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The World's Oldest Professional Piercing Studio!
SINCE 1989
3234 16th Street @ Dolores
San Francisco, CA 94103
USA
We are open 7 days a week
12-7pm
San Francisco’s tattoo parlors were socked with a whopping annual business permit increase that is more than 12 times the current fee, and owners warn it could drive operations underground and jeopardize safety.
Download this sample letter and send it to the Mayor to express your concern.
We pierce on a first come, first serve basis. No appointments.
Tattoo by appointment
Call ahead for walk-in availabliity
Tattoo Line 415-552-2788
Closed on the following holidays:
New Year's Day, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas
4th of July 2009 - Saturday - We will be open!
We accept the following forms of payment:
Not sure if we're the shop for you? Find out what our customers think.
We have over 200 reviews and a 5 star rating on YELP!
Thanks to our loyal customers and yelpers for helping many new folks feel that much more comfortable to get a new piercing!
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Check out all the latest news.
Become a fan!
Post your photos and video of your time with us.
Service Prices
Jewelry is sold separately from piercing services. Current prices on all jewelry can be found in our online store.
Piercing Service
Traditional Earlobe $15 or $25 pair
(18g - 16g)
Larger Earlobe (14g - up) $20 or $30 pair
Outer ear cartilage
Inner ear cartilage, Facial $30 or $55 pair
or other Body Piercing
Industrial, Orbital, Surface, $40 or $70 pair
Dermal Anchor
Genital Piercing $50 or $80 pair
Insertion Service
If you just can't figure it out, don't force it! We will happily disinfect and install your jewelry back to its original hole for a small set-up fee of $5 . Jewelry removal is free of charge. Nostril screw adjustments are free within 30 days of piercing, $5 after.
Stretching
Time for the next size? Stop forcing that thing in there!
We use sterile spiral radiant stretching tapers to stretch your piercing as gently as possible. We have a large selection of smooth edged plugs and eyelets ranging in price from $16 for 10g to $24 for 00g each. Stretching fee is $10 per pair.
Tattoo
Shop rate is $150/hour with a minimum of $100.
There is a non-refundable deposit of $80 when you schedule your appointment. This deposit will go towards the final sitting upon completion of your tattoo.
We no longer offer the service of Branding
"Laboratory testing has shown that bacteria, mycrobacteria, fungi, and viruses are present in pryrolized smoke. Researchers have recovered DNA of HIV, HBV, and HPV from surgical smoke and were able to isolate intact viruses. The presence of intact viral DNA suggests that transmission through surgical smoke is a possibility."-Garden, Jerome: “Viral Disease Transmitted by Laser-Generated Plume (Aerosol),” Archives of Dermatology, Volume 138, October 2002
Here's a link where you can read it all:
Hazards: Surgical Smoke
Shop History
Body Manipulations was first opened in August, 1989 by Vaughn and Esther Saldana on Fillmore street at Haight. Esther moved to Amsterdam and opened a Body Manipulations there (since closed). In 1995, Vaughn moved the shop to its current location in the sunny mission district. Now it is in a much larger space with tall ceilings giving it a light and airy feel.
April 2002 Vaughn sold the shop to his long time employee Paul. This not only gave Vaughn a "get out of business free card" but it also put some young blood into the company. Paul has since given the shop a new paint job, enlarged the waiting area, and built a new front counter among many other improvements.
After years of focusing soley on piercing, we brought the service of tattooing to our faithful and trusting customers in 2003. We figured if the health department always catagorized us as a tattoo shop, we might as well do that too. We were able to get some of the finest tattoo artists right off the bat. Heading our tattoo department, Japanese born Colin Stevens previously of the famed Ed Hardy's Tattoo City. His long time associate from the same shop, Chris Conn joined him making the new studio an immediate success. Conn retired from tattooing in 2006 and refers all his old customers to Colin.
