How is Claire's Still in Business? 

as someone who worked at claires, DO NOT TAKE YOUR KIDS TO GET THEIR EARS PIERCED!!!!!!!!! we deadass got trained on a cardboard ear for abt 10 mins...

One time I went to a Claire’s to get my ears pierced, and the employee was like “Listen, it’s cheaper and safer to just get pierced at the Piercing Pagoda down the hall. They’re know what they’re doing more than us”. Don’t regret it

In Claire’s UK, the thing about piercing unwilling minors is different: the employees are actually not allowed to pierce a minor who refuses, no matter what their parent/guardian says.

I went to a claire’s for a “free piercing” (for my nose). The workers said they were not trained and heavily encouraged me to go to a nearby tattoo parlor.

I used to work at a Claire's and I'm 90% sure it was illegal for me to start piercing at the age I was (I was 16). I had a few botched piercings that make me cringe to this day, because I dread the day that I meet one of the people whose ears I pierced. The worst one was when the piercing gun got stuck on someone's ear. Those things are super finnicky and prone to breaking/malfunctioning, so when I squeezed the trigger it got stuck in the squeezed position. I had no idea what to do because I thought I'd scare the dude if I said anything, so I just stayed silent while I tried to make the gun go back to normal. What resulted was two straight minutes of me silently fiddling with the gun while the dude made progressively pained grunts. Looking back staying silent probably scared him more lmao. I couldn't ask my boss for help because I had been left alone at the store (my bosses would often leave me alone to get themselves Starbucks) so that just made the whole thing worse. When it finally went back to normal by some miracle I apologized to the guy and he said "well at least I have a story to tell now". That comment alone made the entire encounter so much worse and has made this incident stick with me to this day because that guy is somewhere out there telling people how much of a disaster his piercing was and how it's all my fault lmao. I do not miss dealing with Claire's and their broken equipment.

PLEASE do a video about Hot Topic and how they've evolved from a metal/punk store in the 80s to a mall goth paradise in the 90s to "that scary emo store" that introduced Invader Zim to the masses in the 2000s to basically Tumblr: The Store in the 2010s and now.

Claire’s used to have a “20 for $5” sale back in the early aughts (2004-2009ish). As a kid who grew up poor and wanted to fit in, it was a lifesaver and allowed me to get stylish accessories and feel comfortable with my fashion choices around my wealthier friends. I had aged out of Claire’s by the time they stopped that promotion, but it was helpful to me at the time. I realize now it’s always been a cheap place with cheap items and likely won’t survive past Gen Z and certainly not Gen Alpha.

In 3rd grade, a year after my ears were pierced at Claire's, my earring back got stuck in my ear. Major infection. I took proper care of it, too- myself and my mom were very cautious. I had to go to the ER and got the back surgically removed from my ear. Absolutely traumatized TO THIS DAY

Claire’s is like Hot Topic and Spencer’s in the sense that it’s super crowded, extremely claustrophobic, and you’re surrounded by products that all look the same.

Whenever we walked by a Claire's, we used to tease my little sister because her name was also Claire. Until she got her ears pierced there and they turned yellow/green. Now we don't even mention it when we walk by.

I’ve had 9 piercings (including my CARTILAGE) from Claire’s. I’m shook that I didn’t have any serious repercussions from getting so many piercings from them

I was pierced at Claire’s as a young kid, around 7 or 8. It was normal enough in my area for young girls to get pierced and I absolutely wanted it, but was NOT equipped to deal with the care of two new piercings. The infections were horrible and extremely painful. I remember having to pry a little green ball of gunk from around my earring and just sobbing in pain. Those holes never healed and would bleed intermittently. One day I took my earrings out and could never get any back in, and that was that. Now I just have these barely visible little divots in my lobes that I swear will ache sometimes. Maybe one day I’ll see about getting them re-pierced, but ugh, what a nightmare.

I had a rainbow nail polish set from Claire's as a kid and although it was probably full of sketchy ingredients, I actually remember them drying really fast. Like, when I switched to "adult" nail polish brands I was super confused as to why my nails would smudge, lol

Well luckily, Claire’s is on a very steady decline. I went into a Claire’s yesterday, and a pack of earrings were 20 bucks. Fake nails were 15 bucks. Even a kid wouldn’t think it was worth it.

