Check Out Shidoshi Samurai’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shidoshi Samurai.

Hi Shidoshi, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In 2016, I was in a relationship with a tattoo artist who owned a tattoo / art / oddities studio in London, Ohio, mentioned that she wanted to make a space for a piercer, and asked if I would be interested in filling that spot. I had no previous piercing experience, so I told her I’d have to complete a proper apprenticeship first if that was going to happen. After spending the last 18 years working as a graphic designer (primarily as a vehicle wrap specialist), I was looking to make an exit from the industry and submitted my interest for an apprenticeship at Piercology in Columbus, Ohio. Piercology had helped me years previously with a badly done tongue piercing and their reputation at the time was pretty solid in the community, so I decided if I was going to dedicate myself to an apprenticeship, I wanted it to be at the best studio I could find. Surprisingly, they took my request seriously, and at 40 years old, I think I was the oldest piercing apprentice they ever took on. I spent the first year primarily working at the counter to learn about body jewelry, interact with clients, perform general duties around the studio and then gradually began getting pulled into rooms so I could observe piercings being performed. I was eventually trusted with performing jewelry changes and then performing “basic” piercings (earlobes & cartilage). By 2018, I was a full-time professional piercer at Piercology and soon after became a member of the Association of Professional Piercers (APP).

In 2019, I made the decision to leave Piercology and relocated to Evolved Body Art in Columbus where I would have access to more industry information, work alongside experienced piercers, attend regular educational clinics, and completed a thorough piercing curriculum that strengthened my knowledge on different techniques and approaches to various piercings. I remained at Evolved for the following three years building a loyal repat client base, received regular five-star reviews, and had the opportunity to learn as much as I cared to learn.

In 2023, I decided to take a hiatus from piercing to determine the future of my career trajectory. In 2024, I accepted the position of senior piercer at Underground Tattoo Station in Heath, Ohio and was given full autonomy to completely redesign and manage the studio’s body piercing department. I started first with our jewelry inventory – replacing our entire stock with implant-grade metals and enhancing our selection with threadless and internally threaded options to ensure we were using only the highest-quality materials for all our piercings. I gutted and rebuilt our piercing bio room to ensure strict cleanliness and sterilization procedures and completely rewrote our piercing aftercare guidelines. I refined our jewelry organization and inventory and wrote detailed procedures for all piercing-related tasks performed in the studio. I also redesigned the studio’s website and manage our social media accounts. In the past year since I’ve taken over these responsibilities, I’m proud to say that our shop’s review rating on Google has skyrocketed, client traffic has greatly increased, client piercings are being performed safely and professionally and are healing successfully – and according to our last visit from the health department, our shop is now the cleanest and highest-quality body piercing studio in Licking County.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Completely revamping our studio’s piercing department took some time to get it to a level I was satisfied with – but I was aware of this challenge when I was offered the position and have had nothing but complete support from the everyone in our studio. The only “challenge” I can really put a finger on has been in convincing the community why our prices have raised slightly since the piercing department’s last iteration. Because we are using higher-quality jewelry and because my experience in the industry is what it is, the price increase was a necessity. Running a studio to the level of cleanliness and safety that I require is not an endeavor that is sustainable at minimal cost or by cutting corners, but the results and client satisfaction over the past year have shown that it was worthwhile. Word of mouth has certainly benefitted us and online reviews show as much. A lot of my clients throughout the first year were coming to see me for help with piercings that were performed poorly at other area studios, so it took some time to properly educate clients who had not had the experience of being pierced at a professional studio by an informed and experienced piercer. Many of my clients have shared with me that they have not had good experiences getting pierced at other studios (either badly done piercings or not treated respectfully by the piercer), so it’s important to me to ensure their experience is a safe, enjoyable, and informative one.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As is the case with most professional piercers, I specialize in a couple different areas:

(1) Children’s Piercings: I really enjoy doing piercings for children – especially their first ones. Due to the notoriety and immense amount of bad results children have had from mall shops that use piercing guns (like Claire’s), it’s always been important for me to be able to provide a safe and enjoyable alternative so their first experience with piercings is a positive one. SO many piercing issues (infections, embeddings, rejections, etc.) can be so easily avoided when done properly using high-quality jewelry and it’s always such a satisfying feeling to see a child go from scared to excited when they realize piercings don’t have to be painful or scary. Definitely one of the biggest highlights of my work.

(2) Paired Piercings: In recent years, there has been an influx of clients wanting to have precisely matched piercings, and for some reason, this is something I’m really good at. I attribute it to my experience as a professional body painter but matching up piercings well – whether doing the simultaneously or to mirror an existing piercing – really rewards my OCD tendencies.

(3) Ear Curations: One of the biggest compliments a piercer can get from a client is their complete trust in selecting jewelry for and mapping out a complete piercing setup. This reflects a client’s trust in their piercer on a number of different levels and also opens the door to doing some very unique and experimental stuff. Being able to suggest ideas that the client hasn’t even thought of creates a sense of infectious excitement and possibility that very often produces some really amazing results.

What I think sets me apart from other piercers (at least in my community) is my respect for my client’s trust and commitment to their health, safety, and overall piercing experience. My role as a professional piercer isn’t just a job I do to pay the bills – it’s a passion for doing things consistently, well, and with a positive mentality. It’s about connection and energy – something very rare to find in a lot of different professions, but absolutely essential in mine. While I of course want my clients to leave happy with their new piercings, I also want them to leave knowing that they have a friend and ally they can trust in their piercing journey; someone who gives them honest and direct information with their best interest always in mind. Though I don’t like having to do so, I’m not afraid to deny a piercing if I know it’s going to be harmful or non-viable for my clients – and I take the time to explain to them why. Taking the requisite time to establish a trusting and open relationship with my clients is important – especially considering the anxiety-inducing work they come to me to perform. My attitude toward what I do is a simple one: I treat my clients the way I would want to be treated if our roles were reversed – and I think that has been working quite well for the many years I’ve been doing this work.

Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
When I was very young (early 1980s), my family and I lived in London, England. My Mom and Dad wanted to make sure my sister and I got to experience as much history as England had to offer, so we would regularly go on trips to visit historic sites and locations. We visited a lot of cool places in England and abroad (Stonehenge, Loch Ness in Scotland, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, etc.), but at that time in my life, I was really into knights – especially the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. One trip took us to Tintagel Castle in North Cornwall which many refer to as “King Arthur’s Castle”. Just being able to walk through the ruins overlooking the sea was immensely impactful for me – walking the grounds swinging a red plastic sword and letting my imagination run wild of being a knight in King Arthur’s court.

Some years later, my parents took my sister and I to Disney World, and I knew there was a spot in the park that had the Excalibur embedded in an anvil that you could pull on (probably for photo opps). I was CONVINCED that I was going to be the one to pull this sword free, so that’s all I could think about for weeks prior. Once we got to Disney World, I could have cared less about anything else surrounding me – I was hyper-focused on finding the Sword in the Stone. When I did finally see it, I ran up to it, wrapped my fingers around the hilt of the sword, set my foot against the anvil and pulled for everything I was worth. Obviously, my dreams of becoming King were quickly dashed when I felt it budge just a bit, but not enough to believe it would ever have come free. Thankfully, my folks took advantage of that photo opp (a wiry, long-haired kid with his socks pulled all the way up to his knees). Though I was disappointed for a time after that, I can look back on that photo now and smile thinking of how much I valued the imagination and determination I had at that age.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.undergroundtattoostation.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shidoshisamurai
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/undergroundtattoostation