We’re contacted about this constantly.
The good news is that the Association of Professional Piercers (APP) recently established guidelines for apprenticeships. These guidelines establish fundamentals that you should learn, an outline of how many hours and procedures you should expect to observe and then be supervised performing, as well as establishing criteria for potential mentors.
Learning to Pierce
Read the APP Apprenticeship Guide >
Apprenticeships are a lot of work for both the trainee and the mentor.
If we’re going to offer training to a candidate, here’s what we would like to see:
If we’re going to offer training to a candidate, here’s what we would like to see:
- You must be at least 18 years old. Due to the “mature” nature of our business and potential exposure to BBP, we can’t offer apprenticeships to anyone under 18.
- Dedication to receiving safe piercings. We need to know you’re not only serious about being a piercer, but about being a GOOD piercer. That means you’ve sought out quality experiences for yourself and your friends, and have been a regular client of our shop. You certainly can’t say you want to be trained and work in a shop you’ve never set foot in.
- Dedication to learning. By taking it upon yourself to receive training in CPR, First Aid, BBP as well as classes in Anatomy/Physiology/Histology, Infection Control Practices, Sterilizer Technology, Biomaterials Science, etc, it shows us that you really care about understanding the fundamentals. These skills and knowledge are the building blocks upon which your apprenticeship will be built. We can’t start any hands on training until you have this knowledge. We require BBP training from the Association of Professional Piercers.
- An understanding of the history of our craft. We’ve come a LONG way since 1992, but it’s still important to know how we got here. Read up on old PFIQ issues, the Point articles, Modern Primitives and the like to get a better picture of the roots of the industry.
- A good work ethic. How fast you move through your apprenticeship and if you ultimately complete your training are largely up to you. If you aren’t willing to put in the hard work to learn the necessary skills, you’ll never make it to “piercer” status. It’s up to you to do your “homework” and practice boring things like properly putting on gloves until you get it right. We want to see that you have a history of completing projects on your own.
- A support system. Until your apprenticeship moves into it’s later stages, you’ll get very few paid hours at the shop. You’ll need another paying job or some other way to support yourself while you’re learning.
- Good customer service and communications skills. Many of you are more comfortable communicating by texts messages than anything else, but you still need to be able to answer the phone or reply to an email in an intelligent and professional way. You’ll need to handle all sorts of customers and answer their questions in a mature manner while you’re at the shop. Sometimes the most important thing to know is what you don’t know, so you can get your mentor involved before you give someone incorrect information.
What is expected of an apprentice
- You will be expected to work as a counter person at least 2 days a week. This is a win-win situation for both you and Piercing Experience. Your shifts behind the counter give you plenty of experience with customers, let you learn EVERYTHING you can about jewelry, and give you plenty of time to learn all of our policies and procedures. The benefit to us is that we know we’ll have someone behind the counter who is really enthusiastic! You must work for at least 6 months in this role *before* we’ll consider beginning your training.
- You will have “school days” as well. While there is plenty of things to learn behind the counter, your duties there can make it hard to watch procedures and learn move of the actual mechanics. There will be shadowing of procedures and other learning opportunities.
- Initially, you’ll have a lot of “homework”. There’s a lot of background information that you’ll be responsible for learning. It will mean reading a lot of textbooks and scholarly journals at night, then discussing with your mentor when you’re in the shop. And yes, you will be tested!
- Once you’ve learned the background information and can demonstrate basic asepsis and proper gloving, you will start to work hands on with clients. The first procedures will be helping change jewelry in healed piercings, then in unhealed piercings.
- Performing actual piercings is the last step. You’ll need very good friends to practice on!
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Background Information.
- A lot of this will be “homework” that you’ll read and study on your own, then discuss with your mentor afterwards.Safe jewelry materials.
- How sterilization works.
- Disinfection and environmental cleaning.
- Hand hygiene and gloves.
- Anatomy and histology.
- Wound healing.
- Skin preparation for piercing.
- BBP training from the APP including handling needle sticks.
- Standard precautions and aseptic technique.
- Information on gemstones and other decorative elements.
- Required reading:
- Berry and Kohn’s Operating Room Technique
- College level Anatomy textbook
- CDC Infection Prevention Practices
- CDC Hand Hygiene in Healthcare Settings
- ASTM standards
Other shop skills
As you’re beginning to learn, you’ll also begin see how this information applies to piercing procedures by watching how your mentor works. This will include all types of piercings and other procedures like jewelry changes and removals.
- Answering phone calls and emails professionally.
- Using out POS.
- Familiarizing yourself with the jewelry inventory in the studio.
- Jewelry sales techniques.
- Handling customers and dealing with problems.
- Explaining aftercare instructions.
- How to measure jewelry with tools like calipers.
- Anodizing titanium and niobium.
- How to handle, inspect, clean, sterilize and package jewelry.
- How to setup jewelry, sharps, and other tools for a piercing.
- Proper use and maintenance of the autoclave.
- Handling client paperwork.
As you’re beginning to learn, you’ll also begin see how this information applies to piercing procedures by watching how your mentor works. This will include all types of piercings and other procedures like jewelry changes and removals.
Hands on practice under supervision of your mentor.
Once you’ve learned the basic background information and can demonstrate proper handwashing and putting on gloves, you can move on to simple hands on procedures.
Once you’ve learned the basic background information and can demonstrate proper handwashing and putting on gloves, you can move on to simple hands on procedures.
- Measuring anatomy to determine proper jewelry sizing.
- Setting up jewelry and tools to sterilize for a piercing.
- Marking and cleaning the skin prior to piercing.
- Changing jewelry in healed piercings.
- Changing jewelry in unhealed piercings.
- Once you’ve shown your competent with those hands on skill, you can begin simple piercings under supervision.
- Earlobe
- Helix
- Lip
- After success with simple piercings, you’ll move onto more complex piercings while your mentor observes.
- Performing simple piercings on your own. After you’ve had multiple simple piercings come out well with supervision, you’ll start to perform them while your mentor is in the studio, but not directly observing. You’ll still have your mentor available in the studio if you need help.
- Performing other piercings on your own. As you show that you can successfully perform other piercings, they’ll get added to the list of ones you can perform without direct supervision. You’ll have a more experienced piercer in the studio to help and consult.
- Becoming a junior piercer. As your apprenticeship wraps up and you have most of the common piercings on your approved list, you’ll work in the studio with another more experienced piercer to help out with consultations and other questions. This will help you learn about unique anatomical situations, selecting the best jewelry, different approaches to the actual piercing technique, and just becoming a better piercer overall.