I worked at the biggest traffic Claire's in Utah and oh man.... I was lucky to have a really good manager who would refuse to pierce the ears of very unwilling children. We were supposed to encourage them but never force. But that was against her training and if we weren't such a busy store we would've gotten in trouble for not having enough piercings. I took my time with piercings because the thought of permanently messing up someone's body horrified me. On a busy Saturday I pierced 20 people's ears, and was gently scolded for taking too long and not doing enough. Our store only did lobe piercings and afaik the only locations that pierced noses were in Canada. We received no commission for items or piercings. I was offered tips many times for my piercings, but god forbid my wage be liveable, one of the very first things you are taught is that you can't accept tips. After my manager and assistant manager quit in the same week things changed a lot... The district manager basically came in and breathed down my $9.81/hr neck until I quit, too. She tried to force me to work a shift with a staff member whose roommate had tested positive for covid, even though I, as well as my elderly parents at home, were immunodeficient. For many of the makeup lines, they were so cheaply made that we actually threw away more units than we sold. Not a joke, not an exaggeration. I know this for a fact because they made us record every item we threw out, and the units sold were visible to any staff member. The actual day-to-day work of a non-salary claire's employee is surprisingly labor intensive for how tiny the stores are. There was also no AC or ventilation of any kind in our cramped store. The ONLY chair in the store was the piercing chair, so we were on our feet the entire shift. The break room was just a storage room that you had to shove your way through to the bathroom. Oh, and if you're wondering where we keep our copies of all those waivers y'all signed? In the bathroom. Boxes and boxes of years of papers stored in the bathroom with water stains to prove it. Just in case any lawsuits happen. The target demographic is unaccompanied minors, rich parents, and their spoiled kids. So most of my day was running around cleaning up after children. To make it worse, we were right next to a candy store (not that that's claire's fault, but I slipped on a lot of jaw breakers). We were eternally understaffed and the turnover for new members was so crazy I didn't learn their names until they'd been there a few weeks. Even the managers get out as soon as they can. We were very very heavily "encouraged" to wear Claire's merchandise to work, but were expected to purchase all of it on our own dime. I actually liked my job because I want to be a teacher and love working with kids. But it was my first job so I had no standards for how I should be treated. The only reason I stayed as long as I did was because I had good immediate bosses, but once they left, and the people who actual followed protocol came to run the store... I left that same week. They lost the entire team in two weeks. I was told there would be overtime pay for black friday and holidays, but never received that. I was extremely taken advantage of. I was naive and thought they were offering a good wage. I was an amazing worker. My numbers didn't lie. I was the lowest paid staff but I brought in more money and sold more units than anyone else on my long shifts. Claire's doesn't just make its money on young customers, they make money off the backs of young employees who don't know better and products made with child labor in foreign countries. The anxiety that I felt for the worker on the right at 5:00 is eeghhgbhhuuuhghhh. For kids that are scared to get their ears pierced we'll get two workers to pierce at the same time to avoid them leaving with only one hole poked (which happened a lot). It's a gamble whether or not you'll actually get one employee good at piercing ears... so imagine how much worse your odds are when it's two people, and they're doing it on a countdown. I only trusted one of my coworkers besides myself to pierce ears evenly. The feeling in the pit of my stomach when I saw a kid's ears were visibly uneven... it's horrid. The two times I personally messed up that bad I redid the hole. The original ones close up super quickly since your body doesn't like being stabbed... lol. Also, just a little correction to the video, the earrings they used to pierce were actually quite sharp, but that doesn't reduce the chances of keloids and other problems from compression injuries by much. Gun piercings are really only ever okay for lobe, and even then, you'd be way way better off getting it done at a piercing parlor. When I was 13 I had my cartilage pierced at a Claire's. I took it out just weeks later but I still have a keloid to this day. If you're still going to go to Claire's, I can't stop you, do it at your own risk, but never cartilage. Personally I don't support purchasing from them but do what you will with your own money, just be aware of what you're supporting. Cheap products, often coming from sketchy sources, overworked, underpaid and manipulated employees, and fattening the wallets of the already rich.

