OUR STORY
About The Piercings Club
Woman-owned. Needle-only. Two San Diego studios, one standard.
FROM THE FOUNDER
Why I Started The Piercings Club
I started The Piercings Club in 2021 because there was a space missing in the piercing industry.
After years of being around tattoo studios, I saw how often piercing was treated as an add-on. On the other end of the spectrum were mall kiosks and piercing guns. And I kept thinking: why isn't there something in between?
A place that takes piercing just as seriously as a great tattoo studio takes tattooing, but feels welcoming enough that a mom would feel completely comfortable bringing in her baby for her first earrings.
That was the idea.
I wanted to create a place that felt beautiful and approachable, but where the standards behind the scenes were even more important than how the space looked. Great piercers. High-quality jewelry. Proper sterilization. Honest aftercare. And a team that would never make someone feel silly for being nervous or asking a hundred questions.
I'm not the person in the chair — I hire specialists who are far better at that than I'd ever be, and I'd rather be honest about that than pretend otherwise. My job is the standard: who we hire, what jewelry we'll put in your body, what we refuse to do, and what happens when something isn't right.
I'm also a mom, and I think that has shaped The Piercings Club more than I originally realized. I know what it feels like to trust someone with your child. I know that something as small as a first ear piercing can actually be a really big moment for a family. And I wanted parents to have a place where they didn't have to choose between a clinical experience, an intimidating one, or a piercing gun at the mall.
The Piercings Club was built to be the place I felt should already exist: professional without feeling cold, beautiful without being pretentious, and serious about piercing without taking the fun out of it.
That's still the standard I want us to live up to every day.
— Rafaela Amaral, Founder
OUR STANDARDS
What We Won't Compromise On
Four things. We don't bend on any of them.
Needles. Never guns. Every piercing here is done with a single-use sterile needle, opened in front of you. A gun can't be sterilized and works by blunt force — it shatters its way through instead of making a clean channel. That's true for a twenty-year-old's helix and it's true for a baby's lobe.
Implant-grade metal only. No "surgical steel," which usually contains nickel — the most common metal allergy there is, and a healing piercing is the worst possible place to discover you have one. Titanium and solid 14k gold, nothing else.
Babies get a specialist, not whoever's free. We're the only studio in San Diego that pierces babies from six months with a needle, by a piercer who does it every week — in a private appointment, during quiet morning hours we hold open for little ears.
Every price is published. Piercing is an industry that makes you call and ask. We put every price on the website, jewelry included, no deposit to book, and a flat $15 to downsize later. You should never be surprised at our counter.
BY THE NUMBERS
What That's Added Up To
7,000+ piercings · 4.9 out of 5 across 250+ Google reviews · Two studios — Bay Park and La Jolla
The Piercings Club started inside Bay Ink Tattoo Gallery, my tattoo studio, and grew into its own thing with its own room, its own team, and its own standards. Today we're in Bay Park seven days a week and in the Village of La Jolla Thursday through Sunday.
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Ear Piercings
Lobes, cartilage, helix,
conch, tragus, and full curated ear projects
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Kids Piercings
Safe, gentle piercings for children of all ages — needles only, never guns
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Nose Piercings
Nostril and septum piercings with implant-grade jewelry options
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Navel Piercings
Professional belly button piercings with premium materials
OUR TEAM
The People Who Actually Do It
OUR PIERCERS
Every piercer here is licensed, trained on needles only, and chosen as much for how they treat a nervous client as for their technical work.
MEET THE TEAM →
OUR SPECIALISTS
Our baby and children's appointments are handled exclusively by our specialists — the piercers who do this every week, not whoever happens to be free.
BABY & KIDS PIERCING →