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Piercing Law

Learn how Blue Banana puts piercing laws into practice for your safety.
At Blue Banana, we work to ensure that customers receive the best piercing experience. Part of this duty of care extends to adhering to certain laws and legislation put in place when it comes to piercings. Here is an overview of the current rules and regulations in place at this time in England & Wales.

If you are considering getting a piercing, make sure you are only being pierced in a studio, such as Blue Banana, that has met health and safety guidelines and ensures your piercer has a license to perform piercing procedures.

Piercing Legal Age Requirements

In England, there is no legal age of consent to have a body piercing procedure performed. Persons looking to have intimate piercings such as genital and nipple (for females) piercings must be over 16. This is due to the fact that those under this age are unable to legally consent to have piercings in these areas. Any intimate piercing performed on anyone under age is considered, by law, as indecent assault.

In Wales, current legislation dictates that those under the age of 18 are not permitted to have intimate piercings. This includes making arrangements or discussing performing an intimate piercing on someone who is under 18. In this ruling, 'intimate' piercings include areas of the body such as breasts, tongue, and areas that include and surround the genitals.

Violating the legislation of intimate piercing age restrictions in England & Wales can have serious consequences which is why piercers, Blue Banana or otherwise, will always ask for age verification. Without age verification, certain age-restricted piercings will not be performed. If you are planning on receiving an intimate piercing, please know that is it required that you provide identification to prove that you are of age and be aware that you will be asked to sign a consent form.

Whilst there are not currently piercing age restrictions for areas other than the genitals in England; some local authorities have published recommended ages for various piercing procedures. It should be noted Blue Banana enforces its own age restrictions for every area of the body. Our restrictions align with legal requirements whilst adding our own policies. 

These restrictions have been put in place to increase customer protection and to ensure a safe and secure experience for all.

As such, our Blue Banana piercing restrictions state that you must be at least 21 years of age to have a genital piercing performed in our store. For nipple piercings, you must be at least 18 years of age. These age restrictions have been decided by Blue Banana based on our wealth of experience with piercing and determining user suitability for each type of piercing. The age restrictions take into account the development of the body during adolescence and young adulthood as any growth or change in anatomy can cause problems with a piercing.

For a full list of our piercing age restrictions, we recommend visiting our Piercing Age Restrictions page. Some of our piercings are available with parental consent, where appropriate but other types, including all intimate piercings, can be performed only with ID. Please note that you will be asked to fill in a form before getting your piercing at Blue Banana. If you refuse to complete the necessary paperwork you will not be able to get your piercing.

Additional Piercing Legislation

There are also UK piercing laws regarding the process before and after a piercing procedure. Beforehand, the piercer is required to ask if you have any allergies or health problems that could be affected by getting a piercing. Next, they will often talk you through the process before beginning the piercing procedure. It is also necessary under UK piercing laws for the piercer to make sure you have all the aftercare advice you need to keep the area free of infection.

Piercers Are Not Health Professionals

We are often asked if we use any kind of numbing agent before a piercing procedure. Piercers do not have a license to administer anaesthetics including numbing creams so they should not be offering you this service. Most people find piercings are faster and less painful than they expect so there is no need for an anaesthetic of any kind. Technically, numbing creams should only be dispensed by a pharmacist or health care professional to the person it has been prescribed to.

Please Note: Blue Banana piercing information is based on knowledge from our experiences as one of the UK's top piercing studios. All details provided should be read alongside professional advice. Please see our full Piercing Articles Disclaimer, here.

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