I used to work at Claires. Dont take your child there. The amount of piercings that i refused due to being too young (1 year at least) or the child simply didn't want their ears pierced is insane. I actually got in trouble for refusing. I was pulled to the back room and reprimanded cause I refused to pierce someone. I eventually quit cause I could'nt take it anymore.

My narcissistic mother would always buy me jewelry from Claire's and then yell at me when it broke but I legit hadn't done anything to break it and I internalized that. Thank you for letting me know that they were meant to break, even if I already kinda knew

funnily enough I remember getting my first (and only; they’re too tedious to take care of with my outdoorsy lifestyle) piercing in 3rd grade at Claire’s, and it actually turned out well and never had any issues to this day. However, if I knew better at the time I would’ve chosen somewhere more regulated 💀

honestly it's a miracle my ears that were pierced at Claire's 13 years ago had no complications & the piercings are still in tact

My country doesn't even have Claire's but I also had bad experiences when getting my ears pierced in a similar way. Please, people, it's more expensive to go back and forth to the hospital with a nasty infection than to pay a professional just once😭

I remember begging my parents to get a piercing at Claire's, and finally I convinced my dad to let me do it. The earings made my ears turn green after just a week, and when I wanted to take them off, I genuinely couldn't, and had to ask for help from a parent.

Another former Claire's employee here (first job at 16). My brain wasn't developed enough to understand how unethical and gross it was to be piercing ears in that manner. I also remember some of the jewelry breaking and turning green before it was ever sold. For the items that were falling apart, we were instructed to try and fix it if possible lol

I got my ears pierced at Claires(October 2018) and a few months later(January 2019) I was hospitalized with sepsis. I had to get an MRI, and had to remove my earrings since they were magnetic, and getting them out was tough and they were clearly swollen/infected. They never figured out what caused it, but I suspect that at least part of it had to do with the piercing

As an adult without her ears pierced, I actually really love going to Claire’s to get clip on earrings lol. They have a great variety & I really like wearing them

My mom worked in asbestos lawsuits, when i was young i asked her, “does my make up have asbestos?” it was from Claire’s and they sent it to the lab for testing. We realized the make up, my make up, had asbestos in it. 😐😐

I low key really respect Jojo Siwa. She seems like a nice girl who actually respects and appreciates her fans, and her (although more likely her parents/lawyers/other people in the business) recalling her makeup when she really didn't need to and Claire's had decided not to shows some integrity

You showing footage of the actual Claire’s I worked in at the beginning is WILD. I only lasted there about a month and a half… I pierced one single fake ear and then they had me impaling children LIKE EXCUSE MEEE

My first 2 pairs of ear piercings were done by Claires in the 80's. Just this week I remembered that the extreme unevenness of them is why I have deliberately mis-matched my ear piercings since I was 15. I forgot that 36 years ago I started to cover Claires' mistake by making it look like it was deliberate. I now have 5 in one ear, 3 in the other. I learned to do my own at 15.

I got traumatized because my mom forced me to get my ears pierced at a Claire's. You think the employee would have seen a tween literally crying in fear and would have refused to do it. It makes me feel even worse now that the lady probably did it because she didn't wanna get in trouble for refusing. (I have a feeling it wasn't wholly my mom's decision. Her boyfriend at the time had a weird obsession with me "being more like a girl". But that's an unrelated suitcase we'll just burn instead)

Honestly, as much as Claire's has had (and still continues to have) its issues, I have to applaud them for keeping the awkwardness of tweenhood still alive. When I was in late elementary school/middle school, I loved going to Claire's and getting all the neon, sparkly, gaudy accessories, and it's nice to see that their product selection hasn't really changed. I know it can be an indicator of them not keeping up with the times, but I feel like it allows the kids in their target demographic to still dress and act like kids, rather than going to all the trendy stores and completely bypassing the awkward years of style.

oh man multiple pairs of the cheap metal claire’s earrings actually made my skin around the piercing rot and die. i had scabs for months. it was horrific

Damn this is like the dark version of a nostalgia trip. Got my ears pierced for the first time at Claire's at like 12/13ish? I got a bad infection in one of my ears cause the gun straight caused a slash across my lobe. I let them close over and only recently got them repierced at a proper piercing/tattoo place with needles, and even a decade later the woman who was doing my piercing noticed the scar and we chatted about how shit Claire's was lol. Surprise surprise, she was super professional and I've had zero problems with my new piercings :p All that said, baby me loved Claire's. Really was such a sparkly lure for me. The anglerfish of shitty jewelery lmao.

