Health and Safety Standards
We are committed to providing you with the highest health and safety standards. Read on to learn more about our studio.
Certifications
All of our staff, tattoo artists, and piercers must hold a valid Bloodborne Pathogen Training Certificate, which is renewed annually. Our piercers must also hold a valid First Aid and CPR Level 1 Certificate, these are renewed every 3 years via the St. Johns Ambulance Occupational Training Course.
Disinfection
While our staff and shop assistants clean and disinfect the studio daily, we also employ a third party commercial cleaning service. Our studio is deep cleaned weekly and the floors are cleaned with an industrial auto scrubber. You could eat off our floors! But please, don't. This service is provided by our friends at Jan Pro Commercial Cleaning and Disinfection Services.
Sterile Gloves
Our studio uses disposable nitrile gloves for all tattoo and piercing related appointments. Our piercers wear individually packaged sterile nitrile gloves for each piercing procedure.
Sterilization
Most of our piercing supplies are disposable and arrive sterile. Everything else is sterilized in house, including our jewelry. We employ a third party biological indicator testing service monthly, to ensure our machines are working properly. We house two autoclaves, one Tuttnauer EZ10 Kwikklave in our bioroom and a Statim G4 2000 cassette autoclave in our piercing room. We keep autoclave log records and run spore tests weekly in house.
Downsizing
Most piercings are started with jewelry that is a bit longer or larger in diameter to accommodate for initial swelling. Once the initial swelling has subsided, please visit Proper Poke for a jewelry downsize. We typically recommend that you visit approximately 6 to 8 weeks after your piercing. If you sleep on your piercing or it is otherwise irritated, it can cause a permanent distortion in the angle of the piercing, it can drift. Downsizing your jewelry in a timely manner can prevent any drift and distortion from happening. There is no service charge for a downsize, but jewelry fees apply.
Internal or Threadless Only
Internally threaded and Threadless (Press-fit) jewelry is part of the APP standard for initial piercing jewelry. The part of the jewelry that passes through your skin is smooth, and the threads and pins are on the removable end, such as balls, gems, or spikes. Internally threaded and threadless jewelry avoids any possibility of scraping your tissue with sharp threads, which is especially important with fresh piercings.
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Posts vs. Rings
We install posts for most fresh piercings. The pressure on a fresh piercing site by a ring can cause issues and potentially piercing bumps. We recommend waiting at least 6 months post piercing before switching to a ring. Come back and see us 6 months post piercing and we will help fit you with a ring of your choice.
Education
Our piercers are proud members of the Association of Professional Piercers. The APP is an international health and safety organization. It is a nonprofit voluntary alliance dedicated to the dissemination of information about body piercing.
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Members must adhere to stringent health and safety standards. Our piercers receive continued training and certification so we can provide the best techniques and most current standards.
