SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Sara Murphy isn't surprised that body piercing is popular in Yellowknife. She is, however, surprised at the number of nipple piercings roaming around town.

Sara Murphy, owner of Harley's Hardrock Saloon, Shirt Shack and tattoo parlour, says she was surprised by the sheer number of pierced nipples roaming free around Yellowknife after they introduced body piercing earlier this month. - Jessica Davey-Quantick/NNSL photo

One of the owners of Harley's Hardrock Saloon, Shirt Shack and tattoo parlour, Murphy says her business started offering body piercing at the beginning of the month, and has been booked solid ever since.

"I really thought it would be tongues and belly buttons, that's what people normally, I thought, would get pierced. But there is a ridiculous amount of people in town that are getting their nipples pierced," she said. "We get everybody ... We get anywhere from 17 years to I had a lady last week that was 39."

Murphy added people under the age of 18 need parental consent to get a body piercing.

The only other place to get pierced in Yellowknife is Merle Norman Cosmetics & Spa, which only does ears and noses. Harley's, on the other hand, is poking holes as far as the eye can see.

"We're doing pretty much everything on the ear besides industrials, we're doing nostrils, bellybuttons, nipples, tongues, lips, labrets."

They draw the line at the Prince Albert, or penis piercing.

As far as Murphy knows, Harley's is the only place to get pierced in the entire territory. Murphy's piercer, Haylee Jordan, trained at Fakir Intensives in San Francisco, which teaches piercers to use needles instead of guns.

"Needles are less traumatic for the skin, less traumatic for the cartilage, it heals better. It's less painful to actually get the procedure done, so that's why we're going with the needles," said Murphy, who took over the business in October with her partner.

"I get probably at least four or five people a week asking about piercing," she said. "I find that with tattooing, piercing comes with it. So it just made sense for us to move in that business direction."

Additionally, her business is also offering a range of body jewelry, from acrylic to white gold, titanium, platinum and stainless steel, which they use to do the piercings.

"There's not a lot of jewelry around town," said Murphy. "We're building on our displays and everything, we're trying to make it better and better."

She says Yellowknife in particular seems to be on-board with body modifications. Originally from Newfoundland, Murphy grew up in Yellowknife.

"I find the more years it passes, the more accepting people are getting," she said.