Last Updated: March 3rd, 2022 by
Piercings have always been a big part of body art worldwide. As a professional piercer, you’ll work with clients who want to puncture parts of their skin to attach implements or jewelry of their choice.
This guide will walk you through how to become a piercer. First, you’ll discover what it takes to pursue this exciting career path. Then, you’ll see how rewarding this line of work could be for you in the future.
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Job Description
As a professional piercer, your job is to use specialized equipment to install piercings and jewelry on a client’s body.
Before that happens, you must meet with clients to understand what piercings they want and where they want them.
At the same time, you’ll make recommendations to your clients on the best piercing types and locations on their bodies.
Overall, according to local health and safety regulations, you are also responsible for performing your work safely in a sterile environment. All of that will ensure you perform piercings without causing infections or injuries while minimizing pain as much as possible.
What Does an Average Day for a Piercer Look Like?
Before you decide to learn how to become a piercer, it’s helpful to discover what the day-to-day work looks like.
So, here’s what an average day on the job will look like for you as a professional piercer:
Sterilize Work Equipment and Areas
Your work as a piercer involves puncturing your client’s skin to install a piercing of their choice. That’s why hygiene is critical in your line of work.
Every single day on the job will begin with cleaning your equipment, work area, and the studio as a whole.
It’s not enough to keep those things dust-free. Instead, you must go above and beyond to sterilize the space according to the state’s health and safety procedures.
Meeting Clients to Provide Advice and Guidance
When the studio opens for the day, you’ll start to meet with clients in person.
Some of the appointments you’ll have are with first-time or returning clients that are scheduled to see you.
However, you’ll also have walk-in clients who visit you to ask questions about the services you provide.
Of course, you should always prioritize the clients who’ve made appointments to see you. Still, interacting with walk-in clients is also essential for your business in the long run.
During your meetings, you’ll listen to clients to understand their desires. Then, you’ll provide recommendations in terms of piercing types and placements.
Performing Piercings
Once the client agrees to pay for a specific piercing, you’ll set a time when they’ll come in for that procedure.
You’ll use a wide range of equipment to puncture your client’s skin where necessary and install the piercing.
Most importantly, you’ll do so in the safest and most painless way possible. Aside from preventing pain, your goal is to avoid infections and injuries to your client.
Recommending Aftercare Products
After you complete the piercing, you’ll have to provide your client with aftercare guidance. For example, you’ll tell your clients to avoid doing certain activities while recovering from the piercing.
Besides that, you can also advise them on the aftercare products that will help them recover as comfortably as possible.
Updating on Health and Safety Procedures
Lastly, you must always devote at least a small part of your day to health and safety procedures. That means you’ll check with your state health authority’s website or bulletin boards for any changes that apply to you and your business.
In doing so, you’ll always ensure that your work as a professional piercer stays compliant with local health and safety laws.
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Process for Becoming a Piercer
The journey that you’ll go through when learning how to become a piercer is unlike many other types of careers.
While there aren’t any formal education requirements for this role, there’s still plenty that you’ll have to learn before you work with your first customer.
Here are the different stages you’ll go through to become a professional piercer:
1. Study and Participate in the Industry
Here’s some excellent news about becoming a professional piercer. So if you’re even half-curious about this line of work, you can find out all about it right now without going to school or paying a single cent.
The first step to becoming a piercer is studying and being a part of the industry. For example, you can go to body piercing studios or local piercing events and talk to the people there.
Doing that will allow you to understand the lifestyle, equipment, and methods professional piercers live by.
Most professional piercers are enthusiasts themselves. So, they’ll also start their journey by being on the receiving end of professional body piercings.
2. Satisfy the Basic Requirements
There are still some basic requirements that you must satisfy to pursue this career path. For example, you must be at least 18 years old. Besides that, you must have perfect vision, and your hand-eye coordination must also be excellent.
The requirements can differ between states. So, check with your state health authority to know what requirements apply to you.
3. Find a Mentor
Next, you should search for a professional and experienced piercer willing to take you under their wing.
Your mentor should be someone you trust and someone willing to teach you. But, more importantly, they should be from a reputable piercing studio and have plenty of experience that you can learn from.
4. Pursue an Apprenticeship
Once you find a mentor, you can pursue an apprenticeship under their guidance.
Again, there are no strict requirements regarding apprenticeships or how your mentor should carry them out.
Typically, though, apprenticeships last anywhere from 6-12 months. Depending on the studio and mentor providing you with the apprenticeship, they can also be paid or unpaid.
A typical apprenticeship will require you to perform tasks like:
- Observe your mentor
- Sanitize piercing tools and equipment
- Filling out the relevant paperwork
- Performing supervised piercings when your mentor feels you’re ready
5. Undergo Health and Safety Training
Being a professional piercer also means that you’re a body artist. So, because your work involves hands-on interaction with customers’ bodies, you must also undergo health and safety training as part of your journey.
Some of the health and safety courses you’ll take are required by your state. For example, first-aid training and CPR training are required in many states.
Besides that, you’ll also have to take training on bloodborne pathogens and other health and safety courses required by your state and the Association of Professional Piercers (APP).
6. Obtain a License
Depending on where you are, the state might require you to have a license to work as a professional piercer.
Obtaining that license might require you to pass an exam on local health and safety laws that apply to your work as a piercer.
Here’s an example of the requirements for body piercers by Florida Health.
Are You Suited for a Piercer Career? Skills, Credentials, Tools and Technology
Working as a body piercer can be a fulfilling career. Still, there’s much more that goes into learning how to become a piercer than meets the eye at first.
Here are some of the personality traits, skills, and proficiencies you will need to succeed in this role, especially if you’re in it for the long run.