I can say from firsthand experience, Claire’s earrings can seriously mess up your ears. When I was around six years old, i got a few pairs of earrings from Claire’s. Within the first day of wearing them, they didn’t just turn my ears green, no, that would be too easy. Instead, a ring of weird, metallic looking filth formed around my ear piercing. I had to sit in a chair for ten minutes while my mom scratched all of it off like a scab. I know that this comment likely won’t be seen, but I thought it would be good to share. Thank you for shedding some light on this subject, I hope that it convinces less people to shop at Claire’s. Edit: Just for clarification, I did not get my ears *pierced* at Claire’s, the earrings that I wore were simply from there.

I think the rise of the y2k aesthetic is helping Claire's a bit. I'm 23 and I remember some of my friends wanting to go to a Claire's not too long ago. Plus, I think kids that grew up with Claire's and never got to shop at one are going back as adults to get what they never had or weren't allowed to have. It's like how Toys R Us are getting a rise in sales, not from kids, but from adults that never got the toys they wanted growing up.

I got my ears pierced at Claire’s different times in my life. Fortunately they healed just fine. Though I truly give credit to my child body having the strength to heal ear piercings. I hardly took care of them so I have no idea how it didn’t go south 😂

I had my ear's pierced at Claire's once anddddddd...it got infected.

Here in Arab countries everything is ridiculously overpriced because they're treated as a "luxury" from American fashion. As a curious 8 year old of course I fell for that garbage and my dad bought us a few gifts from Claire's, some necklaces and bracelets, and I was so excited about them I wore them the whole day, but afterwards the necklace chains started breaking apart, the little trinket on the necklace fell out, and the bracelets were covered in a lace thing and it just. Ripped apart. My friends also told me their Claire's earrings started rusting after only 4 days. We really were paying 40$ for this garbage. I still have some things from there to this day, like my diary with a fuzzy cat cover, those things survive pretty well, and I would get more similar items if it weren't for the tearjerking prices they put on these stores. Curiously enough, I've never seen a Claire's with an ear piercing business here in the middle east. Maybe it's because most baby girls are pierced shortly after they're born.

My partner used to work at Claire's and has plenty of horror stories about having to go through with ear piercings on tiny crying children while their parents inisisted over and over that it was somehow totally okay to continue when the child was clearly distressed. It's a big reason they quit working there and in fact they lost about five employees over six months. They would also frequently only have one person running the entire store and if anything was stolen it was blamed solely on the one person trying to run the entire place and not the fact they had no cameras and a lot of merchandise just sitting near the entryway. That store's been on the cusp of failing now for three years and I don't understand frankly how it's still operating after a lot of botched piercings and bad publicity.

i got a backpack from claires when i was like 12 and it started falling apart after a couples months, but it was actually really nice looking i kept using it til i was 16. at that point it was barely clinging to life, had multiple holes and the straps broke several times. i sure loved that backpack even tho the quality was ass

I got my first piercings done at a beauty salon, and my second piercings done by a trained piercing specialist who runs a new-age shop with a small piercing studio in the back. She's the best-rated piercer in my area and I had a great experience getting a needle piercing from her!

I worked at Claires and the lipgloss flip phones were extremly popular with little kids. They didnt care about the cosmetics but just wanted it as a toy

When I was in high school I went to Claire's with my friends as "a joke" because we were too old to go there still but we secretly still liked it. After we left the store about 5 minutes later my friend realized she was still wearing the fishnet arm warmers that she tried on 😱 we ran back to the store and she gave them to the clerk and said, "I accidentally stole these and if they weren't so ugly I would have kept them." 😂😭😭

I recall my mom having said she would totally pay for me to get my ears pierced at Claire's. But since I was (and still am) terrified of needles and wound up learning you can get infections I'm glad I refused

I was a body piercer in the 90s, by 1991 we realized that stores like this were not good, going through cartilage especially. I can't count how many times people came into our parlor with infection and kelloids from guns, we pushed the importance of infections and trauma to the pierce with guns as opposed to piercing parlour practices. The gun is also loud, and pretty dramatic. We all know they did noses and even some belly buttons, I've actually seen some tongues pierced with guns that came in wondering why their tongues were purple and swollen immensely. Piercing guns work on ear lobes, not amazingly well, but considering if they just stuck with the lobes, nothing more, but they don't. Horrible to think how dangerous a cheap piercing gun can do.

