What a piercing costs, and what moves the price

We do not publish a price list, and this page is not a sneaky way of publishing one. It is an explanation of what you are actually paying for, so that when you ring and ask, the number makes sense rather than arriving from nowhere.

It is also, bluntly, a page about why the cheapest quote is frequently the most expensive thing in the room.

Why there is no price list

Because a piercing is not one thing with one price. It is a service and a piece of jewelry, and the jewelry is the part that moves most.

The same placement, done by the same piercer, in the same chair, can differ substantially in price depending on what goes in the hole. A plain implant-grade titanium end and a solid gold end set with real stones are not the same object and it would be strange if they cost the same.

Publishing one number would therefore mean publishing the cheapest possible version and then explaining the difference to everybody at the counter, which is worse than explaining it here.

Ring on (450) 682 1777 or come in and ask. You will be told exactly what yours costs before anything happens, and that is the part that matters: no piercing here starts before you have heard the number.

The two halves of the bill

The service. The piercer's time, the sterile single-use needle, the consumables, the sterilization of anything reusable, and the room. This part varies less. What moves it is the placement, because some take longer and demand more assessment than others, and whether you are having one done or several in a sitting.

The jewelry. This is where the range lives, and it is worth understanding rather than resenting.

What moves the jewelry price

The material. Implant-grade titanium is the standard for a fresh piercing and it is the affordable end. Solid gold of a stated karat costs more, straightforwardly, because gold costs more. Our page on what jewelry is actually made of goes through the materials and why the cheap ones are a false economy.

The end, not the bar. Most of the price difference is in the decorative top. A plain ball, a flat disc, a small cabochon, a cluster set with genuine stones and a piece of goldwork are wildly different objects sitting on identical bars.

Whether the stones are real. Synthetic and genuine stones look similar in a tray and do not cost similarly.

How it fastens. Threadless and internally threaded pieces are made to tighter tolerances than externally threaded ones and they cost accordingly. They are also gentler on a healing channel, which is the reason to prefer them rather than the price.

What moves the service price

The placement. A lobe is quick. An industrial is two holes that have to line up on a plane that not every ear has, and getting that wrong is permanent. Time and difficulty are not evenly distributed across the thirty placements we offer.

How many at once. Several in one sitting is usually better value per piercing than several visits, though whether several at once is a good idea for healing is a separate question and the answer is often no.

Whether it is a rework. Re-piercing through or beside old scar tissue, or correcting a placement somebody else made badly, takes longer and requires more judgment than a fresh piercing in untouched tissue.

What is in the price that people forget to count

Ask about these anywhere, because they are the difference between a price and a total.

The assessment. Seventeen of our thirty placements depend on your anatomy. Somebody looking at your ear and telling you honestly that a rook will not sit properly on it is worth more than the piercing you did not have.

The marking, and being shown it. In a mirror, before anything happens, with the freedom to say move it.

The aftercare instruction. Given to you properly rather than printed on a card.

The downsize. This is the big one. The first bar is fitted long to allow for swelling and has to be swapped for a shorter one a few weeks later. Ask whether that visit and that shorter bar are included in what you have been quoted, because it is a real cost and a real appointment, and a quote that excludes it is not comparable to one that includes it.

Being able to come back. If something looks wrong at week three, you want the person who did it to look at it. That is worth something and it does not appear on any price list.

Why the cheap version is the expensive one

Here is the arithmetic that actually decides what a piercing costs you over its life.

A gun piercing at a kiosk. Cheap on the day. A gun forces a blunt stud through by pressure instead of removing a clean channel, and guns cannot be autoclaved because they would not survive it. A meaningful share of the cartilage work we see needing correction started this way. You then pay for the original, the healing that went badly, and the re-piercing.

Nickel-bearing jewelry. Cheap on the day. Nickel sensitivity is common and permanent once it develops. You pay for the piece, then for the reaction, then for replacing every other piece you own.

A bar that is never downsized. Free on the day, because it was not offered. Then a snagged, migrated or lumpy piercing that needs settling down, sometimes retiring, occasionally re-piercing.

The wrong placement, agreed to because the studio agreed to everything. A piercing your anatomy could not carry migrates out over a year or two, and leaves a scar in the place you wanted it.

None of that is an argument that expensive equals good. It is an argument that the price on the day is not the price.

How to compare two quotes honestly

If you are ringing round, these five questions make the numbers comparable. They are fair questions to ask us too.

What jewelry is included, and what is it made of? A quote with unnamed metal is not a quote.

Is the downsize included, and is the shorter bar included?

Is it a needle, and can I watch it opened?

What happens if I need it looked at afterwards, and is that visit charged?

If my anatomy will not take it, do I still pay for the consultation?

Deposits

Some appointments take a deposit and it is normal. It holds the slot and, where custom or ordered jewelry is involved, it covers a piece bought specifically for you.

Ask two things when you pay one: whether it comes off the final price, and how much notice you need to give to move the appointment without losing it. Both have straightforward answers and both are better known in advance.

