conversation with the child. Then the ear gets cleaned and marked, and you both look at the marks in a mirror, from the front, standing back. This is the moment to say something if one looks lower than the other, because afterwards it is permanent. Nobody minds being asked to move a mark. Every piercer would rather move it now.

Then the piercing, one ear each if there are two of us free, and then the part people forget: being shown how to clean it, by the person who will actually be cleaning it. Ask to be shown rather than told. It takes thirty seconds and it is easier to copy than to remember.

The question worth asking before you book

Ask the child, on a day when nothing is happening, whether they want their ears pierced.

That sounds obvious and it is skipped constantly. A child who has been promised it as a birthday treat, or who has agreed because an older sibling has it, is a child who may sit down in the chair and change their mind. That is entirely their right and we will stop, but it is a wasted trip and it can put a child off for years.

A child who has asked for it themselves, unprompted, more than once, over a period of weeks, is a child who will sit still and look after it afterwards. That is the single best predictor we see, and it costs nothing to check.

Second holes, and the year after the first

A first lobe piercing is usually followed, eventually, by a request for a second.

The rule is simple: the first one has to be fully healed, not merely comfortable. For a lobe that is roughly two to three months, and our healing times page has the honest range rather than the flattering one. Piercing a second hole close to a channel that is still repairing puts two healing wounds in a small piece of tissue with one blood supply between them.

Spacing matters too. A second hole placed too close to the first leaves too little tissue between them, and the bridge of skin can thin over the years, particularly if heavy earrings are worn. A piercer should mark it and show you, and should tell you if the lobe is not big enough yet. Small children have small lobes, and that is a reason to wait rather than a reason to squeeze it in.

Where we are

Piercings & Co., CF Carrefour Laval, unit J012A, 3003 Boulevard le Carrefour, Laval, Quebec H7T 1C7. Call (450) 682 1777.

We are inside the mall, which for this in particular is worth something: parking, somewhere to sit afterwards, and no need to make the day about one appointment.

Frequently Asked Questions

What age do you pierce a child's ears from?

Call the studio and ask, on (450) 682 1777. Quebec law sets no minimum age for piercing, so every studio sets its own policy and they differ. Ours depends on the child rather than on a number, which is why we would rather tell you directly than print something here that may be out of date when you read it.

Needle or gun for a child?

Needle. A gun forces a blunt stud through by pressure, which tears tissue instead of removing a clean channel, and most guns cannot be sterilized in an autoclave because they would not survive it. Ask any studio whether it is a needle and whether you can watch it being opened.

Should both ears be done at the same time?

Yes, ideally by two piercers at once. A child who has just felt the first one done will often refuse the second, and you go home with one piercing and a bad memory of the place.

Can a young child have a cartilage piercing?

We would say lobes only. Cartilage takes months rather than weeks, has a poor blood supply, and needs someone who can sleep off it and clean it twice a day without being reminded.

Why did my child's ears react to the earrings?

Almost always nickel. Cheap studs are nickel-bearing alloys under a plating that wears through. Initial jewelry should be implant-grade titanium or solid gold of a stated karat, and surgical steel is not the safe option it sounds like.

When do we come back?

For a downsize, a few weeks after the piercing. The first post is fitted long to allow for swelling, and leaving it in once the swelling has gone is the most common reason a lobe that was healing well starts snagging and lumping.

Should we turn the earrings?

No. That instruction is decades out of date. Turning drags the forming crust back through the channel and reopens the wound every day. Clean it with sterile saline twice a day and otherwise leave it completely alone.