Divine: Calgary’s One-Stop Shop for Unique Clothes and Piercings

The teenage years bring many new and daunting experiences; high-school, learning to drive, a job, plus tons of other responsibilities and freedoms. One freedom I find many

people are nervous about is getting piercings. They talk about getting piercings for years, barely able to wait until they turn 16 and can get them. Yet, once 16, these same friends stop talking about piercings,  and when mentioned mutter a “maybe one day..” before changing the topic. Perhaps this is because they no longer want that nose stud, but much more often then not it’s because of how daunting it may seem to go to a piercing/tattoo parlour and have needles stuck through one’s flesh. Luckily, the experience does not have to be so intimidating.

Divine, located on 17th Ave, is not just for tattoos and piercings; they also sell trendy unique clothing and accessories; a much more casual atmosphere then a parlour. The staff at Divine is friendly and helpful, offering opinions on clothing choices, complimenting new piercings, and overall being chatty and informative, making Divine a fun place to simply visit, regardless of whether or not you buy anything.

The piercing experience at Divine is fairly quick and easy, once you’ve selected your piercings/jewelry you sign a form, pay and then are taken into the room. There are chairs for anyone wishing to accompany you, or if they are squeamish they can browse through the cloths out in the main area. The environment is very sanitary; the piercer wears gloves, uses new needles and clean tools, and cleans the area prior to piercing it. Getting the piercings was very quick, although I got three the whole experience took less then ten minutes. After, the piercer explained how to take care of my new piercings, and answered any questions.

At this point you’re probably wondering why on earth I would ever get three piercings in one day. Initially, I had planned to get my septum and navel pierced, since I thought it was silly to only get one, putting off the other. But Divine has a deal where if you buy two piercings you get a third one for free, so I ended up getting my tragus piercing done as well. Generally, piercings at Divine are $60 each including basic jewelry, unless you want a specialty piercing, such as an industrial, which will cost more. To get pierced at Divine one must be 14 with parental consent, and 16 without. You do need to bring ID proving your age.

All in all, I thought there was no real downside to piercing at Divine. The environment was both sanitary and friendly, and the cost and time it took to get the piercings was very good. Although I didn’t make an appointment I could get them done straight away (although I would recommend making an appointment, just in case). Even if you don’t want any piercings or cloths I would definitely suggest checking out Divine, the experience is worth it.