I told my mother I wanted to get my ears pierced and said that I don’t want them done at Claire’s because everyone I had talked to said they ended up with an infection and how much it sucked Her response was a very unsubtle “are you sure that your friends weren’t just lazy? And didn’t take care of them?” Like no mother when a store is infamous for causing scar inducing infections and literally everyone I’ve asked said don’t do that I’ll tend to believe them over the idea of dozens of children being lazy!

I got my ears pierced at Claire’s when I was 7 as a reward for not getting in trouble for a WHOLE MONTH at school (I was a horrible gremlin child) and almost immediately got the nastiest, ooziest infection I’ve ever had in my life. I still have visible scar tissue under the skin on one earlobe where the piercing was. I’m 28 now.

When I was younger I got my ears pierced for the second time and it got so infected that my mom and aunt had to hold me down to the floor and pull it out while I was screaming and cry! What a wonderful moment thanks to Claire’s ☺️

It feels like Claire's hasn't really changed for 20 years. I went in one last week (and refused to pay £30 for accessories for a costume!!) and it felt just like it did when I was a little girl in the 00s. I actually got my ears pierced there when I was 12 for a Christmas present- luckily I had no real issues or infections. They've long since closed up though. Next time I want to go to a tattoo parlour.

I HATED piercing babies at Icing (same company as Claire's but the adult version). What you said about the managers wanting quotas is 100% true. Even when I was an assistant store manager I would turn away babies and tell people not to piece them if they're not comfortable and then get put down by and yelled at by my regional manager in meetings. I had barely any training on ear piercing. They also absolutely do not clean the guns thoroughly in between piercings, especially when it's super busy. Upper management was a nightmare and did not care about the employees who are actually working in the stores and have to deal with the constant breaking products and terrible policies.

im pretty sure i got my first ears piercing at justice, which was a store that was kind of like clair’s. despite it being almost like clair’s, the way they pierced my ears was great, no infections at all. sadly, all justice stores closed, and i do NOT plan on going to clair’s for a trilogy piercing. man..clair’s really did mess up..

I’ll be honest. Some Claire’s things are kind of cute, like the cheap keychains, but I’m 100% against their piercing policy and a lot of other different things. Edit: I’ll share my piercing story too. To keep it short, I’ll just cut it up a little. Got my ears pierced there, went on with my life, the quality of the piercings (and my hair not helping), I had to go to the hospital because blood and pus was gushing from my lobes. I even told the doctor the “pain scale I was on was 10.” Fun times, fun times (sarcasm) The workers are also not even trained for that! Yikes

Your voice is beautiful 😍 And you speak and articulate clearly and you speak calmly but not too slowly. As someone whose first language isn't English, I appericiate that. Also the editing is informative

I actually had a really positive experience getting pierced at claires. My ears used to get so cold in the winter but now they always feel warm to the touch. Thank you claires!

Got my ears pierced at claires as a baby. Thankfully i never got an infection, but i hated wearing earrings as a kid lmao. Now im an adult and the holes never closed so im stretching them now with a professional tattoo studio piercer 🤷‍♂️

Claire's is one of the few stores in Canada where you can buy Pusheen, Hello Kitty, or Squishmallows. It's fun going there to browse. Almost everything else is cheap, overpriced junk. A single claw clip costs almost $20, it's insane.

This is so random but your voice is so calming and easy to listen to, I love your accent

there’s something to be said about how the first picture you showed has not only things i’ve bought from claire’s, but things i still own as a 21 year old

Genuine shout out to my one and only Claire’s necklace that has survived a whopping 9 years! It’s a little snowman in a glass bottle, he’s tacky and covered in glitter but I love him. The idea of getting my ears pierced in such a cramped tiny space sounded terrifying, the fact I couldn’t see where the piercing set up was is my total red flag Unfortunately I got my ears pierced with a gun years later in another place and my ears totally rejected them LMAO

The only thing I have ever liked about Claire’s is that they have a lot of clip on earrings. More than I have ever seen in any other store. I hate having my ears pierced so when I found a clip on set. I was so happy.

