FAQ

We follow strict guidelines and health board rules; If you would like to come in and ask about how we keep your safety in mind, please do so and we will be more than happy to oblige you.

Autoclaves are used to sterilize the tools and piercing jewelry with heat and pressure using either steam or chemicals to make it sterile for your body. Everything that touches you should come from a sterile, sealed bag that is opened in front of you with gloved hands.
Yes, we do have an autoclave and it has been approved by a health inspector.

While we welcome friends at the shop, please keep in mind that there can only be one person in the tattoo room with you at any time.

In regards to children, we strongly discourage bringing your young children with you at the time of your appointment. Children are at no times allowed in the tattoo or piercing booths. Please remember that by nature tattoo and piercing shops can be potentially dangerous to anyone, especially young children who may not understand how not to touch certain things, such as the bio-hazardous sharps-disposal containers for example. There is a great possibility that young children may damage these materials and potentially harm themselves. It is not the responsibility of the shop and staff to monitor your children while you are being tattooed.

Bear in mind that the work we do involves the body and pain, and immense levels of concentration are required on the part of the artist as well as the customer. Having loud, crying or yelling babies and toddlers is very distracting and quite frankly disrespectful towards those working and those being worked on.

No, because there may be shock to the baby while you are pregnant, and also nursing a baby with an infected piercing or tattoo on yourself is not right.
We can’t tattoo pregnant woman, nor do we tattoo nursing mothers who have given birth less than 6 months ago.

No, swimming, hot tubs, sauna, pools or bathtub soaks. Check with your tattoo artist piercer for the times on these. Yes, you can have a shower every day!

You must be at least 16 to get piercing by yourself (18 for genital piercing), and you should bring a government issued photo ID (driver’s license, passport or other types of ID that include a photo and birth date.)
If you are under 16, you need parent or legal guardian to sign for you. Also we require photo ID from the parent as well — either a birth certificate or health care card.
If you have a legal guardian they must have legal guardianship papers with them as well.
We will not accept signed notes or phone calls, nor older sisters, aunts, friends, cousins, etc.

No, All piercings are done with single use sterile hollow point needles.

Ear piercing guns are re-useable and therefore can put you in direct contact with the previous clients’ blood or other bodily fluids. Also piercing guns can cause impact damage, make piercings hard to clean. The gun itself cannot be properly sterilized in an autoclave, it would melt. It can not be sterilized properly through our rigorous cleaning process. Therefore piercing guns are deemed unsafe and unhygienic. In easy terms, they are NOT CLEAN ENOUGH FOR YOUR BODY.

Both alcohol and peroxide can dry out the piercing, polysporin can clog it. Piercings need to breathe to be able to heal. Also polysporin is not made for puncture wounds, and that is basically what a piercing is.

No, do not remove an infected piercing until you have cleaned up the infection. As long as the jewelry is still there the piercing has a place to drain. Seek help from a doctor or your piercer. Most infections can be healed up without losing the jewelry. If you suspect that a piercing is infected, take care of it right away. If you find you get infected on a regular basis, perhaps the piercing is not for you, but make sure it is healthy before deciding to remove the jewelry.

Liquid antiseptic spray. Anti-bacterial soap, and non-iodized sea salt soaks are the best combination. Alcoholic free mouth wash for oral piercings. Please refer to the after care section on how to use these products.

Healing times widely vary on piercings. Check with your piercer when it’s okay to change it. There is also an approximate healing time on piercing after care sheet. Changing too soon can damage your piercing as well as cause pain and discomfort.

There are a wide variety of metals and plastics now available for piercing. Talk to your piercer about these options and see what is best for you. Titanium, Bioplast, 14 karat gold or better would be good alternatives to Surgical Stainless Steel. Silver should not be put in a fresh piercing ever.
We use 316 LVM Nickel Free Implant grade materials.

Piercing migration is when the body slowly rejects a piercing, most commonly in the eyebrows and navels. Migration can occur anywhere that there is a piercing. The younger you are the higher your odds are for migration, however anyone at any age can have a piercing migrate out.

You can try to change the jewelry, perhaps your cleaning method, however if its going to migrate, there isn’t much you can do to stop it. What you can do is remove the jewelry before it migrates all the way out causing worse scarring.

Yes, do give your body time to heal first. Talk to your piercer about the re-pierce. There is no guarantee that re-piercing behind the old scar tissue will hold it in any longer but sometimes it does.

Reasons you should never self pierce:
1. Infection, if it gets infected who are you going to go to for help?

2. Causing bodily harm to you by piercing in an incorrect fashion or area.

3. Not aware how to care properly for your piercing. We are trained professionals; we took time and effort to learn how to do this for YOUR SAFETY! Don’t risk your own health for a piercing!

Make sure you are well rested, well-fed of sound mind and body.
Drink lots of water and eat a good meal. Don’t consume alcohol within 24 hours of getting your tattoo, as this causes blood thinning and excessive bleeding during your tattoo.
You may also want to bring juices or snacks to keep you going during a longer session.

You must be at least 18 to get a tattoo by yourself and you should bring a government issued photo ID (driver’s license, passport or other types of ID that include a photo and birth date.)

