4-Day Piercing Course
Four unhurried days, Monday to Thursday: two of infection control and demonstrations, then two days piercing live models under supervision.
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A deposit holds your place. The balance is paid before the course.
Apprenticeships
Piercing apprenticeships vs a piercing course
If you have been asking studios in London for a piercing apprenticeship and getting nowhere, you are not doing it wrong. They are rare, rarely advertised, and often unpaid. Here is how they actually work, and how a piercing course compares.
1-2
Years, for many apprenticeships
2 or 4
Day course instead
18+
No experience needed
Stratford
Our studio
How they work
What a piercing apprenticeship actually involves
Most people who want to learn to pierce start by looking for an apprenticeship, and it is a fair place to start. There is no single national qualification you must hold to pierce in the UK. What you do need is to meet your local council's rules for the person and the premises. In most London boroughs that means a special treatment licence; elsewhere in England it usually means registering with the council. Scotland and Wales have their own licensing schemes. The rules vary by area, so always check with your own council.
The difficulty is getting an apprenticeship. Piercing studios are often small, many have only one or two piercers, and they take on an apprentice rarely. When they do, it is usually someone they already know: a regular client, a friend of the shop, or someone who has been on the front desk for months. Searching for a piercing apprenticeship near you usually turns up nothing, because they are almost never posted anywhere.
When you do get one, the first stretch is rarely piercing. You clean, you run the steriliser, you bag and log instruments, you set up and break down stations, you sell jewellery and you watch. A good apprenticeship moves you on to marking, then supervised piercings, at a pace your mentor sets. A poor one keeps you on reception and cleaning for a year with the needle always about to come. You will not know which you have until you are in it, and it depends almost entirely on how much time one busy piercer is willing to give you.
A piercing course is a different proposition. It is short, it is paid for up front rather than in unpaid hours, and what you are taught is fixed in advance: health and safety, hygiene, sterilisation, consent, the law, jewellery and sizing, then practice on piercing moulds and supervised piercings on live models. You are tested on the theory, and you leave with a certificate.
Side by side
Piercing course vs apprenticeship
Neither is a con and neither suits everybody. Here is the honest comparison.
A piercing course
- Fixed length: a weekend, or Monday to Thursday
- A set curriculum, taught in order, not left to chance
- Health and safety, hygiene, sterilisation and cross-contamination in full
- Practice on piercing moulds, then live models under supervision
- A theory test, and a certificate on completion
- You pay in money rather than in unpaid hours
A studio apprenticeship
- Very hard to get, and rarely advertised anywhere
- Often a year or two, and often unpaid or low paid
- What you learn depends on who takes you and how much time they give
- No set curriculum, no test and no certificate unless the studio adds one
- Cleaning, sterilising and the front desk often take up more of it than piercing
- Excellent when it is good, and a long wait when it is not
A course gives you the foundation an apprenticeship takes months to reach. You finish knowing how to set up and break down a piercing station, how to sterilise and handle needles and tools safely, how to choose and size jewellery, how to mark a position and how to get consent. You will have pierced live models under a working piercer's supervision.
Be realistic about what comes next. One course does not make you an experienced piercer: speed, judgement and confidence come from piercing a lot of people. Some students use the course to approach studios with something concrete to show. Others carry on practising under supervision before working alone. Whichever route you take, you will need to meet your own council's licensing or registration rules before you pierce clients.
You do not need to spend a year on a studio's front desk first. If you want to learn to pierce properly, a course is the most direct place to start.
Inside the studio
See a real teaching studio
An apprenticeship puts you in a working shop. A course puts you at your own station, with a tutor watching your hands and time set aside to teach you.
Courses
Our piercing courses in London
Two routes in. Both cover the same piercings and finish on live models under supervision.
2-Day Piercing Course
An intensive weekend: theory, hygiene and a test on Saturday, then piercing moulds and live models under supervision on Sunday.
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A deposit holds your place. The balance is paid before the course.
Questions
Apprenticeships and courses: common questions
Do I need an apprenticeship to become a piercer in the UK?
No. There is no apprenticeship you are legally required to complete. What you do need is to meet your local council's licensing or registration rules, for you and for the premises you work in. These vary by area: most London boroughs use a special treatment licence, other parts of England use registration, and Scotland and Wales have their own schemes. Check with your own council.
Are piercing apprenticeships paid?
Often not, or very little. Many start unpaid, and some trade studio duties such as cleaning, sterilising and the front desk for teaching rather than a wage. Anyone offering you an apprenticeship should be clear about pay, hours and what you will actually be taught before you commit a year or more to it.
How do I find a piercing apprenticeship near me?
They are rarely advertised. Studios usually take on someone they already know, such as a regular client or someone already working the front desk. That is the difficulty: studios want someone who already understands hygiene and the basics, and most people have no way to learn those first.
Is a piercing course better than an apprenticeship?
A course is faster, structured and tested, and you know exactly what you are getting before you start. A good apprenticeship goes deeper over a much longer period, but it is hard to get and you cannot tell in advance whether the one you are offered is a good one. Our 2-day course runs over a weekend and our 4-day course runs Monday to Thursday. Both finish with supervised piercings on live models.
Will a piercing course give me a licence?
No course gives you a licence. Licensing or registration comes from your local council and the rules vary by area. The course gives you the training in hygiene, sterilisation, consent and safe practice that councils and studios expect you to have. Check your own council's requirements before you start piercing clients.
What do I leave your course with?
A certificate on completion, and experience of piercing live models under a working piercer's supervision. The 4-day course also includes Level 2 Infection Prevention and Control.
How much does a piercing course cost?
Current prices for both courses are shown on our dates page. A deposit holds your place and the balance is paid before the course starts.
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