*sighs* Rubbing alcohol doesn't properly sterilize a sewing needle, piercing studs used in guns, or anything else. Neither does boiling it in hot water or holding the item under a flame. Neither does asking your grandmother to kiss it, holding it under hot tap water, or praying to god. I don't care if "it worked fine for me when I did it!" because simply put - you got lucky.
Same goes to anyone who gets pierced at a place like Claire's, the Piercing Pagoda, or any other place that uses a stud gun (also called a piercing gun.) Those things aren't sanitary and they work about like stabbing a sharpened end of a pencil through your skin.
If you actually care about your body's well being, but want to start an argument with me, please read through
this article about sterilization fully.
Let me introduce you to the word "autoclave". An autoclave is the industry standard used by
piercing and tattoo professionals to sterilize jewelry to be worn in piercings. An autoclave basically sterilizes jewelry and tools by using pressurized steam usually at 274 degrees Celcius under 18 PSI (pounds per square inch of pressure.) It is somewhat like a pressure cooker in concept, except it works a whole lot better because it was specifically designed to sterilize, while a pressure cooker... cooks food.
Another point of fact: a "gauge" is a measurement for determining the diameter of an object. You do not "gauge a piercing," you stretch it. There's been a mild debate about what word is proper, but in the end, if you go up to a piercer and say "I want you to gauge my ears to 14ga" they will most likely correct you in some way or another.
I guess anyone I've unintentionally offended is now saying to themselves, "why the heck is this chick talking as if she's so high and mighty, like she knows everything?"
Well, I don't know everything. I've just read up about piercing because the topic holds great interest to me. I hate to stumble upon people who go around subconsciously hurting themselves and putting their bodies at risk, so that's why I'm making this post. In the end though, if a person wants to go on and shove dirty objects through their flesh and cartilage, that's their decision. Not a smart one, but it's theirs.
Anyways, as for what I've got pierced: right now, nothing. I had my septum pierced at 14g but had to remove it because of my nose's anatomy and am planning on getting it repierced. I had my first earlobe piercings stretched to a 2g, but let them close up completely, which, despite how it may seem, is actually a good thing for my earlobes. I don't think people are interested in the specifics so I won't even bother. I will have them repierced at a 4g and tapered to a 2g when I can afford it since it costs money to go to a professional who will
do the job right.
Technically, right now I don't have anything pierced, but just because I lack holes in my body, doesn't mean I don't have something to say about it.