Why I Started Starfire Body Jewelry Company

Where o' where do I begin? I'm not much of a sugar-coater, so here it is: I started Starfire Body Jewelry Company because I believe there is a NEED for an online resource for Premium Quality Body Jewelry. Period. (Or EXCLAMATION POINT really!) 

I'm a Body Piercer by day, dog-Mom by night, and found myself getting frustrated with what my work day was beginning to entail. When I first started there weren't really any laws for Piercers or Body Jewelry... but there really wasn't much junk jewelry either. There was the little bit of cheap jewelry you'd see at mass retailers (Claire's, Walmart, Hot Topic), but the average customer we catered to wasn't going to shop at those stores for body jewelry. 

The real frustration came when "piercing shops" starting selling the same crap! The average customer can't tell the difference between good quality and caca. $#!+ sometimes I can't tell the difference. 

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<Jamie Story Sidebar> 

I was contacted years back by a Manager from a chain store, as mentioned above, asking if I had been approached by anyone about purchasing their jewelry. I tried my best to politely tell them that I wished their junk jewelry wasn't sold anywhere. 

They then asked if I knew anything about the body jewelry used at a Piercing Studio in a neighboring town. I had made it a point to not comment on what I had seen & heard other studios do & focus on mine. I answered along the lines of "I have no affiliation with that studio. I don't think I can be of help."  

They proceeded to tell me that they had come in and fired the majority of their staff at one location as their employees were purchasing all of the body jewelry coming in with their employee discount. *Red flags* They then found that a "piercing studio" was piercing these individuals for free in exchange for the jewelry.  

So people were going in to a piercing studio to purchase jewelry & were literally purchasing marked up mall jewelry. 

You can't even make this shit up! 

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So, now my day was spent with my "normal" tasks of poking holes in people, doing changeouts to adorn new bling, sizing jewelry appropriately... in addition to being a therapist. (But that's another blog post.) BUT, a large portion of my day became trying to help people with problem piercings. 

Let me say, this part of the job is hard. 

I've learned that even when people know something is wrong, it isn't really real until someone else tells them something is wrong. (Out of sight, out of mind ish.) How great is it getting to be that bearer of bad news? Spoiler alert – it's not!  

Now, there are going to be some brand new, inexperienced and uneducated piercers.  

     I can't fix that. 

But, so many of the issues we were seeing were coming from low-quality, cheap jewelry.  

     I can't pass laws either.  

BUT, could I make it easier for people to find the high quality body jewelry they were finding in MY studio? Light bulb moment. 

Not a week went by that we weren't mailing out packages to our customers who were having a tough time finding piercing studios they trusted entirely, or who lived in the sticks & couldn't find a studio at all. 

The reality is, we all live in the day and age of Online Everything. Even if you can run to the store to pick something up after work, sometimes it's easier to just "add to cart" and have it show up at your house. Even I'm guilty of it:  

So, this website is dedicated to our customers that I've promised to help each time I perform a piercing on them. But I want also want this to be a place where anyone can shop with the assurance of quality. I will use my experience & knowledge to make sure to be your trusted source for the best brands of body jewelry all in one place. 

We don’t think it should be the customers responsibility to determine the good stuff from the crap. It has become an industry issue that places will carry 85% crap and fleece their cases with signature good quality pieces to try to suck people in. We won't carry any lines of sub-par jewelry just to make a buck. 

 If my name is attached to it, you have my promise. 

    ~Jamie