Perspectives

“… when I can finally go back to work, I am hoping that the balance I’ve learned during this time improves who I am at work and who I am as a piercer. I want to be a healthy and happy employee and practitioner who is focused and pleasant to be around.”

Megan Naito

APP Member, Piercer, Memento Mori Studos Inc. Abbotsford, BC Canada

Writing submitted April 26, 2020

Nobody knows exactly what to expect during a pandemic. However, when isolation began, I never imagined many of the outcomes of my industry-work life.

One of the most surprising results of the pandemic has been rediscovering an identity outside of piercing. Before COVID-19, I spent most of my days working and commuting long distances to and from work. I don’t have a partner or children. After work, I would spend time on industry related tasks such as networking, building a social media presence, and editing piercing photos. Sometimes people don’t even realize how hard it is for them to turn off work mode; I didn’t even realize it was happening.

Obviously, I wasn’t always a piercer. I used to pass the time with many activities that I had forgotten I enjoy. It had been a long time since I read   a book, and it has been refreshing to photograph something that is not a piercing. Sometimes it feels like engaging in activities that don’t directly benefit the industry is unproductive. I have been realizing that this is an unfortunate outlook to have. I think that realizing that I flourish better as an introvert, instead of forcing myself to be an extrovert, will allow me to maximize my potential when the pandemic subsides. I now have a better grasp on what is a healthy balance between industry and non-industry activities (for me). I want to be a well-rounded individual who can integrate with many different types of people.

It will be a long time before things return even remotely back to normal. I worry about what it will be like to source PPE, maintain a plausible amount of social distancing, and if there will be sufficient business. However, when I can finally go back to work, I am hoping that the balance I’ve learned during this time improves who I am at work and who I am as a piercer. I want to be a healthy and happy employee and practitioner who is focused and pleasant to be around.

Annie Patrick Buechlein

Tattoo Kaiju/Annie the Impaler Bloomington, Indiana USA Article submitted April 30, 2020

It was tax time in the piercing industry and all was well. Clients were spending lots of money and leaving big tips. Conference registration had opened up; piercers were buying flights and hotel rooms. Then it struck. Right in the middle of the busy season; Coronavirus (COVID-19) punched all body modification artists right in the face. Total knockout. Studios across the country were forced to close.

People waited for stimulus checks from the government and special business loans. The overwhelming amount of relief applications broke the unemployment website, because it couldn’t handle the traffic. A time of uncertainty, confusion, and stress joined the world together in sadness and fear as we tried to find a “new normal”. Everything was upside down.

As a piercer who has been off work for 45 days at the time of writing this article, how has this changed my life? Well let me tell you…

I am thankful that I procrastinated and didn’t register yet for Conference or my other cross country trip to Colorado. It seems that this flaw paid off for  once.

I am at my home with my husband, Neil, and my children, Jax (age 3) and Memphis (age 13). My older son spends time doing his schoolwork online and does conference calls with his class on Zoom. My toddler screams a lot and runs around like a stir crazy maniac. My husband just tries to hold it together, because he can see that I’m going even more crazy. Our three cats and our dog add their own unique energy.

My time of peace and quiet, and adult interaction that I normally have at my shop are over for now, and it’s very hard for me to accept. I am overwhelmed by the sibling bickering and loud noises without my refuge of work. I enjoy the time with my family, don’t get me wrong, but it is also very overwhelming. The stress of this situation has turned up everyone’s crazy level, especially mine. I miss my clients very much. I miss just being able to “shoot the breeze”, as my grandparents would call it, or just stand around and chit chat with people. I miss hugging people and shaking hands.

I am grateful that I have been able to have the internet to connect with people during this unprecedented time. I have taken several webinar classes and done some continuing education in order to be productive, but to be honest, it’s depressing for me because I know I can’t practice what I’m learning about. I have texted with clients and have been able to do some online jewelry sales, which has helped me continue to be able to pay my bills. I know I’m doing better than many, so maybe I shouldn’t complain, but at the same time, this is not a contest. Everyone in the world is affected by this virus and most have been hurting financially and mentally.

