Tribal Expression

Came here to get my septum pierced after seeing Dee works here now. She did all my previous piercings (5 in total) and they all healed beautifully. First of all, everyone from the guy who made my appointment to the girl who called me to confirm my appointment were ridiculously nice. When I came in everyone at the front desk chatted with me and made me feel super welcome and at ease. Dee of course did an amazing job of my piercing, gave me all the after care info and told me to call anytime with questions. Shop is super clean and I won’t go anywhere else for a piercing now.

Came in looking to get my first nostril stud. The staff was super friendly, took their time explaining the different choices, procedure and care. I do tend to get nervous even at the dentist but the staff was patient and walked me through. Thanks so much!!! I’m super exited with my new «look»!! I definitely recommend Tribal Expressions!

I got my nose piercing done here a year ago, and they were absolutely fantastic.
The staff was really helpful and friendly. I actually managed to scrape a sizeable chunk of skin off my ankle on my way down to the shop-​a biking mishap-​and when I got there they actually took me into one of the rooms and disinfected and wrapped up my ankle for me before my appointment.
As all the other reviews say, they are very professional, and very clean, and I have had no problems with my piercing or my jewelry. They are on the expensive side, but they product and services are absurdly good, so it’s worth it!

I had a navel piercing done here a few years ago (long time ago I know, just never got around it posting a review), but I thought I would give them a thumbs-​up for a couple things:
First of all, the place was spotlessly clean. I was really impressed at how sanitary the rooms were and how stringently they cleaned the piercing materials. Good sign!
Secondly, I found the jewelry they sold to be very high quality. As far as I know, they only pierce with their own jewelry which is not a big deal but as a warning, it is quite pricey. You get what you pay for though, I never had any issues with the navel bar rusting, etc. The service was very professional, albeit a bit late (I booked one of the last appointments of the day, so they were a probably behind by that point– I ended up waiting an extra half hour but it was fine). I don’t remember the name of the piercer, but she did a great job and didn’t rush through it, despite the time constraint. I appreciated that a lot, as it’s not something you want to mess up! Overall the piercing has turned out fine, no issues with infection etc. 3 years on. It is fairly expensive, so just a heads up in advance that you’ll probably be looking at paying at least $ 120 for a navel piercing (with jewelry included). I would recommend this place if you want it done right the first time though!

I’ve never been here for a piercing, only to buy new jewellery. All of the staff were friendly and professional and everything was very clean. The only thing that I wasn’t crazy about was that I bought a nose stud (about 90 $) and had to pay extra (I think about 30 $) to have it fitted properly (I have a very small nose so the post would stick out). Everywhere else I’ve been has included this for free so I was a bit disappointed. Overall I had a good experience, I would go again, and they’ve got free parking in the back! I’m not a fan of the very tall counters though…

Keith is kind of my go-​to piercing guy. I found him when I was considering something more complicated and just got confused sounding responses from some other studios. I haven’t pierced much (particularly nothing complicated) for some time but I was in there recently for just a lobe.
I don’t believe Keith does any piercings anymore — he’s kind of more into scarification and laser removal next door from the sounds of it. Maybe he’d get involved in some of the more complicated things (like what brought me in to begin with). Either way he owns both the tattoo and piercing stores that are side by side. Something I find very interesting because originally a selling feature was the dedicated nature of Tribal Expression. I guess his staff does one or the other though so it’s still specialized.
Tribal expression is very professional and uses some of the best sterilization around Calgary. Some of the other places use from fairly shady practices like piercing with larger gauge needles to make jewelry insertion easier when it totally makes it more painful and harder to heal. I do find with a TE lobe piercing it barely feels like I have have a brand new piercing — I’m going to have to remember I have one to do after care.
The one thing about TE is the expense. The jewelry is more expensive (but higher quality and custom) and the piercing itself is a bit more. I certainly wouldn’t recommend going here for something cheap — piercings here are an investment. I’ve cheaped out before and then regreted having a mainly tattoo guy do an «ok» job that was harder to heal. Now I’ve found my way back.
SAIT students do get 10% off btw which does help a bit if you’re a student (it’s also very easy to get to from SAIT)

Went here for some Laser Tattoo fading and the great thing about it was the price per session. I was quoted at 350 $ per session at other establishments and got it done here for less than 200 per sitting. Easy to book and quickly down to buisness.
I would rather get my balls pierced than go through that again, if I had to describe it I would say it’s kind of like being burned… with a laser. I will be getting more Tattoos but they will be better thought out. My old tattoo was faded quite well over 3 sessions; still visible but enough to get an effective cover up done. I went with the cover tattoo because it was better than the straight fading that can leave a mark. If I end up not liking this one I will reutrn to Keith for more fading but whatever that’s future Alan’s problem; screw that guy he’s an asshole.
Can’t do 5 stars because it wasn’t that fun.

