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Welcome to The Apprentice Diaries.
I have been sitting on ideas for this series of blogs for the longest time. I admit that perhaps I should have started this series a year or two ago, at the very start of my journey, but as my blog will show, sometimes starting something at the very beginning is not always the right choice. Sometimes, a little retrospection can go a long way, and you can see a much broader picture.
With all that being said, and with the supportive nudge of my mentor, let me introduce myself. I will do my best to keep this brief, despite this being my fourth attempt at writing this introduction blog.
My name is Fairuza, I am a writer and piercing apprentice for No Divide, and at the writing of this blog, I am in my fourth year studying for my BaHons in Creative Writing. My life journey has seen me pinged from one corner of the world to another, dipping my toes into every conceivable type of job along the way. I have worked in accounting, as a chef, a tree planter, a crocodile feeder, a security dog trainer, a copywriter, barista, baker, and even spending a brief time as a stoneworker. All of these jobs I accepted in my long journey to discovering a way to put aside my disappointment at having never securing myself a piercing apprenticeship, despite repeated and frustrated attempts.
I fell in love with piercing and body-modification, particularly the Modern Primitive movement back in 2002, after being moved from Cornwall to a more central location near Brighton and glimpsing my first ever lip piercing. From that day on, I was on a mission to acquire as many piercings as I could, but it wasn’t as straight forward as a love of piercing and looking alternative. Piercing was a significant point of interest to me. How far could the body go, what is scarification, why was slow stretching important, what is the cultural significance of certain body-modifications? The rabbit hole was endless, and I learned as much as I could with my very early access to the internet. Information was sparse, but in the right places I could find what I need and cultivate my love for body-modification.
Of course, I attempted to gain my piercing apprenticeship in multiple well established and respected piercing studios, but I was never successful. I can look back on that time of my life from an elevated vantage point as an apprentice in 2026 and accurately guess the reasons why I was denied repeatedly. I was not ready then, and I was not prepared for the world of piercing that existed behind the visage of simply using a needle to pierce the human body. At that age I wanted to be cool, but I didn’t understand the client care, the nuances of human behaviour, or the bedside manner necessary to give a client complete and honest care (and aftercare) of a piercing procedure. I wanted to pick up a needle immediately and start poking holes in people, to push boundaries, and that is a bad place for any apprentice to start.
Simply put, I would have failed before I even began, not through lack of respect, but through lack of patience. Add to the fact that throughout my twenties I had a crippling need to be accepted, a severe lack of self-esteem, and a level of anxiety that would make a chihuahua roll its eyes, I did not have what it took to be a piercing apprentice, and it’s only now, having had the experiences I have had that I can recognised that simple fact.
Piercing apprenticeships are rare, and anyone who has sought one out can attest that they are seemingly impossible to secure. I won’t go into the number of times I tried to become an apprentice, and I won’t turn this blog into a “how-to” for obtaining one for yourself, though I might do this in the future, much further down the line. What I will tell you is how it happened for me.
I did not apply for my apprenticeship. I was already working for an up-and-coming company as an established copywriter, a role I had every intention of keeping for many years to come. I hadn’t received a piercing in many moons, due in part to travelling, but since I had resettled back in Cornwall, I had decided it was time to re-enter the world of body-modification. I had been recommended to No Divide by a tattoo artist, and decided now was the time to begin a new relationship with piercings.
Of course, I fell in love with the studio immediately and I felt wholly welcomed by the piercers as we discussed the issues I had with a piercing that had always given me trouble to heal, and we settled on repiercing my daith with a larger gauge. I left feeling heard and seen, I loved my new piercing, and I knew that I had found my new studio and that my piercing journey was about to start up again with enthusiasm.
I returned a month later to have a set of mantis piercings, having spent some time stalking Instagram for ideas, and it was then that I met Davinia. After discussing the placement, and while filling in my consent form, I heard a strange question ‘Do you have a job?’. Thinking this was maybe relevant to me getting more facial piercings and perhaps upsetting an employer, I answered ‘Yes, I am a writer for a lighting company! I’ve been there years, they won’t mind.’ And Davinia’s response surprised me, ‘Have you ever wanted to be a piercer?’
For anyone who has ever known me for any length of time, this is a laughable question. Have I ever wanted to be a piercer? It’s all I had ever wanted, a strong desire eroded away with failed attempts and disappointment. I had all but accepted a corporate lifestyle in a field that I still thoroughly enjoy and (obviously) still utilise, but now I was being welcomed with open arms into a world I thought was entirely closed to me. Not only this, but a respected piercer saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself anymore. It was a moment that changed the whole course of my life.
As I sit here and type this, I know many aspiring piercing apprentices, and maybe even established piercing apprentices are thinking, ‘you got lucky’, and perhaps I did. The long and short of it is that I turned up to a piercing studio, I engaged in conversation, I showed enthusiasm, and I was given an increasingly rare opportunity to apprentice in something that has shaped who I am throughout my adult life.
I want to make this blog into a series, not only to give other apprentices a place to see active learning, but somewhere for aspiring piercers to see what the journey may look like as you pursue the goal of becoming an apprentice. Not every studio is the same, and not every apprenticeship is the same either. Your journey may look entirely different from mine, from techniques to routine, and you may encounter people and situations that I haven’t. Your strengths may be different from mine, or you may have progressed in skill more quickly than others have at your level. I will do my best to keep a regular diary of things I have felt significant to me along my journey, and I hope to see you here more often.
If there are any apprentices who feel confused, lost, or even unsure about what the future holds in their journey, please feel free to reach out to me and I will do my best to share any experiences with you. Similarly, if there are any particular questions or queries you would like to see a blog about, reach out to me @piercings.by.ru over on Instagram. Let the discussion begin!