As a person who has always had mental health issues, the uncertainty right now has taken my anxiety to a new level. My career was really looking up. I moved studios and had been at my new location for about seven months. Everything was going great and my business was growing. New clients, better jewelry, more education, new skills, guest spots, traveling, finally being able to take care of my family and be successful in business. The sudden shutdown of that hit me hard with a sense of failure, that I had worked so hard for nothing and it was taken away so quickly.

Some states are beginning to open, but to be honest, I don’t feel that it’s a good idea. I don’t think it’s safe for me to put my fingers in another person’s nose or mouth at this time. I just don’t have enough information, or maybe I should saythat I have too much information. The information is all over the place and I don’t know what to believe. I am overwhelmed by it all. I do know that I’m not alone, which helps. Let me be clear: I don’t want anyone else to have to feel as bad and as stressed out as I feel, but having solidarity with other people and knowing we are all in this together does help. I try to make calls and texts a couple times a week and just check in on others. When I’m having a good day, I call and tell them that their bad day will pass, and good days will come; that their upset mood will also swing back and forth and surely tomorrow will be a better day.

I had a quarantine birthday. I turned 41 years old. I felt like an angry child, because I just wanted to have a party and I couldn’t. I wore a tiara with cat ears and fancy makeup to Walmart; it was pretty exciting. My friend who drives an ambulance rolled up in front of my house and ran the sirens, probably scaring the neighbors to death thinking we had “The ‘Rona”. A friend stood six feet away to watch me open my gift she brought over. I got takeout from my favorite restaurants for three days in a row. I went on an online shopping spree to a new, local plant store and fed my plant addiction. My family took me to a hidden spot at the lake and made me a bonfire. It ended up being a beautiful day and a great celebration regardless. I struggle with change and change is unavoidable right now.

I have had clients call with issues that I couldn’t fix because I couldn’t touch them, which broke my heart. I had a client, who is a CNA, with a fresh lip piercing, get kicked in the mouth by her resident. She needed her jewelry lengthened to accommodate the excessive swelling. I couldn’t get to her to help her because of the quarantine. The jewelry began to embed. I talked her through the painful process of removing the jewelry over the phone. She ended up figuring out how to remove it, but lost the piercing. It made me so upset that I couldn’t help more. I had another client who couldn’t get her jewelry back in after surgery. It should’ve been easy for me to taper the piercings open for her, but I couldn’t because of the virus and now three of her piercings are closed.

I am thankful that my family loves camping and the outdoors, so we already have many supplies for social distancing in nature and outdoor activities. Nature has been my savior during these times. When I really get overwhelmed, going for a walk in the woods or just sitting in the yard helps so much. We have spent quite a bit of time hiking and fishing. We are planning a cross country camping road trip in our family van as soon as we are able. We’re also working on the van and doing home improvement projects and crafts to pass the time.

As for the future, time will tell. The governor of Indiana will address our Stay-At-Home order on Friday, and may or may not open things up. I don’t know what will happen to our businesses on the other side. I do know that things will continue to change. New policies and procedures will need to happen for studios to maintain the safest environments possible. More information will continue to come out and opinions may change, and that’s okay. All I can do is try my best to go with the flow and allow for new beginnings. I look forward to a future of touching my clients again, going inside businesses, and gatherings with friends. I’m most looking forward to spending time with my Grandmother again. Until that day comes, I can’t hug people, but I can hug trees.

Shwayze

Piercer, Superfly Tattoos San Diego, California USA

Writing submitted April 29, 2020

The outbreak of COVID-19 has made me face my taxing mental health head on, as opposed to using work as a form of escape—or more so a pause on waves of self doubt. I finally worked up the courage to reach out to set up guest spot positions and heard back from a few beautiful shops. There were so many things to look forward to, but now our industry is slowed to a trickle.

What will our PPE situation look like upon re-opening? Will clients be able to pay for services since they’ve been displaced from work? What will be the new normal in our industry?

Luckily I’ve been able to attend a few zoom piercing courses offered by wonderful instructors. So it’s not entirely bad, but I CANNOT wait to go back to work. I’m hoping that shops with less than ideal standards see this as an eye opener and step up their safety protocols, and as a whole our industry comes out on top after all of this. Stay safe and wash your hands!