If you are under 18, at least 16, you need a parent or legal guardian to sign for you. Also we require photo ID from the parent as well — either a birth certificate or health care card.

If you have a legal guardian they must have legal guardianship papers with them as well.

We will not accept signed notes or phone calls, nor older sisters, aunts, friends, cousins, etc. Yes, we do have an autoclave and it has been approved by a health inspector.

No. Do not take a pain killer or drink alcohol 24 hours before or after getting a tattoo.
They both thin the blood and will affect the fresh tattoo.

Consultations are free. We prefer a consultation in person for most appointments. This helps us get a good idea of the direction you want to go with your tattoo as well as figuring out the placement and size of the piece. Bring your idea and reference material with you for your consultation.

An appointment is recommended for a tattoo.

For any appointments we will take a $100 non-refundable deposit, this amount will be deducted off the final price of your tattoo provided you show up for your appointment on time or call to reschedule within 48 hrs of your appointment time.

You might be able to walk-in for a tattoo if we have a cancellation, but for a small size only.  However if that is your intention, we suggest you call the shop beforehand to see if there are any openings, although it remains on a first-come- first-serve basis, at least you will know that there is a possibility to get tattooed.

If you have to cancel your appointment, we will retain your $100 non-refundable deposit only if you give us more than 48 hours notice.

Deposits are transferable at the artists’ discretion. Artists reserve the right to refuse serve if something falls outside of their artistic speciality.

Absolutely, in fact, we prefer it. You will always see your drawing before we tattoo you.

For smaller/simpler tattoos, you will see your drawing on the same day of your tattoo. For bigger pieces, the artist will call you in to see it in order to determine if there are any final changes to be made before booking the appointment.

Also we will put a stencil on your body before we begin tattooing that way you can determine the best possible size and placement.

Yes, we charge for custom designs. The price depends on the detail of the piece.

Unfortunately it’s completely impossible to predict the price of a tattoo with 100% accuracy. Many things factor into how long a tattoo takes such as amount of details, placement, texture of skin, size of the client and how still the client can sit.

We charge by hour and by piece too. The hourly rate might be different from different tattoo artists.

It’s impossible to tell you what something will cost over the phone because even though you tell us it’s something simple, it may not be. Without seeing you in person for a consultation, we are completely unable to give price quotes.

No, while we do use lighter pigments (including white) this is to add ACCENTS to tattoos. We will not do a tattoo entirely in white ink. We have a strict policy to be able to guarantee the quality and safety of our work. White ink, nor UV ink meet those standards.

White ink: More often than not, these tattoos do not age well. Once the layer of dead skin cells regenerates over the tattooed area; the white that was once vibrant ends up looking like a dull, cigarette-stained yellow, or will just eventually fade away completely. While we love making money, we’d rather deliver an honest product that will be beautiful forever.

UV ink: We choose not to carry UV ink at this establishment, As the “glowing” effect is not permanent, and we would like for you not to waste your money on something that doesn’t last.

Inner-Finger tattoos: We can do them, but will try to convince you otherwise! They very rarely heal well because of the nature of the tissue being tattooed. Fingers are non-porous compared to other regions of skin and because they are constantly moving, the skin is constantly regenerating- this results in the ink fading more quickly in a shorter amount of time. Because we cannot guarantee the quality of the final product, touch-ups for finger tattoos will ALWAYS be at your expense.

Inner-Lip tattoos: We can do them, but again, they very rarely heal well due to the nature of tissue. The inner lip is generally non-porous, and is constantly rubbing against your teeth and is always wet- this results in the ink fading more quickly in a shorter amount of time. Because we cannot guarantee the quality of the final product, touch-ups for inner-lip tattoos will ALWAYS be at your expense.

Yes we do, but not recommend.

Why? Because we strongly believe in a certain degree of ethics and a certain respect for the permanence of what we are doing. Although the media has portrayed tattoos as something that is now widely accepted, this is not entirely true. A hand, face or neck tattoo can limit your job prospects and can lead to discrimination by society at large. Employers are definitely allowed to refuse your application based on your tattoos because they are not a birth-defect, they are a choice. If you are already covered in visible tattoos, it is evident that you have made a commitment to a certain lifestyle; we are not willing to make that choice for you. Most REPUTABLE shops share this view.

Of course we can tattoo any language but the translation, spelling and grammar remain the responsibility of the customer.

We might be able to re-work or cover your old tattoo. Book a consultation with one of our artists to learn of all your options!

Once the tattoo is healed, usually after 6 – 8 weeks, you can come in to show the artist your tattoo in order to determine if there are necessary touch-ups. At this point, we won’t charge you but the cost of the tattoo supplies.

Or you can wait until ready for a new tattoo, we can use the same tattoo supplies to touch-up, at this time the touch-up will be free.

However, if we determine that touch-ups are necessary as a result of neglect or lack of care, or the placement we remind you before such as: inner lip, finger, side of hand and feet tattoos will ALWAYS be at your expense.

Again, we will recommend to get the touch up at the same time when you get a new tattoo, it will save the cost of the tattoo supplies.

This will be explained in detail once you acquire your tattoo; we will even give you a printed copy of the recommended after care. On that note, please do not take the advice from your friends or from the internet, we provide after care because we can guarantee that it works.