I visited your website and read some of the health and safety related information and knew that I would be provided with good information for my questions. Seems like your are experts in your field based on the information you provide.
I have recently become more interested in piercing. I have gotten two new ones in the last two years, unfortunately they were the only ones which were professionally done. Which concerns me now because I really wish I had educated myself sooner, I hadn't really considered how easily you could contract an infection by not using properly sterilized equipment. Having said that, I am now educating myself as I persue an interest.
My questions relate to the fact that I would like to start selling jewelry and I would like to be sure that I am fufilling my role in educating people and insuring their safety.
-Is it my responsiblity to sterilize the jewelry?
-Is there an alternative to using an autoclave?
-Can I direct my customers to a local piercing studio to have their jewelry sterilized? If so, what kind of fee would they incur?
Thank you for your time.
We are happy to have assisted you in becoming educated about piercings.
Selling jewellery is not like doing the piercings. When you go to a store to purchase any type of clothing for example, do they provide anything special - NO. They sell the clothing and you do what you want with it. Body jewellery is no different. You sell it and the person who purchases it is now the owner of it and can do whatever they wish with it.
The issue of using an autoclave in Canada is mandatory. It is the only way to completely kill all bacteria. When someone purchases a piece of jewellery, generally soaking it in alcohol for a minute is sufficient. When getting a piercing, the jewellery has to be autoclaved because it is being used in a new piercing.
If you are going to be in retail, you provide the jewellery and if you want, you can direct them to piercing establishments so that the jewellery can be properly inserted. The piercing shop will know what to do before inserting the jewellery.
Each shop sets their own fee structure and we cannot comment on what someone should charge.
If you also with to sell to businesses, then again, depending on what the product is, they will know what to do.
We hope that we have helped to answer your questions. Good luck in your future endeavours.