Old enough to have a second generation, Body Manipulations continues to bring you only the best quality in piercing, tattoo and jewelry be it the smooth edges of a steel ring or the finest low profile setting for your favorite gemstone. With our world renowned service you can trust us with your most precious body parts.
Body Manipulations has performed many times on the stages of various fetish balls and parties. We have cut people open, hung them from their skin, pierced them with hundreds of needles, and sewn a number of items into their skin. Now the company produces a yearly performance with The Flying Tiger Circus, where the side show is the whole show. Check out our shows section for more information and any upcoming events.
Original owner Vaughn with his Dr. Drill n fill.
©2001-Body Manipulations
To Tip or Not to Tip?
"TIPS" at one time was an acronym for "To Insure Prompt Service." Nowadays the server must earn your tip after the fact as a reward for good service. Some folks have never been to a piercer before, and some come all the time. Both kinds of folks often ask the awkward question at the counter about tips. Shyly we may reply "Oh, don't worry about it." Truth is, we do take tips. The unknown etiquette for our service is like any other service in the city, especially of the small business kind. You can base your tip on 15-20% of your final ticket depending on how much you enjoyed the pain. We often do maintenance services at no cost, a good tip in this case would be $5 to $20 depending on the amount of maintenance received. A tip on these free services, like nostril screw adjustments, is a great way to reward your piercer. Bottom line, if you feel the piercer has done a great job, reward them. A few bucks is a good way "To Insure Piercer Smiles" for next time.
Attention Minors!
If you are under 18!
You must come in with you parent or legal guardian. Bring with you your parents/guardian's ID and a copy of your birth certificate/guardianship papers. No exceptions!
Shop policy limits the age of all body piercing to 16. Earlobes can be pierced after age 4.
Federal law prohibits any genital or nipple piercing on minors.
State law prohibits tattooing on minors even with parental consent.
In the News
Body Manipulations pushes for New State Law
AB 517
April 14th Body Manipulations was invited to speak at the hearing of the public health committee in Sacramento. In conjuction with Fiona Ma, CCDEH, Local Health Department Officers, and fellow practitioners, we will put into law AB 517.
AB 517
establishes the Safe Body Art Act to provide minimum statewide standards for the regulation of practitioners engaged in the business of tattooing, body piercing, and the application of permanent cosmetics in California.
The committee heard arguments in favor of the act from
Paul Stoll (Body Manipulations)
and
Steve Joyner (APP)
The committee voted unanamous 13 votes "aye"!
The first step in making your piercing experience clean, experienced, professional, and safe wherever you go. California will pave the way for fair legislation.
Budget crunch hits Body Arts Sector!
San Francisco City and County Supports Small Business? The San Francisco Health Department regulates all tattoo parlors, piercing studios, and cosmetic tattoo facilities under the Safe Body Arts Program. Body Manipulations was part of the first committee dedicated to the Safe Body Arts Program and helped establish the standards of our current county ordinance. We have always been concerned with keeping the public safe.
This year the City and County of San Francisco has increased the permit to operate any tattoo parlor/piercing studio from $109 to $1372 without any notice, or any public comment period. This fee puts us in the top 5 most expensive license fees of the entire city. The Safe Body Arts Program has been left to its own devices without any support from other programs within the Health Department. I fear this sharp increase in fees may only result in hardship for small business and many facilities going underground. This is no way to keep the public safe!
It has been explained the city controller simply took the cost of the Safe Body Arts Program and split it among the 47 shops registered. All other programs within the Health Department have revenue from alternate sources (sales tax, parking meteres, etc) So once the small guys go underground and the number of registered shops decrease, the price will inflate, and so on and so on...The result will ultimately be less registration and thereby less regulating.
Please express your concern!
Send letters to the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, send us your emails, come by the shop and sign a petition in person.
All those registered to vote in San Francisco can sign this online petition: Petition
This is my new bill as it compares to licenses from the last 2 years
Follow this link for a listing of San Francisco license fees, why are tattoo parlors one of the highest fees?