Piercing Studio in NoHo: Maria Tash Walk-Ins and Fee Card

An earlobe piercing at Maria Tash costs a $20 service fee, and the jewelry is charged on top. The studio's New York store is at 653 Broadway, New York, NY 10012, on the block between Bleecker and Bond Street in NoHo, and the brand states that walk-ins are always welcome even though appointments are available. Hours are 11 am to 8 pm Monday through Wednesday, 10 am to 8 pm Thursday through Saturday, and 11 am to 7 pm on Sunday. For anyone typing piercing studio near me from downtown Manhattan, this is the address that made the stacked, multi-piercing ear a mainstream look.

Maria Tash opened her first studio in Manhattan's East Village in 1993, according to the brand's own about page, and she studied at Columbia University before moving abroad for King's College London. The Broadway location has been open since 2004, and the brand describes it as having three private piercing rooms. The house technique has a registered name, the Curated Ear, which the company says Maria developed herself: the piercer reads the shape of your particular ear, the folds of cartilage and the size of each lobe, and plans placements and jewelry as a single composition rather than a row of identical studs.

That history explains the atmosphere. This is less a tattoo-parlor back room than a fine-jewelry boutique with a piercing practice attached, and the clientele follows. The age table runs from five-year-olds getting first lobes with a parent to adults planning a full cartilage stack, so the waiting area can hold both on the same afternoon. Because walk-ins are welcome, expect to give your name and wait when the store is busy; a weekday visit near the 11 am opening is the simplest way to avoid a queue.

Maria Tash lists piercing service fees separately from jewelry, and the store page spells them out. An earlobe is $20, a standard helix $25, the brand's signature TASH Helix placement $40, a nostril $35 and a genital piercing $80. Putting a piece of jewelry into an existing, healed piercing is a $15 install. The jewelry is the larger part of the bill: titanium pieces start at $45, and solid gold sits a clear step above that. A single lobe with the least expensive titanium stud therefore starts at $65 before tax, and a three-piece curated ear in gold costs several times that.

The honest advice is to set your budget before you sit down at the case, because the selection is designed to be tempting. The styles come in white, yellow, rose and black gold, and many clients walk in for one stud and leave having planned a whole ear. If you are pricing up a gift or a first visit, ask the piercer to build a plan in stages: pierce now with simple pieces, then come back for the decorative clickers once things have healed. Skip the urge to do everything in one go; the studio itself recommends up to four piercings per session.

Every piercing here is made with a single-use sterile needle rather than a piercing gun, and that applies to children's earlobes as much as to cartilage. For sterilization reasons, the studio will not pierce you with jewelry that is not Maria Tash, so a pair of studs bought elsewhere cannot be used for a new piercing. Jewelry fittings, installs and jewelry purchases do not need an appointment at all, so if you already have healed piercings and only want new pieces, simply walk in during opening hours and ask for a fitting.

Age rules come as a table rather than a single number. With a parent or guardian, earlobes start at age 5, the TASH Lobe, helix, rook and nostril at 13, septum and navel at 15, and industrial, eyebrow, lip and tongue at 16; surface, dermal, nipple and genital piercings are 18 only. A parent or guardian must accompany any client at the minimum age, and both need valid ID. If parent and child have different surnames, the studio requires extra paperwork, such as a birth certificate, to confirm guardianship. Pack it before the trip into Manhattan, not after.

The aftercare routine Maria Tash publishes is simple and specific. Use a presoaked saline wipe, or sterile saline spray on non-woven sterile gauze, as a gentle compress for five minutes in the morning and again in the evening. The studio recommends coming back six weeks after a new piercing for a complimentary checkup to make sure healing is on track, and, if you were pierced with a stud, to see whether you are ready for a shorter post. That downsize visit is where a lot of curated ears get their second piece.

Leaving the store, you are a block from two subway entrances: Bleecker Street on the 6 and Broadway-Lafayette on the B, D, F and M. The cast-iron buildings along this stretch of Broadway are worth a slower look, as are the boutiques on Bond Street, where the cobbled roadway and loft facades set the tone for the neighborhood. Walk five minutes west along Bleecker or West 4th and you are in Washington Square Park, where the arch, the fountain and the chess players by the southwest corner are a calm place to let a new piercing settle.

If the wait on Broadway is longer than your afternoon allows, there are good plan Bs downtown: Nine Moons Piercing is farther south on Lafayette Street in SoHo, and across the river in Williamsburg, IRIS Piercing Studios has its own walk-in policy. Whichever you choose, the post-piercing rules are the same for the rest of the day. Avoid sleeping on the new side, keep earbuds and phone screens off fresh cartilage, and stay out of pools until the piercer gives the go-ahead at your checkup.

Maria Tash New York is at 653 Broadway, New York, NY 10012, between Bleecker and Bond Street. Hours: Monday to Wednesday 11 am to 8 pm, Thursday to Saturday 10 am to 8 pm, Sunday 11 am to 7 pm. Walk-ins are welcome and appointments are available. Posted service fees: earlobe $20, helix $25, TASH Helix $40, nostril $35, genital $80, jewelry install $15. Jewelry is extra, with titanium from $45. Minors must come with a parent or guardian, and both bring valid ID.