Samantha Jones

Piercer, A Thin Line Tattoo Plainfield, IL USA

Writing submitted April 26, 2020

This whole thing has opened my eyes to so much. I’m not sure when I’ll feel safe enough to go back, or when I do, how long PPE will last and how hard it’s going to be to get more.

I miss doing what I love, but I know it’s going to be months until I can pierce comfortably again. I could say so much more. I love our industry so much.

Marina Pecorino

APP Membership Administrator APP Member

Body Piercing by Bink Tallahassee, FL USA

Article submitted May 5, 2020

In February, during China’s original lockdown, I began watching the coronavirus situation evolve. I’m not generally one to be vigilant about news, but I started intentionally monitoring CDC and WHO updates, as well as a selection of reliable news outlets. Watching the progression of the virus, I grew evermore concerned about PPE supply chains, and the safety of my clients, community, and family. On March 2, I reached out to the managers at the studio where I work about setting up a plan for possible coronavirus closure; the idea seemed unlikely and otherworldly, but I figured the general plan could be revised for other closures, like hurricanes which my area experiences often. In hindsight, I think a plan for closures should become a studio standard, much like needlestick and exposure control plans1. That said, my original expectation was closures of two weeks to a month with selfless cooperation from the general public.

Less than two weeks later, the situation in Italy and Iran quickly went from emerging to dire. I live in north Florida, and Spring Break season at the studio was starting to ramp up. Around this time, the first confirmed cases were being reported in the United States. On a daily basis, I had clients visiting from all over; New York, Massachusetts, Washington, California, and even internationally. I watched the news as these places quickly became epicenters of infection. As I huddled over clients (well within six feet), they regularly told me that they were heading on a cruise vacation or had just returned from one. I watched the news as several cruise ships became breeding grounds for the new coronavirus. My fears started mounting.

On March 12, I woke up to a sick toddler and my mind went into overdrive. As a person with moderately controlled asthma, I’m prone to lung distress at the slightest hint of illness. I knew that even if I had not exposed my family to what would become known as COVID-19, I was next in line for whatever illness my toddler was experiencing. Inevitably, bronchitis would follow, putting me firmly in the at-risk category. My fear had come home.

In an act of self preservation and to protect my studio and community, my family unit (partner, toddler, and pets) began sheltering at home and practicing strict social distancing immediately. I’m pretty sure my partner, and most others around me thought I was acting rashly with a healthy dose of paranoia. At this time, only eight people in my county of nearly 300,000 residents had received testing and we had no confirmed cases as of yet; test eligibility was incredibly difficult to receive.

Our regular housemates are sheltering elsewhere; one is still being required to go to work at a daycare center and a country club. We’ve kept in touch with friends and family online only. I shudder to think how the 1918 pandemic must have felt so isolating without technology. Despite housing with others and being a lifelong introvert, I have felt increasingly lonely during this experience.

“… during these unprecedented and difficult times, I’ve found some of the most genuine comfort from my piercing tribe. I often think about how fortunate I am to have access to even my most geographically distant friends and family.”

Over the last two months, I have left the house only to vote early on March 15, drop a present on a doctor friend’s doorstep, and walk the neighborhood. My partner has done only necessary grocery runs. As numerous local grocery stores have reported COVID-positive employees over the last several weeks, I’ve become increasingly concerned that  grocery  shopping  may  become a main means of transmission. This week, we’ll start getting fresh food delivered to our door by  a local farm alliance, reducing our need to leave the house considerably.

The studio moved to online only services a few days after my self-imposed quarantine. I worked with my studio managers to set a plan for online client consultations and to develop an online store, in hopes of providing some amount of income for both the studio and its employees. Unfortunately, response has been sparse as our nation faces massive unemployment without adequate public support.

In many ways I’ve felt unfairly privileged during this experience. I am witnessing those around me struggle; many are drowning in unfrozen debt or facing the possibility of losing their businesses. Some are experiencing the illness and passing of loved ones from a distance, unable to be physically present during their final moments. During this time, I’ve experienced untold amounts of self-reproach for what should make me feel grateful. To counteract my feelings of survivor’s guilt, I have done what I’m able (within my own loss of wages and mental capacity) to be supportive and present to those around me. Sometimes, that comes in the form of a manufactured smile and comforting words. Other times, I’ve used my voice, wallet, or social media presence to support my favorite small businesses, performers, or makers.