Personality and Skills
In terms of personality traits and skills, you must have or be willing to develop strong customer service skills, attention to detail, and creativity.
As a professional piercer, you’ll be working face-to-face with the clients that you serve. That means you must always provide the best customer service skills you can.
Those skills include answering customer questions, managing their expectations, and delivering on their requests wherever possible.
Besides that, your work also involves piercing a wide range of body parts and placing small and large piercings. As such, your attention to detail will also be crucial to help you do an excellent job.
Lastly, this role also requires you to have creativity. Professional piercers like you will not only listen to what the customers want. You’ll also recommend piercing types and locations that suit the customer.
Credentials and Proficiencies
Your role goes above and beyond just giving the customer what they want. Instead, you’ll also have to do it as safely and painlessly as possible. That’s why you must be proficient in piercing methods and equipment, hygiene, and first aid as well.
Customers can ask you for many different types of piercings. That’s why you’ll need to be proficient in the many different piercing methods and equipment necessary.
Besides that, you must also understand the importance of hygiene. Keeping your studio and equipment clean is required to prevent customers from developing infections.
Lastly, knowing how to perform first aid will also be crucial when injuries happen. That way, you can provide first aid on the spot instead of waiting for a medical professional.
How Does a Piercer Find Work?
After you finish learning how to become a piercer, it’s time to find a job. Professional piercers typically find work in one of two ways:
- Self-employment: Many piercers choose to work for themselves. You can serve clients by going to their homes or purchasing a studio of your own.
- Professional studio: Piercers can also choose to work with an established professional studio. These places typically have several professional piercers working in the same location catering to clients.
No matter where you choose to work, remember that professional pierces and other body artists form a very small, tight-knit community. So, it’s common for piercers to find clients through referrals and word-of-mouth.
One way to develop a positive reputation in the community and help you find work is to make yourself recognizable in your local body art scene.
For example, you can participate in body art events and frequent body art studios to get piercings and tattoos for yourself.
Taking those steps will help you make friends with professional piercers and allow them to get to know you as well.
What is the Average Salary of a Piercer?
The average salary for a professional piercer can vary. So, learning how to become a piercer is just as important as where you choose to work.
For example, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that Craft and Fine Artists (including body artists) earn an average of $69,650 a year.
The same data by the BLS also shows that:
- Those in the top 90th percentile earn $116,350 a year
- Those in the bottom 10th percentile earn $27,860 a year
Where Do Professional Piercers Earn the Most?
According to the same data by the BLS, the 5 highest-paying states for body artists are:
- Maryland: $100,010
- New York: $96,830
- Georgia: $92,350
- Massachusetts: $85,940
- Florida: $85,700
How Do You Earn More as a Piercer?
You can earn more as a professional piercer by strengthening your piercing skills. For example, you can develop skills in the more challenging forms of piercing. That way, clients seeking those piercings will come to you to get the job done correctly.
Besides that, you can also pursue training and apprenticeship in other closely related forms of body art.
For example, some body artists specialize in providing piercings and tattoos to their clients in the same studio.
By doing that, you’ll enable yourself to offer clients a more comprehensive range of body art products and services.
Another way to earn more as a professional piercer is to focus more on customer service. Your role involves close interactions with your clients.
So, improving your ‘bedside manner’ will go a very long way towards attracting more business to your piercing studio. Happy customers will be more likely to return while also recommending you to their friends and families through word-of-mouth.
Piercer Job Growth
It’s pretty challenging to estimate the job growth for professional piercers. That’s because the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Occupational Information Network (O*Net) both do not gather data on body piercers specifically.
However, information from the BLS shows that Craft and Fine Artists (including body artists) can expect a 14% job growth from 2020 to 2030. The BLS considers that growth rate to be “faster than average”.
That growth rate shows that it’s well worth the effort if you’re interested in learning how to become a piercer.
5 Other Types of Body Art Specializations
Piercing is a form of body art, and body artists typically share the same communities. It’s also common for a professional piercer to offer additional body art services in the same studio.
So, here are 5 other types of body art that you can consider offering as well:
Tattoos
Tattoos are permanent designs on the skin. A tattoo artist will inject colored ink under the skin with a tattoo gun to create those designs that last a lifetime.
Temporary Tattoos
Some clients can’t have permanent tattoos or don’t want them for various reasons. For example, some clients have allergic skin reactions to tattoo ink, while others want to avoid getting a permanent design on their skin.
So, you can offer clients a wide range of alternatives, such as henna tattoos that only last a few days or weeks.
Cosmetic Tattooing
Some body art studios also offer cosmetic tattooing. These are often known as ‘permanent makeup’ because they provide the appearance of makeup. However, these are still tattoos, which means they require a tattoo artist’s skills, and the designs are permanent.
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Scarification
There are also niche forms of body art that involve much more intensive procedures. For instance, scarification is a form of body art that uses surgical tools to cut the skin and deliberately create scar tissue.
Of course, this is done according to the designs that the client wants for their body.
Branding
Another niche form of body art is branding. Here, the artist uses hot surgical steel (for hot branding) or dry ice (for cold branding) to leave permanent scars on the client’s skin. But, again, the designs of those scars will be whatever the client choose for themselves.
Professional Associations
Most of your journey to learn how to become a piercer involves interactions with mentors and other professional piercers. You can connect with them through associations like:
Association of Professional Piercers (APP)
International Body Arts Association (IBAA)
Alliance of Professional Tattooists
Body Art Education Alliance (BAEA)
Top Colleges and Universities
There are no education requirements for learning how to become a piercer. Instead, you can pursue piercing courses offered by local piercing studios in your area.
However, many professional piercers choose to study cosmetology in college.
Some of the top cosmetology schools include: