Questions

Yes — we work by appointment. Email us to reserve a consultation and we will confirm a time by return. This lets us prepare your jewellery and give your session the time it deserves.

Online booking and phone reservations are not live yet. Until the studio opens, every consultation starts with an email to hello@pariah.au — or use the Reserve page.

When bookings open and we confirm your appointment, we may ask for a deposit. It is credited in full against your balance on the day.

The deposit protects both your time and ours. With at least 48 hours' notice we will move your appointment and roll the deposit forward. Less than 48 hours' notice, or a no-show, forfeits the deposit.

Life happens — we completely understand. As long as you let us know at least 48 hours before your appointment, we'll happily reschedule you at no extra cost and your deposit rolls over to the new date.

Cancellations with less than 48 hours' notice, or no-shows, will forfeit the deposit. If you're running late on the day, just message us — we'll always try to accommodate where we can.

As a general guide, we recommend no more than three to four piercings in a single session. Beyond that, your body is dealing with a lot at once — multiple fresh wounds means multiple immune responses, which can slow healing across all of them.

There are exceptions: a curated ear project with a trusted plan, for example, might involve more placements. We'll always discuss what's realistic and what's in your best interest before we start.

Not while we are opening. Consultations are by reservation only — email us and we will find a time. Walk-in policy, if any, will be announced with the studio opening.

Curated ear projects and multiple placements always need a booked consultation so we can plan placement and jewellery properly.

Eat a proper meal within a couple of hours of your appointment — low blood sugar makes people feel faint, and piercing on an empty stomach is one of the most common reasons people have a rough experience. Stay hydrated, avoid alcohol for 24 hours before, and get a decent night's sleep if you can.

Wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothing that gives easy access to the area being pierced. Beyond that, just show up — we'll take care of everything else.

Honestly? It's a sharp sensation, but it's brief — the actual needle takes less than a second. Most people are surprised by how manageable it is compared to what they'd imagined. That said, pain is personal: the same piercing can feel like nothing to one person and significant to another.

Placement matters too. Cartilage tends to feel more pressure than lobes; nipple and navel piercings vary widely. We'll always talk you through what to expect for your specific piercing before we start, so you're never caught off guard.

Plan for around 30–45 minutes for a single piercing — this includes the consultation, marking the placement (which you sign off on), sterilisation setup, the piercing itself, and a full aftercare walkthrough. We never rush this process.

For curated ear curation sessions or multiple piercings, allow an hour to an hour and a half. If you're unsure how long to block out, just ask when you book and we'll give you a realistic estimate based on what you're planning.

Absolutely — and we encourage it. We stock a range of implant-grade titanium, solid gold, and niobium pieces, and you'll browse with your piercer to select jewellery that's appropriate for the placement and right for your anatomy.

Initial jewellery needs to be the correct length and gauge to accommodate swelling, so your piercer may guide you toward specific sizes. Once you've healed and downgraded to shorter jewellery, the aesthetic choice is entirely yours.

Nerves are completely normal and we've heard it all — please just tell us. We'll slow things down, take more time with the consultation, and explain every step before we take it. Nobody at Pariah will ever make you feel embarrassed for being anxious.

If at any point you want to pause, stop, or just have a moment, say so. Your comfort isn't a burden — it's the whole point. We'd rather take twice as long and have you leave happy than rush through and have you leave shaken.

Yes — one support person is welcome in the piercing room. Having someone you trust with you can genuinely help if you're nervous, and we're happy to have them there.

We do ask that support people stay calm, let the piercer work, and don't crowd the space. If a support person becomes disruptive or makes the environment less safe, we may ask them to wait outside — but this rarely happens.

We use single-use, sterile, hollow needles — the same type used in medical and clinical settings. Every needle is opened in front of you from sealed packaging and immediately disposed of in a sharps bin after use. Nothing is ever reused.

Hollow needles remove a tiny core of tissue to create a clean channel, which heals significantly better than the tissue damage caused by a gun. The result is a cleaner wound, less trauma, and a faster, more comfortable healing process.

Our initial piercing jewellery is implant-grade titanium (ASTM F136) as standard — it's biocompatible, lightweight, hypoallergenic, and comes in a full range of anodised colours. For clients seeking luxury options, we also use solid 14k and 18k gold and implant-grade niobium.

We do not use surgical steel as initial jewellery. Despite its common use in the industry, steel contains nickel and chromium, which can cause reactions in sensitive individuals. Everything we use meets or exceeds APP material standards.

Implant-grade titanium (ASTM F136) is the same material used for surgical implants like hip replacements and bone screws — it's been rigorously tested for long-term compatibility with the human body. It contains no nickel, making it the gold standard for fresh piercing jewellery.

It's also one of the lightest metals available, which matters enormously for piercings like lobes and cartilage where heavy jewellery can migrate or cause tearing over time. The combination of biocompatibility, light weight, and surface quality makes it our default choice for initial jewellery.

For initial piercings, we're not able to use jewellery you bring from outside the studio. This is a safety matter, not a sales policy — we need to be certain that the jewellery meets implant-grade material standards and has been properly sterilised in our autoclave.

For healed piercings where you're swapping existing jewellery, we're happy to do that using your own pieces, provided the metal is appropriate. Email a photo and we will tell you whether it looks suitable; once we are open, bring the piece to your appointment and we will assess it in person.

