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Now that I’ve gotten my introduction out of the way, I want to work on revisiting my journey from the beginning, and that may take a few blogs to do until we are caught up with the present. But for this blog I will talk about my experience with getting used to the industry as a whole, and the unusual circumstances that brought me to accept my destiny. Or, in less dramatic terms, how I came to find my place in the industry of my dreams with the help of an incredible mentor. It’s still a fantastical theme, but there’s no avoiding that this story has just a little fate woven into it.
As a heavily tattooed and pierced person, I expected my entry into this industry to be smooth. I expected to walk in and know everything and be able to hit the ground running with my experience. And while it is true that I have a better understanding of the names of piercings, I can recognise which piercings are harder to heal, and I know the difference between a well-done piercing and a poorly performed piercing, nothing prepared me for how little I actually knew about piercings as a whole. It was a humbling moment to learn that, while I had an incredible amount of experience with my own piercings, I was not prepared to learn how the public treat their piercings. I was shocked to learn that my knowledge wasn’t common knowledge at all. In fact, it wasn’t even treated as common sense, which I took for granted in my own experience.
I will dedicate another blog to my experience with the general public at some other point in the near future. First, I want to talk about those initial few months, and the wide range of emotions I went through in a relatively short space of time.
In discussing my part time move to No Divide, Davinia had made it clear that she wanted me to keep up with my writing, something that was very important to me, and that has been honoured in full ever since, as is fully evidenced with the website blogs, and the opportunity to write The Apprentice Diaries. I would split my time between my regular job as a copywriter for four days a week and remain at No divide for one or two days a week, and my degree would be chipped away in between. As an active overachiever and recovering ‘yes-girly’ I imagined in my head that this was the ideal situation for a go-getter like me. I could have it all and conquer all three amazing milestones all at once. I felt lucky, and I felt smug.
The cracks began to form almost immediately, but I wasn’t prepared to see them. Working in a fast-paced public setting, that looming truth came rushing to the surface; I knew nothing about piercing. My knowledge was stellar for twenty years ago, but this was built on a foundation of much lower standards.
The early 00’s saw implant grade stainless steel as the best material. You had a choice between a barbell (externally threaded) or a ball closure ring, and once your procedure was complete, you were sent on your way to figure it out. While I still hold some of my aftercare forms from back in the day, they are a far cry from the detailed and experience-based information we provide today. There was no such thing as a downsize, labret bars were only used for lip piercings, and everything was pierced at 1.6mm. To say things have evolved is an understatement, and few of the younger piercing apprentices of today would even recognise the landscape I had grown up with. I am aware that it makes me sound like I am glorifying the older days, and that couldn’t be further from the truth. I remember those days fondly, but I am eternally grateful that this industry has moved forward the way it has, adopting better materials, equipment, procedures, and aftercare. But it was going to take a while for me to catch up, and that was a humbling experience.
Those first few weeks, while I juggled my life, I couldn’t seem to find my flow. I couldn’t get into the rhythm that was necessary for me to deal with client requests or become comfortable with answering questions. By the time I was ready to do jewellery changes I felt even more out of my depth. I simply believed that perhaps I just did not have what it takes to work in a busy studio.
And I cannot overstate how busy No Divide is as a studio. I can easily perform up to 30 jewellery changes on a Saturday, all while running reception, selling jewellery, going through aftercare, scrubbing tools, loading the autoclave, and assisting the piercers.
I have been pierced in studios all around the country and I have never experienced such a busy studio, even working one or two days a week would completely exhaust me. The time between those days was spent in my other very intense job, and all of my knowledge would be erased by the time I stepped back into the studio; every day I would have to relearn my job all over again.
And after a few months of this, I had to admit defeat. Keeping to my regular job as a copywriter and doing a part time piercing apprenticeship, while trying to keep up with an emotionally taxing Creative Writing degree was stretching me too thin. I had to give up one element of my life, and I felt that my dream of being a piercing apprentice had simply come too late in my life. I had chosen to be a writer, and I would simply have to stick with it.
In the business, we call this ‘sunk cost fallacy’. I had invested too much time and energy into my role as a copywriter to consider any other route. I chose to split from No Divide, and it pained me to do so. I had found community, I felt I had begun to make friends, I was with my people. But something was bothering me, and at that time I felt that it was client interaction that was burning me out, not the more likely reason being that I was simply burning the candle at both ends.
Davinia held a leaving party for me, and it was at this dinner that she asked me sincerely to stay, a conversation I will be forever grateful for. I was hesitantly confident that leaving was the right thing to do, to give my everything to my Copywriting, to climb the corporate ladder, but Davinia wanted to keep me, and I can never express how truly grateful I am that she did, and how much her belief in me saved me through my eventual redundancy from Copywriting.
And once I was free it all clicked into place. It was never the clients that were exhausting me, it was never my inability to be on reception. It had always been my own self burning me out. Once I was free to devote all my time and energy into No Divide, I was able to store information, learn new techniques, understand the science and biology behind why certain things happen to certain piercings. It was all beginning to make a lot more sense, and that may never have happened if I had continued to split my time and my brain in too many different directions.
Because ultimately, that is what an apprenticeship needs. It needs full dedication, full commitment, and determination. Learning your craft takes years, and the art of piercing is a multi-faceted and ever-growing industry. You will need to give yourself over to it, even the parts that you don’t love. I don’t love selling, I’m not the best saleswoman, but I watch my incredible colleagues, I listen to their advice, and I take on board when they come to make suggestions and pick up what I can to become better at it. You will likely find that there are aspects of the piercing world that you don’t love, but it’s finding a way to work with and not against it.
Every facet of the industry is there for a reason, but one thing is true, in undertaking an apprenticeship you will learn more about yourself, your own feelings, your own triggers, and your own limitations. At some point you will have to face those feelings, and you will need to overcome obstacles that are not necessarily tangible, but with the right mentor and the right team, you will find that the journey will both rewarding and fulfilling.