Although I’m accustomed to—and have the privilege of—working from home, my home office has changed drastically. We have crammed a second desk for my partner’s workspace (and occasionally a tiny “desk” for my child) into my small office. Our normal schedule of caregivers has ceased, so my partner and I try to balance our independent workloads and full time childcare. This has required immense amounts of patience, understanding, and negotiation; it’s still a work in progress.

I am missing studio life to my core. Having left the studio for more than three years during an existential crisis, long absences from piercing are not foreign to me. That said, I’ve been back in the studio part-time for more than a year, and the studio environment grants me an escape from my daily mom-dom. I’ve definitely lost the urge to shower as often or change out of my rattiest jeans. An incessant loop of children’s songs runs through my head. As I’m sure is the case for many others, isolation life is taking a toll on my mental health, even with my existing toolbox of medication and coping mechanisms.

That said, during these unprecedented and difficult times, I’ve found some of the most genuine comfort from my piercing tribe. I often think about how fortunate I am to have access to even my most geographically distant friends and family. Checking in regularly through digital means has saved my sanity and encouraged me to take those elusive showers or step outside. I want to take this opportunity to encourage everyone to reach out to personal and professional friends. Possibly more importantly, reach out to trained mental health providers2 without hesitation; even those without a pre-existing mental condition are understandably experiencing some difficult emotions and thoughts.

As of April 29, USAFacts.org3 and the Florida Department of Health reported more than 33,000 confirmed cases and  more  than  1,200  deaths  in Florida alone: showing a steady increase in cases, rather than decline. On the same day, despite evidence showing a lack of testing and containment5, Gov. DeSantis announced beginning “Phase One” of reopening Florida6 starting May 4.

Within this phase, restaurants and retailers are allowed to resume operations at 25% capacity. Many small business owners7 in my area have voiced hesitance and unease about reopening so soon, as confirmed cases and COVID-related deaths continue to climb in the state.

Based on the data I have access to, my family and I plan to continue sheltering at home for the foreseeable future. I don’t feel that our state (or country) has reached adequate benchmarks to ensure the safety of the public and health care professionals. I am eager for the day I feel safe interacting in person with my friends, family, colleagues, and clients, but unfortunately, that day feels farther away now than I could have ever imagined two months ago.

1“Online Courses Library,” Online Courses, Association of Professional Piercers, accessed May 5, 2020,

https://safepiercing.litmos.com/online-courses/.

2 “Stress and Coping,” Daily Life & Coping, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accessed May 5, 2020,

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/managing-stress-anxiety.html.

3 “Coronavirus Locations: COVID-19 Map by County and State,” Visualizations, USAFacts, accessed May 5, 2020,

https://usafacts.org/visualizations/coronavirus-covid-19-spread-map/

4 “2019 Novel Coronavirus Response,” COVID-19 Outbreak, Florida Health, Florida Department of Health, accessed May 1, 2020,

https://floridahealthcovid19.gov/.

5 “COVID-19 Forecases,” Cases, Data, & Surveillance, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accessed May 5, 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/forecasting-us.html.

6 “Governor Ron DeSantis Presentation – April 29, 2020,” COVID-19 Resources, COVID-19, Ron DeSantis: 46th Governor of Florida,

https://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/covid19/Safe%20Smart%20Step_Templat4.29%20FINAL.pdf.

7 Robbie Gaffney and Ryan Dailey, “Some Tallahassee Businesses Don’t Feel Safe Reopening Monday,” WFSU Public Media, April 30, 2020,

https://news.wfsu.org/2020-04-30/some-tallahassee-businesses-dont-feel-safe-reopening-monday

“We constantly adapt and change. Both growth and leadership are painful, but now is the time to grow and lead!”

Nicole Slavich

APP Member

Ghosts of Grace Tattoo & Piercing Billings, Montana USA

Article submitted April 28, 2020

Experiencing the start of the American response to COVID-19 as a Piercer and fine jewelry purveyor has been awakening  for me. My career has been a consecutive 15 years of learning to navigate  my fellow townspeople, as well as honing my “Piercerly Ways.” The people around me are like the weather here: harsh and slow to warm. I am a liberal sundog on a hot summer day.