Once the studio is open, you can reserve a jewellery consultation without booking a piercing — we will help assess fit, sizing, and insertion for healed piercings.

Until then, browse the Collection and Catalogue online, try pieces in the Fitting Room preview, and email us about anything you want held or sourced.

Threadless (also called press-fit) jewellery is a two-piece system: a labret post and a decorative end that connects via a slight bend in the post, creating tension that holds it securely in place — no screwing required. It's the system we use almost exclusively at Pariah because it's extremely secure, easy to change, and puts much less stress on a healing piercing than a threaded system.

Once you understand the mechanism it takes about five seconds to change an end, and the range of decorative tops available — from simple opals to intricate gold clusters — is vast. It's genuinely one of the best developments in piercing jewellery in decades.

Healing times vary enormously by placement and person. As a rough guide: earlobes 3–6 months, cartilage 6–18 months, nostril 4–6 months, navel 9–12 months, nipples 9–18 months. These are ranges, not guarantees — your overall health, sleep, diet, and consistency with aftercare all play a role.

An important note: a piercing that looks healed on the outside can still be actively healing inside. Don't rush to change jewellery based on appearance alone — always check in with us if you're unsure, especially before downsizing.

A sterile, preservative-free 0.9% saline wound wash — that's it. Spray or apply twice a day, leave it alone, and let your body do the work. We'll provide you with an aftercare card and recommend specific products when you leave.

Do not use tea tree oil, Dettol, Savlon, surgical spirit, or antibacterial soap on a fresh piercing. These products are too harsh, damage the healing tissue, and can trigger reactions that look like infection but aren't. Clean and simple wins every time.

Not until you've been checked by your piercer and given the go-ahead. This isn't just a studio policy — changing jewellery too early is one of the most common reasons piercings go wrong. Even when a piercing feels healed, the tissue can still be fragile.

The first change will typically be a downsize (swapping to shorter jewellery once swelling has subsided), which we do here at the studio. After that, once fully healed, you have much more freedom — but we're always here to do jewellery changes if you're not comfortable doing it yourself.

Downsizing means swapping your initial (longer) bar for a shorter piece once swelling has gone down — usually around 6–10 weeks after piercing. The longer bar is there to accommodate swelling; once that's resolved, leaving long jewellery in place can cause snagging, migration, and pressure bumps.

Yes, almost everyone needs it, and yes, it genuinely matters. Once the studio is open, an aftercare check-in is included in your appointment cost — we will assess whether you are ready to downsize and do the swap. Until then, email us if a fresh piercing needs attention.

Don't panic — bumps on healing piercings are common and usually not a sign of infection. The most frequent cause is irritation: sleeping on it, snagging it, changing jewellery too early, using the wrong cleaning products, or wearing jewellery that's too short or too long.

Email us a clear photo of the bump — hello@pariah.au — and we will help you figure out what is causing it and what to do next, whether that is a jewellery change, an aftercare adjustment, or reassurance that it is a normal part of the process. Do not pop, squeeze, or apply essential oils to it.

True piercing infections are actually quite rare when initial jewellery is appropriate and aftercare is followed. What most people mistake for infection is irritation — redness, tenderness, and some discharge are all normal parts of the healing process, especially in the first few weeks.

Signs that warrant medical attention: spreading redness, significant warmth, thick yellow or green discharge, fever, or red streaking away from the piercing. If you're genuinely unsure, see your GP and message us — we're not doctors and can't diagnose, but we can help you understand what you're looking at and whether it needs professional attention.

Most piercings require clients to be 18 or over. For earlobe piercings only, we will see clients aged 16–17 with a parent or legal guardian present, written consent, and valid photo ID for both.

We do not pierce anyone under 16 — cartilage, lip, nose, facial, and body placements are 18 and over. There are no exceptions. We will ask for ID if there is any doubt.

We accept passport, national ID card, driving licence (full or provisional), or any PASS-accredited proof of age card. The ID must be current and photo-bearing.

We cannot accept screenshots, photocopies, or expired documents. If you're unsure whether your ID will be accepted, email hello@pariah.au before you travel — better to check than to arrive and be turned away.

We hold ourselves to clinical sterilisation standards. All reusable equipment is cleaned, packaged, and processed through a Class B autoclave, which is regularly tested and logged. All needles, receiving tubes, and single-use items are opened in front of you from sealed sterile packaging and disposed of in approved sharps or clinical waste containers immediately after use.

Our piercers work in full PPE, surfaces are disinfected between every client, and all jewellery is autoclaved prior to insertion — even jewellery that comes in sterile factory packaging. We don't cut corners here. If you'd like to see our sterilisation logs or certificates, just ask.

Absolutely not. Piercing guns cannot be properly sterilised (most are plastic and can't withstand autoclave temperatures), they force a blunt stud through tissue rather than removing a core of it, and they cause significantly more trauma. The Association of Professional Piercers has campaigned against gun use for years, and the evidence is clear.

Every piercing at Pariah is performed with a single-use, sterile, hollow needle. It's safer, cleaner, heals better, and frankly hurts less. There is no context in which a gun is the better tool — we feel strongly about this.

Our standards are informed by the Association of Professional Piercers (APP) — hygiene, jewellery materials, and technique. We work to those protocols: implant-grade initial jewellery, single-use needles, autoclave sterilisation, and no piercing guns.

That is a practice commitment, not a membership badge. If you want the detail, ask — we would rather show the protocol than imply a credential we have not named.