Piercing guides and advice
Everything we have written, in one place. These are the longer reads that cut across the piercings rather than covering one of them, plus the named pairs and combinations. If you already know which piercing you want, the services page lists every one we perform with its healing time and rating.
Search all of it in the library Every page on this site in one place, searchable, grouped by where on the body it goes.
Every piercing we perform
Thirty placements, each with the healing time and pain rating our own piercers give it.
Finding us
Where we are, when we are open, and what the trip involves.
Laval
The city we are in. How far we are from each of the eleven sectors.
CF Carrefour Laval
Where we are. Unit J012A, our hours, and what happens on a first visit.
North of the island
Ahuntsic, Cartierville, Montreal-Nord and Saint-Laurent. Nearer to us than to downtown.
Rosemère
Eight kilometers north-east, and what the appointment is actually like.
Boisbriand
Eight kilometers north-west, and which piercings can actually be hidden.
Sainte-Thérèse
Ten kilometers north, and what happens when a piercing has to come out.
Saint-Eustache
Eleven kilometers west, and coming with somebody.
West Island
Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Pierrefonds, Pointe-Claire and Kirkland. All nearer to us than to downtown.
Deux-Montagnes
Twelve kilometers west, and when in the year to get it done.
Central Montreal
Villeray, Rosemont, the Plateau, Cote-des-Neiges and downtown. We are not your closest studio, and what the trip buys you instead.
Ear piercing, Montreal
Lobes and the upper ear, for Montreal. No gun, our age rules, and an honest answer on children's ears.
Choosing a piercer, Montreal
Ten questions to ask any studio in the city, and the two places we fail our own checklist.
Nose piercing, Montreal
Septum, nostril, high nostril and bridge. Why a septum is not cartilage and a nostril is.
Blainville
Fifteen kilometers north-west, and what being close buys you.
Terrebonne
Seventeen kilometers north-east, across the Riviere des Mille Iles.
East end of Montreal
Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Mercier, Anjou and Pointe-aux-Trembles. Real healing times, and how many visits it actually takes.
South-west of Montreal
LaSalle, Verdun, Lachine and the Sud-Ouest. The longest trip on this site, described honestly.
Mirabel
Nineteen to thirty kilometers, depending which sector you are in.
Mascouche
Twenty-three kilometers north-east, and how to judge any studio.
Longueuil
Twenty-three kilometers across the island, and the part that cannot be undone.
South Shore
Boucherville, Chateauguay, La Prairie and Varennes. Which piercings justify the drive and which do not.
Brossard
Twenty-six kilometers south, and how much one visit can hold.
Repentigny
Twenty-nine kilometers north-east, and the healing timeline week by week.
Vaudreuil-Dorion
Twenty-nine kilometers west, and nearer to us than to downtown Montreal.
Saint-Jerome
Thirty kilometers north-west, and when that is worth driving.
Montreal
Body piercing for the island, from the studio in Laval.
Start here
If you have not been pierced before, or not by us, these are the two to read first.
Age rules in Quebec
What the law sets, what we set ourselves, and what to bring with you.
What we refuse, and why
Nine things we will not do, with the reasoning, and the one that is not ours to set.
Choosing a piercing
Which one, where, and what your own anatomy allows.
Ear piercing, the whole ear
How the thirteen ear placements relate to each other, and how to build up over time.
Building a curated ear
What order to get them in, how long to wait between, and which jewelry belongs in each placement once healed.
The lip family
Labret, philtrum, monroe, madonna and the rest, and how the named positions relate.
Cartilage piercing
Why everything above the lobe heals in six to twelve months rather than three.
The pain chart, all 25 rated placements
Every placement our piercers have rated out of ten, with its healing time beside it.
What makes a good piercing
The four things that decide it, and how to judge a piercing you already have.
How to choose a piercer
Ten questions to ask any studio, and the two places we fail our own checklist.
Which piercing should I get
Start from your constraints, not from photographs, and see how few placements survive them.
Jewelry
What we fit, why the length matters more than the front, and what to buy later.
Piercing jewelry
Flat back posts, hoops and the downsize, and why the jewelry decides how healing goes.
Nose rings and nostril jewelry
Hoop or stud, the two measurements that decide fit, and the shapes to avoid.
Body piercing jewelry
Navel, nipple, dermal and surface. Shape, weight and the three measurements.
When something looks wrong
What we can see and fix, and where a piercer stops and a doctor starts.
Infected, or just irritated?
Two different problems with different answers, and which one is ours to fix.
Piercing bumps
Why they appear, why nothing should go on them, and how long they take.
Rejection and migration
One moves and stops, one keeps going. The signs, and why timing decides the scar.
Raised scars and keloids
What we can see, what we will not name, and why timing decides the mark.
Healing, week by week
What is normal at each stage, and the two weeks where people go wrong.
Named pairs and combinations
Two or more of the lip placements worn as one arrangement. They share the lip family healing time of three to six months, and what earns each its own page is the arrangement rather than the piercing.
Snake bites
One either side of the lower lip, mirroring each other.
Spider bites
Two close together on the same side of the lower lip.
Angel bites
A monroe and a madonna worn together, above the upper lip.
Cyber bites
A philtrum above and a labret below, stacked on the midline.
Dahlia
At the corners of the mouth, and the most demanding of the group.
Jestrum
A vertical philtrum, both ends outside and nothing inside your mouth.
If you cannot find the answer here
Call the studio on (450) 682 1777 or come in and ask. Looking at something costs nothing and takes a minute, and we would far rather answer a question than have you guess at it. If it is something that should not be ours to answer, we will say so plainly and tell you to see a doctor.