«Wow…AGAIN!»
This is the summarized, tl;dr version of my (second) experience at Tribal Expression.
I actually received my new piercings in August of 2012.
8 MONTHS LATER…
Yeah, I should have written this review a couple of months afterwards. Alas, time slips by with work and school.
Anyways, I received two additional helix piercings in my left ear. Needless the say, this experience mirrored the first — crazy hygienic rooms, super polite and friendly staff, decent prices… the list goes on!
I was a wee bit nervous getting two helix piercings… I mean, this IS cartilage we’re talking about! Honestly? It didn’t hurt that badly. It’s a bit of a pinching sensation, a bit worse than drawing blood yet not as bad as getting local anaesthetic. It does take a lot longer to heal, but I researched this type of piercing in order to be prepared. I was definitely more diligent with caring for these piercings than my last one, and it turned out fantastic!
When I go to get more piercings, I now have a regular place!

I found out about Tribal Expression on the radio. They professed to be Calgary’s only exclusive piercing studio, so I figured they would be a good choice for my next piercing! I called and made an appointment with Keith, who has 15 years of experience, for an anti-​tragus. This would be one of the largest piercings I have had, so I thought an experienced piercer would be the way to go.
The studio has parking in the back. The inside is quite modern, tiled floors, raised front desk. The receptionist was nice. After a wait of close to 20 minutes, I guess they were sterilizing my jewelery, Keith came out and introduced himself. The receptionist had already talked to me about the jewelery they use, but Keith told me again. They pride themselves on the custom jewelery they have made with the highest quality metals. But the barbell they chose to use on me was plastic, with metal beads. They claimed that it would help prevent infection, which still doesn’t make sense to me. The room I was in was quite large and clean. Keith had me lie on the bed as he prepared things. He marked where he planned to pierce then had me look in the mirror. I told him I wanted it moved more out and up the ear a bit. He had me lie down again and put the clamp on, I got the feeling he hadn’t done a lot of these particular piercings. The clamp hurt more than the piercing, but I had heard that is normal. I would say that the actual piercing part went smoothly. After I waited a bit to sit up, I looked in the mirror and saw that he had pierced it more up the ear but not out, like I asked. I was okay with it though. When I was paying the receptionist and Keith both strongly recommended their after care salt cleanse. The cost of a bottle wasn’t bad, about $ 12, so I chose to get one to help take care of my new piercing. The cost of the piercing was $ 30 and the jewelery was $ 40, for plastic! So everything cost me about $ 80! I found that a bit steep.
About 3 weeks after my piercing, it had continued to get more and more sore, even though I cleaned religiously. I eventually got an infection and went to the Dr. for some antibiotics. I called the studio and talked to the other piercer Lindsay, she told me to come in and they would extend the bar and help the piercing drain. So I waited until the infection cleared up mostly then went in. Lindsay is a less experienced piercer, but she was nice and tried to take care of my ear as best she could. She removed the current bar and put in a longer one, so the swelling wouldn’t stop it from draining. That was more painful than when I got the piercing, but that would have been because of my ear being so tender. I did buy some more cleaning solution, but they didn’t charge me anything for changing the bar, which I was thankful for!
After regular cleaning and a few cleanses the piercing got quite a bit better. So I returned to the studio and had the bar shortened, again for no cost. This was at about 4 months and the piercing still hadn’t healed completely, I was told that this was because it was a thick cartilage piercing.
The next couple months my piercing shifted, I think my body was trying to get rid of the foreign plastic in my ear. I also had couple keloids develop at one end of the piercing and also at the back of my ear. I have never had a problem like this with my other cartilage piercings. I emailed the studio about what I should do, take it out or try other jewelery and I never received a reply. I called and the guy I talked to just told me to come in, he didn’t have any advice. Another piece of jewelery would cost me $ 40 even though they are supposed to be a wholesale dealer. I still haven’t decided what to do, I worked so hard to keep this piercing.
For a place that claims they are «Calgary’s premier piercing studio» I didn’t feel I was in any better hands than other studios I have been to! In fact I feel that the initial piercing not being where I wanted and the jewelery is what has prevented me from really enjoying my piercing. The cost of getting a piercing at this studio is too steep for the experience I have had. I think this is a good place to go for high quality jewelery, even though they didn’t use it on me, especially if you need something custom. I probably won’t be returning to Tribal Expressions for any other piercings.

I went here to get my navel pierced, it was clean and I only had to wait about a week to get in. The problem is… Keith pierced it crooked and when I went back 6 months later to get it checked one of the other employees told me it looked like it was pierced a little too shallow (for her liking), little did she know that I’d had it done there. After I told her it had been done by Keith, her opinion changed and she said it would be ok.
I went for a second consultation with a different studio and the person there pretty much said «it will probably grow out because it’s too shallow, and the piercing itself is crooked, it’s not due to migration».
Now, about 8 months after the fact, it’s still healing and I’m not sure if it’s going to ever end up healing… there’s a pretty good chance it’s going to grow out.
I don’t know… maybe they do other piercings better than this… I liked the cleanliness and I know they did a good job on my sisters ears… but they’re pretty bad when it comes to navel piercings.