Paying for jewelry later

The piece you are pierced with is chosen for healing, not for how it looks in a year. It is deliberately plain, correctly sized and made of something inert.

The decorative jewelry comes afterwards, once the channel is healed, and that is a separate purchase whenever you want to make it. Nobody needs to buy the gold on day one. Plenty of people do it a year later, and the piercing is no worse for the wait.

Two people, same placement, different totals

It is worth seeing how the same piercing produces two different bills without anybody being overcharged.

One person has a lobe done with a plain implant-grade titanium end, comes back for the downsize, and buys nothing else. That is the floor, and there is nothing second-rate about it. It is the same needle, the same piercer, the same assessment and the same inert metal as anybody else gets.

Another has the same lobe done, chooses a solid gold end set with genuine stones on the day, and buys a second decorative piece for the other side. Same service, same time in the chair, considerably higher total, and every dollar of the difference is sitting in the jewelry tray rather than in the procedure.

That is the entire spread, and it is why a single published figure would mislead both of them.

Buying jewelry online, which often costs twice

People find a piece online for a fraction of studio prices and quite reasonably ask why.

Three reasons, and only one of them is margin. The material may not be what the listing says. There is no enforcement standing between a marketplace seller and the words surgical steel or titanium, and a piece that is neither is a piece that will react in a healing channel.

The tolerances may be wrong. A thread that does not quite match, or a bar a fraction of a millimeter off gauge, does not look like a defect in a photograph. It feels like one in a piercing, and it is a common source of the irritation people blame on themselves.

The size may be wrong for you. Most people do not know their own gauge and length, so they order by eye. A piece that will not fit is not cheaper than one that will.

None of that means never buy online. It means buy from somewhere that names its materials and states its sizes, know your own measurements before you order, and do not put an unknown metal into a channel that has not healed.

The second visit, and why there usually is one

Almost every piercing involves coming back at least once, and building that into your expectations changes how the price reads.

The downsize is the certain one. Beyond that, there is often a jewelry change once the channel has fully healed, which is when most people finally get the piece they actually wanted. There may be a look at it if something flares, which should be a quick and uncomplicated visit.

The reason to think of this as part of the cost rather than an afterthought is that it changes where you should get pierced. A studio that is convenient once is fine for a tattoo. A studio you can get back to easily is worth more for a piercing, because a piercing is a relationship that runs for months. Our healing times page shows just how long that is for each placement, and the figures surprise people.

Getting one as a gift for somebody else

This comes up often and it is worth being clear about.

You cannot buy somebody a piercing in the sense of arranging it as a surprise. The person being pierced has to consent, in person, on the day, with identification, and has to be able to change their mind at the chair without embarrassment. A studio that would proceed regardless is a studio to avoid.

What works instead is paying for it and letting them book it themselves, at a time they choose, having decided what they want. It removes exactly nothing from the gift and it removes the possibility of somebody sitting down because they feel they have to.

The number that actually matters

Not the price on the day. The price of having it done twice.

A piercing that heals cleanly the first time costs what it costs. A piercing that migrates, reacts, scars or has to be retired and redone costs that, plus the second attempt, plus the months in between, plus in some cases a mark that stays.

That is the whole argument, and it is why the questions further up this page are about needles, metals and downsizing rather than about dollars. Get those four right and the price difference between studios stops being the interesting question.

What we will not do

Quote you a price on this page that might be wrong by the time you read it. Talk you into a placement your ear cannot carry because it is a more expensive one. Or let you sit down without knowing the number.

Where we are

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

Ring and describe what you want, or come in and look at the jewelry in person, which is easier. You will get the number before anything is agreed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why will you not put prices on the website?

Because a piercing is a service plus a piece of jewelry, and the jewelry moves the total substantially. The same placement with a plain titanium end and with a solid gold end set with real stones are not the same purchase. Publishing one figure would mean publishing the cheapest and explaining the difference to everybody afterwards.

What makes one piercing cost more than another?

Mostly the jewelry, and within that mostly the decorative end rather than the bar. After that, the placement, because some take longer and need more assessment, and whether it is a fresh piercing or a rework through old scar tissue.

Is the downsize included?

Ask when you ring, and ask it everywhere you ring. The first bar is fitted long to allow for swelling and has to be swapped a few weeks later. A quote that quietly excludes that visit and that shorter bar is not comparable to one that includes them.

Is a cheaper piercing worse?

Not automatically. But a gun piercing that has to be redone, nickel jewelry that causes a permanent sensitivity, or a bar that is never downsized all cost more over the life of the piercing than doing it properly once.

Do I have to buy expensive jewelry?

No. You are pierced with something plain, correctly sized and inert, because that is what heals best. Decorative pieces come later, once the channel has healed, and that is a separate purchase whenever you feel like making it.

Do you take a deposit?

For some appointments, yes. Ask whether it comes off the final price and how much notice you need to move the appointment without losing it.

Will I know the price before you start?

Yes. Nothing happens here before you have been told what yours costs.