I kinda want the tiny infant unicorn toy 🧍‍♀️

Compared to these stories, it seems I was extremely lucky. The employees who pierced my ears made such a huge fuss about it. They drew on my ears with sharpie and had a whole conversation discussing where the earrings should go, Gave me a ‘Claire Bear’ with tons of earrings on it for mental support and gave me something for free afterwards. I’m not sure what though, because I was 7 when this happened. Props to those employees though! My ears were perfectly fine afterwards, probably due to the 6 months of applying antibacterial ear ointment to them.

The amount of "quirky" earrings I got at Claire's when I was younger is absurd, I'm now 23 and still have some of those earrings but most of them don't have matches. My favs when I was younger were my gummy bear ones and my mustache ones lolol

Looking back, I’m amazed and probably lucky I didn’t have anything majorly bad happen to me getting my ears pierced at Clare’s. Only thing with me is my piercings aren’t even, and it took me literal YEARS to notice. From what little I remember the lady that did my ears was very calming and explained everything to me, even advised me to just stick to simple earrings to start. But yeah, no one should get pierced at Clare’s lmfao

My friend went to Claires for their ears TWICE and they had to go to the hospital because they not only got infected, but the ears healed OVER the piercing and had to get it surgically removed. The other time they just pulled it out.

My mom took me to a mall to get peirced ears when I was a toddler. I ran away and cried. They still did it. I don't remember where it was, I just kinda remember this. As an adult I never wear ear rings. People should wait and let their children make that desision when they are old enough to consent.

i got my first (only) peircing at claires . i took care of it like they said, but of course it was horrible to do. "constantly twist" and "wash using our branded disenfectant" my ears got infected and my parents blamed me for it lmao

I remember I loved going to Claire's as an early teen. I did get my ears pierced there twice and the first time one the earrings stayed in the piercing gun and they had to wiggle it out, but luckily it didn't cause any harm. When I heard about the really bad experiences some people had with piercing their ears there I was so thankful I didn't have anything like that happen to me

In March, I got my ears pierced. In june, I noticed my earrings were almost hanging down and looked like they were about to fall of my ears. One day in June, I was messing with my left earring, and it just came off in my hand. So, I went to the bathroom and looked at my ear. I noticed my left earlobe was split and my right one wasn't.

i was forced to get my ears pierced at claires when i was 12, my piercings got infected and my mom had to hold me down to take them out 😭

My sister quit Claire’s because they were going to force her to be a piercer. She refused and left because according to her bosses she HAD to pierce ears if she was going to work there. It was her first job and it was already extremely stressful for her. Glad she didn’t stay where she wasn’t comfortable.

got my lobes and second lobes done at claires when i was a kid and i didn’t really have issues but i recently got my nostril pierced at a real piercing place and the difference is insane. like it actually felt hygienic and professional rather than just a seat at the back of the store that kids have been all over & touching everything

I had to go to the hospital for piercing at Claire's. I got my ears pierced but they got swollen, I didn't take the earrings out in time and the little ball of the earring got stuck fully inside the ear. Went to a hospital and they made an incision in the back of my ear to take it out from the back, which was the only part that didn't get inside the ear.

My sister actually had one of her friendship necklaces recalled by Claire’s once. My sister’s best friend’s mom (that sure was a lot to type) had texted our mom that one of the friendship necklaces she had bought for my sister and her friend was recalled, because apparently there was lead in it. Fun times..

I know the quality probably sucks but those blue rhinestone fishnet gloves are actually kind cool...

I remember being like, 8 and crying on the floor in a Clare's because i felt overwhelmed because my mom needed me to buy 2 more things so that she could get 40% off. I never went back....

Well, I have to say, I never had any problem with any claire's accessories: hair jewlry, phone cases or necklaces - all in great condition even after a decade of being in use. but i have always been very careful with my stuff and appreciating it. But I also have to admit that I would never get my ears pierced at such a place or buy make -up!!

as bad as the store was, it was literally the only store that sold nickel free earrings in my area so it was the only way for me to change up my look without having to buy straight up real silver or gold. So it was weird being an older girl to adult buying earrings there, but they worked.