During the six weeks of quarantine I have endured thus far, I took a no-contact job delivering food. My fine jewelry stock is small; my concern about the supply chain and the timeline of quarantine were what cemented the decision to shut down my piercing business completely. For a while, I did offer unadvertised no-contact jewelry sales to help those who reached out to me.

Over the last five years I’ve done a ton of personal work. First, separating my identity from my work, and later developing my now rich and dynamic personality and interests outside of body modification. This year, with the help of a LCSW and a traditional SSRI treatment of my lifelong depression, I have been able to build a life I love in a place I have felt that I never fit into properly. A freak shaped peg in a conservative hole, if you will.

When the Association of Professional Piercers recommended studio closure regarding COVID-19, I felt terrified. I have had many side hustles through my piercing career, but my career is my first true love. From Saturday, March 14 at closing time to Monday night on March 16 my whole life changed. Of course, lives around the world have been changed unfathomably over the last several months!

The first week of the shutdown was almost fun. People here were just excited to have time off. I pretended to be a freshly widowed trophy wife, and lived it up alone! The next week, I got to start my delivery job. Learning a new job always presents caveats of difficulty, which serve as a distraction. Nevertheless, my heart broke when I went to the store to drain the autoclaves, unplug the electronics, and rescue the plants. I removed even the three tiny, fairly inexpensive items of jewelry I let live in the jewelry case at the studio, as hope and a calculated risk for loss. I struggled for about two weeks. I was gentle with myself while I struggled. I listened to the healers I adore. These powerful, intuitive, blest, fat, hairy, brown women and femmes reminded me this is not our first time. We constantly adapt and change. Both growth and leadership are painful, but now is the time to grow and lead!

I began to interface more with our piercing community. I remembered to take my own advice: drink the water, video call your support system, cry when you feel like it, exercise your body, find joy in simple hobbies, rejoice for every drop of gratitude that sprinkles your prickled back!

As my brain felt better in my body, my compassion grew for my townspeople. They still acted foolishly: going in public without face coverings, having house parties, and not understanding how far six feet is, thus violating physical distancing. I understood though that their actions are directly fear based. In conservative, religious cultures (my town fits this description), denial is a prominent coping mechanism. Without trying to control others, I have begun to dig my heels in. I wear my mask, stay home before and after shifts, and step away every time someone is within my 6’ radius.

Then, my state chose to allow some non-essential businesses to re-open. I live in Eastern Montana, in the biggest city in the state with a population of 150,000. I am the only APP Member for a minimum of 4 hours travel time in any direction. I work as the only piercer with two tattoo artists. My coworkers continue to be supportive of me and my heavily weighed choices regarding luxury business in pandemic times. They have made great strides in changing their business along state and local guidelines for health and safety.

After having such a low daily stress job for a while, the idea of managing clients safely and all my scary questions that loomed so closely ahead, were daunting. Lucky for me, the Association of Professional Piercers has their work on such tight lock! I received supportive, informational emails and the announcement of the “Reopening, What’s That Going to Look Like?”1 Zoom panel meeting before I could even work myself into feeling overwhelmed.

Now, I’m working both jobs, with the intention to begin limited new piercing services on May 12. I am ramping up advertising, devising simple communications and safety signage, physically preparing the store, making the change to nearly all online jewelry sales and client interactions, switching from “Appointments Preferred” to “Appointment Only,” and taking good care of myself as I look forward to life as a Piercer in new light!

This time has allowed me to learn in so many new ways. I have given myself permission to enact authority based on my deep experience and varied talents. It’s a full rainbow coming for this old Sundog! I genuinely recognize we are all in different boats through the same storm. Your best is enough. HOLD FAST my friends, my community!

1“Reopening: What’s That Going to Look Like?,” Online Educational Series, Association of Professional Piercers, recorded April 24, 2020,

Leah Sarah Kent

APP Member, Studio Manager & Body Piercer Punctured Professional Body Piercing Boston, Massachusetts USA

Article submitted April 28, 2020

In a certain sense, I have always found that one thing seems to  separate  me  from my  industry peers: time. While the majority of my fellow piercers have been posting on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic that they haven’t been away from piercing for this long within the last 5, 10, 15, even 20 years, I do not share that experience. Around this time two years ago, I was actually re-entering the industry after recovering from a major car accident which kept me away from piercing for just over two months. My studio’s last day open was March 18, 2020, and the state of Massachusetts just extended our closure until at least May 18, officially marking the same two months.

