Its my dream to be a piercer and I cant find anyone near me that will give me a shot but I wont give up.

How’d you do it?

Wish i could land one :( always went to the same guys and he not taking any (small shop)

At the drive in!!! Awesome pfp

Ahhhhhh that makes me so happy to hear!!! 🥰🥰

In my town a lot of apprentices don’t get paid and get hazed often. Which is something I didn’t like when I started apprenticing. I ended up having to quit my apprenticeship because I couldn’t afford to live and apprentice at the same time.

I hope you went for it or in the process! As long as you’re breathing you can make it possible. Make those connections, take a breathe and ask questions! Always be curious…They’ll have the answers and if there isn’t then YOU get to decide how comfortable you are investing into them.

I think it would depend on your course load/transportation/schedule/etc. it could work in some situations but be careful not to overwork yourself or burn out. That said I dropped out of college for my apprenticeship and I have 0 regrets. 😝

A huge part of our job as piercers is talking to other people. We talk to literally hundreds of strengths every week- and more then that we need to make total strangers feel comfortable with us, trust us, and be vulnerable with us. You can have all the passion for piercing in the world but if you don’t want to interact with people you won’t make a great piercer. You may however find your calling in this industry making jewelry or working for a body jewelry company! You can still have all your piercings and be yourself- without all the human interaction of being a piercer.

Only APP certified piercer in the state is a 3 hour drive one way and I haven't even been there. But theres probably 50 other shops in the state offering "professional piercing". The money isn't even there around here. I think we have one shop rent a space out at a strip mall here and come and do tattoos for a week then head back to their main shop.

It’s a federal law!! I have a whole video on my channel that goes over this. It’s in my apprenticeship playlist!

@@Lynn_Loheide thank you so much!

You can look for free or low cost legal aid in your area and they can help you go over your options in your situation. You'll want to gather as many records you have of your situation as well, i.e. time slips if you have them, conversations where your employer said they don't have to pay you, things that explain your job duties and the terms of your apprenticeship, etc. You might be careful letting your workplace know your plans until you have everything planned out bc while retaliation is illegal, it does happen and it can be hard to prove.

Out of curiosity are there updates on your situation?

get some more anyway 😈 you could always get more ear piercings!

maybe you should go around and scope out the shop, look at jewelry and sterilization and how they operate to really see if they're good piercers since tbh lots of people getting piercings don't know what a good piercer consists of. it's hard to get one and a lot of people have to move

Oh yes! This experience is definitely super helpful

Continue looking for an apprenticeship! It took me about 3 years to find mine! In the meantime I worked on my photography and graphic design skills and taught myself more about piercing history. Doctors who don’t match to a residency right away don’t start practicing open heart surgery while they wait. They are patient and continue educating themselves while they wait.

@@Lynn_Loheide thank you for the advice.

I have a whole video series here on KZfaq explains the federal laws around apprenticeships in America. You can also see more in local labor laws and at safepiercing.org

Modify, hands down. Hellraiser also has a special place for me!

@@Lynn_Loheide love pinhead he nice looking

I was going to ask that also!

You are correct- this is entirely the wrong way to go about getting into the industry. You can not properly learn things online especially as much of piercing is tactile- having a mentor show you how to manipulate the tissue, feel for proper placement, understand proper angles through the tissue. Imagine if someone said “there’s no good medical schools in my town but I want to be a doctor! I think I’m going to watch videos of surgery online and practice at home and learn to be a doctor that way”. We would tell them to relocate to get properly educated. Piercing is the same way. WV is not a terrible far drive from six16 and hot rod in Pittsburg, evolved in Columbus, brilliance, Freya, infinite, and fidelity. You have a bunch of amazing studios within driving distance that you could go to and potentially try to get an apprenticeship with. There are people who live in entire countries without good piercers who move /out of their country/ to learn properly. I moved from Philly to florida to learn correctly. I have peers who have relocated from Idaho to California and from florida to Nashville to learn. The fact that you are in an area with dozens of amazing piercers within 2-5 hours of you but that’s not close enough for you to want to learn correctly is shameful- and your clients deserve better.

In my opinion any studio that is nice and reputable is going to pay you a living wage and not break the law and exploit your labor. /Reputable/ studios don’t condone labor exploitation.

Yea! Usually folks will go to other studios to work as a junior piercer or work under another piercer who can teach them the other skills. For example I learned new surface piercing techniques when I worked with Ian at icon.

There are people who get their start later in the industry! It all depends on what your path looks like for you.

@@Lynn_Loheide that's reassuring to know, thank you!!

Someone saying their apprenticeship is a fast process I would consider a red flag.

It is for sure more full time. I had to drop out of college to focus on my apprenticeship!

When I worked in florida we fixed SO MUCH of their work. Low quality jewelry. Bad angles. Terrible placement. :( folks who took the classes said they never reviewed concepts like bevel theory or wound shaping. I wouldn’t waste your money.

@@Lynn_Loheide ugh this sucks. I’m already in the course so I have to tough it out

That was me for the first 4 years of my career! I networked, talked to studios, saved up money to relocate, and eventually ended up with an apprenticeship. Much like doctors who need to find a residency to become a doctor, sometimes it talks folks a while to find a good fit for your training.

6 months is way too fast for an actual comprehensive apprenticeship. A good quality apprenticeship is going to be 1-4 years for sure.

@@Lynn_Loheide I actually want to become a tattoo artist . I want to get into piercing to help me get through a tattoo apprenticeship , and it will teach me how an apprenticeship works it will help get my foot into the industry. It can also help benefit me with getting clients for when I start tattooing. I don’t want piercing to be a long term career I’m 21 years old and don’t want to get a tattoo apprenticeship at 25 I would be tattooing at 32 and I would be considered too old to start tattooing. It’s hard enough to get into the tattoo industry and piercing industry .

@@lesliecartagena1292 if you want to be a tattoo artist then focus on getting a tattoo apprenticeship. Practice line works, color theory, composition. Not only would you waste time learning piercing skills that will not translate to tattooing- you insult piercing by doing this. Piercing is it’s -own- career path. It’s not a stepping stone to tattooing.

Check the latest video I just posted. ;) but watch the whole thing cause I deep dive in fakir in that

Unfortunately no, you need to be 18 to apprentice! Partially because studios work around unclothed bodies but primarily because studios handle blood and bodily fluids- you need to be 18 to work around these things and take those risks.

Honestly so many clients are mean to us that I will accept any client being nice for any reason whatsoever at this point.