Most of the makeup products FDA tests for asbestos come up as negative, even other cheap brands. So that definitely says a lot about claires makeup.

As a former clothing retail employee, that piercing gun looks just like the gun we used to attach price tags to clothes! Wait...

My Claire’s Easter bag as a kid had its fluffy keychain pop out, the friends necklace I got was never used but broke. Even the one I got at dollar tree didn’t break.

worked at claire’s about a year and a half ago. i want to make a video so badly about how shoddy they are because genuinely i don’t know how they are still in business. also my piercing training was a small paper packed and practice on a stuffed animal, i ended up piercing over 200 peoples ears (including infants)…. unfortunately

After growing up in the 2000s and seeing stores like Justice and Claire’s being a mall-exclusive thing, it was weird seeing Claire’s and justice items in Walmarts now. Hell, I’ve seen Claire’s items in grocery stores now!

i just got my ear pierced (i only wanted one) and they used antibacterial wipes on everything for me and its my first ever piercing and idk what im allowed to do except some obvious stuff, the girl who did it had 6 piercings herself and did it pretty well, this was yesterday, any tips for a new piercing ?

When I was a young child I got a piercing from Claires - It lasted about 2 years Because I got to anxious of it falling out ( Having severe Anxiety ) I let it heal and there is a small dot I can still see today. It never fell out or infected and yes It pierced all the way through.. I think I was one of the very lucky kids.

As an old person, 39, I remember when they had better merchandise. Some of it was still cheaply made and tacky, but they actually had some good things, too. I still use a drawstring backpack that I got there years ago and get compliments on it too. I also used to love some of their phone cases. Now they only have ones for iPhone. I looked around in one not to long ago out of curiosity, and everything seemed like it was for little girls and was overpriced. Makes me sad.

I've seen so many stories about Claire's ear piercing nightmares, and I've just gotta be thankful that although both me and my sister got our ears pierced at Claire's, neither of us had any problems with infections or lopsided piercings. Whew!

My sister had her ears pierced done at Claire’s. When we got home we realised that the one piercings on one ear hadn’t properly gone all the way through and the end bit was stuck in her ear lobe. She then had to go back and get it re-pierced🤷‍♀️

At 7 I got my ears pierced at clairs for my birthday and it constantly got infected even though I did my best (and my mom) with cleaning them, and looking back I realize that even though they were pointed more then regular earrings the ones they gave me were still very blunt and now I know why I feel like the holes left are wrong compared to other peoples

I'm a girl but I used to hate Claire's just because I hated all the loud bright colors inside of the store. Most girls loved it and thought it was cute but I just thought it hurt my eyes to look at now for contacts. I have really bad ADHD and it used to be worse when I was a kid. So all of the disorganization of the store and so much going on at once made me not even want to step foot in there because it was like I couldn't focus on one thing. (I realize this may sound stupid to some people but it's just how I felt and I still feel the same way if I ever see a Claire's)

I got my ears pierced at claires like 6 or 7 yrs ago. I cleaned my piercings the exact ways they told me to (which i later found out some of what they told me are no-nos when you get piercings” but my ears still got heavily infected. Skin ended up growing over the top of my right earring which was extremely painful. The whole earring was encased in skin basically. I had to go to the hospital to get the earring removed and the area surrounding the earring was gross and green from the fake metal. Really scary being like 10 years and getting a piercing ripped out. Quite a bit of blood. 0/10 never again. Got a cool flower shaped scar from the shitty flower shaped earring tho

I love Claires. Where I live in Europe it's actually one of the safest to get pierced. That's crazy how different that is in the US

I first got glasses as a teenager. I went into a Claire's and immediately have to leave. Claire's is very visually overwhelming if you can actually you can actually see it all.