On the night of February 10, 2018 I was driving casually along with a co-worker to Taco Bell in Holyoke, MA, where I was living at the time. As we drove through our green light, we were completely blindsided; hit by a drunk driver, without any headlights on, who ran a red light. I do not remember any of the accident itself, just waking up in a hospital bed screaming in pain. I broke five bones: my left ankle, my right shoulder, two ribs on my right side, and my right pelvis in two places. I had to wear a walking boot cast to support my ankle for three months, and used a walker (complete with grandma tennis balls on the feet) for about a month and a half.

At the time, my piercing career was only just beginning. I had fairly recently started working at a studio near Hartford, CT that made multiple false promises; the first being that they wanted me to assist in bringing the studio to APP standards, and the second being that my job would be waiting for me when I was able to work again. The doctors predicted about a three month full recovery time for me; I was “let go” from my job via text message just over a month after the reassurance. On that day, I threw my walker in the trunk of my (new) car and began the job hunt, with much higher standards this time around.

Flash forward to March of this year: I’m piercing five days a week and the studio manager at an amazing shop that I love, Punctured Professional Body Piercing, in the heart of Boston—my city, my home. I had just renewed my Association of Professional Piercers membership for a second year, and also just registered for my third APP Conference. The studio had seen significant growth over the past nearly two years since I started. In fact, I checked our numbers today and realized that on our last day of being fully open (Tuesday, March 17, 2020), we did more than double the amount in sales as on the corresponding Tuesday in March of 2019.

When we had to close due to COVID-19, I had just gotten to where I wanted to be in life. Though I know I look younger, I just turned 30 this past December. This is another way in which time seems to separate me from my peers; while most piercers around the same age as me (or even younger) are now quite established in their careers, I did not enter the industry until 2015, after spending five years getting my B.A. from Smith College and M.A. from Brandeis University in Women’s and Gender Studies. I proudly hang my diplomas in my piercing room mostly due to the fact that they always impress the parents of my minor clients.

Though I like to joke about being a piercer with a Master’s, the unfortunate truth, which ultimately circles back to COVID-19, is that I stepped away from the world of both academia and activism because I was simply burned out. I realized that, no, I was not going to change the world. So I became a piercer, because that is what I love. As someone who has also struggled with mental illness since my early teenage years, I decided that if I was going to continue on, I was going to do something that made me genuinely happy, not something that made me feel defeated, sad, and ultimately helpless.

COVID-19 makes me feel defeated, sad, and ultimately helpless. It’s not just about piercing and having to remain closed for so long. It’s about the systemic oppression and inequalities this virus so clearly exposes. It’s about the fact that these injustices are now so visible, yet we still have not taken any major collective action as a people to rise up and fight for a new society. I refuse to simply go back to the status quo. Yes, I want to go back to work, of course I do, because I get to be one of those lucky people who loves their job. But I do not want to go back to a society that values the economy over human lives. A society that calls its sacrifices for capitalism “essential workers” despite the fact that most of them get paid an already vastly under-inflated minimum wage. I want a socialist revolution. I want what I wanted when I decided to stop wanting it, stop working for it, and now there may not be anything left to want, for me, in life.

That is how COVID-19 has not only impacted my industry work life, but also my hopes (or now lack thereof) for the future.

Haley Grumbles

Apprentice Piercer Plano, Texas USA

Writing submitted April 27, 2020

I started my apprenticeship in August, so I was about seven months in when our shop had to close. I was finally feeling like I was on the right path and taking steps towards a career I’ve always wanted and felt passionate about. We have been shut down now for over a month and I feel like I have lost most of what I’ve learned.

I’m worried that when I go back I will be almost starting completely over.

As a positive, the online webinars have kept me busy and my mind fresh around piercing. Also, having a break from working 70+ hours a week at two jobs to make the apprenticeship even feasible financially has been a relief. It has also given me a lot to think about in terms of my future and the next steps I want to take for myself to be the best I can be when things open back up. I think I now have a clear five-year plan for my career. Which, in all this uncertainty, does have me feeling pretty good.