Just so you know - Claire’s is starting to set up in Walmart. There’s one very close to me. It’s eerie seeing the neon “piercing” sign while I’m in the check out lane. Getting your ears pierced at Claire’s - IN A WALMART? No. 😢

I really enjoyed your video. I always hated walking through the mall near Claire’s because there was usually a poor little girl or baby crying or screaming because they didn’t want their ears pierced. The adults were embarrassed and were trying to get them to stop while still trying to cajole them into going through it. My mom hated it because she was judging the women for allowing their children to scream or loudly cry. I would have never done that even if I were terrified because I knew I’d get in so much trouble for embarrassing my mom. There were also so many grandmothers steamrolling over their children’s wishes by taking their granddaughters to get their ears pierced on the sly. Talc is a mineral like asbestos and they’re usually found together. Johnson and Johnson just settled a class action lawsuit because they knew for years that their talc had asbestos in it. The Netflix series Not So Pretty goes into detail and explains that a lot of safety testing to see if there’s asbestos in talc a company buys isn’t accurate because the microscopes aren’t powerful enough to detect asbestos. The particles are smaller than the microscopes can see. So basically the lab or company can say their talc doesn’t have asbestos because their tests say they don’t, when the tests just aren’t accurate. Imagine a test to check for the presence of germs on your hand being a human who just looks at your hands and says they don’t see germs, so the hands are germ free. A lot of beauty companies are going talc free or are making synthetic talc. Too Faced makes some talc free palettes that are high quality and look and feel like regular eyeshadow. There’s face powders that are also talc free now. I really like Rare Beauty’s. Even more than my Laura Mercier powder with talc. The light pink color of the Rare Beauty is more flattering too (there’s 5 other colors to choose from for all skin shades). My mom had the owner of local jewelry store pierce my ears. He used stainless steel studs that were better quality than what Claire’s used. He used a gun. It was 1995, and most people didn’t know about needle piercing. I don’t even think my town had a tattoo/piercing shop, and my mom definitely wouldn’t have taken 17 year old me to tattoo shop right by a huge military base anyway. I am blessed with thick earlobes. Which was a problem because the gun didn’t go all the way through. The guy had to punch through the back of my ears too. He tried really hard to line up the holes, but they didn’t line up. I’m almost 46 and still have problems getting earrings in if I haven’t worn them in a couple days. So my husband bought me some diamond studs for our anniversary a few years ago. I bought some Chrysmela safety earring backs that don’t slide off (you have to press down on the backs while removing them to get them to release). I have been wearing my earrings every day for the last few years, and I don’t have problems putting on my other earrings anymore. Curved earring posts were the hardest to put on. I would have to force them through, and my ears would get sore. My cousin got her ears pierced at Claire’s. The first time she got a nasty infection she needed antibiotics for. One of her ears got really swollen and was dripping green pus while the other was swollen and red but not as bad. When they healed her mom took her to another place, and she had a bad reaction to the metal in the studs. Her ears got red and irritated again, and the holes kept closing up. This was the 80s, and people were just figuring out that nickel allergies were a thing. Her parents bought her some gold posts and took her to someone who did medical piercings, and she had no problems afterwards.

As a person who got their ears pierced at Claire’s, I can clarify that your ears might get infected. I had to get surgery because it was so bad.

I unironically wore Claire's jewelry all through high school- some of their more ""formal"" jewelry was pretty banger for budget homecoming/prom wear.

After getting two sets of lobe piercings (one at age 6, one at 18) with little no issues and used to be a regular customer as a kid, it feels like we need "I survived a Claire's childhood" shirts lmao Seriously though, I am SO glad I started going to a tattoo parlor for my cartilage peircings. I can't imagine getting my Industrial done with a cheap gun ._.

since like 2013 i thought of claire’s as a costume accessory store. i was 13 then and i had my ears pierced there the second time (first time at piercing pagoda and got a staph infection) but even then i always thought their stuff was cute but a definite wear once and never again after that. i pop in once a year around halloween for a last minute costume i can make up with a headband or whatever they have on the shelves

I still feel hella guilty for stealing from these places. Even if they're shoddy. I also bought a set of earrings including studs and hoops. My bro would steal the studs after he got a piercing. He could've just asked.

I actually got my ears pierced for the first time at a place that no longer exists (at least in physical stores)-- Libby Lu. They were developed by an ex-Claire's exec, and they were more experience-based (hosting birthday parties and having hands-on products you could create yourself like body sprays and bath bombs), but basically the same concept but a bit more edgy and punk-y. Ironically, I think their original concept would do great today, but they've come back as an online brand with a more Claire's-like premise, more soft and pastel than vibrant and bold like they used to be. I'll be surprised to see if they make it off the ground again. I'd LOVE to walk into a Libby Lu again someday, though. Even if my first lobe piercings are a bit crooked xD