Rowan Upper East Side — Local services in New York

Took my almost 1 year old to get her first ears piercing and the process was seamless. The nurse made sure the placement of the earring was in alignment with h ear lobe and then matched it with both ears. It was more expensive than the old school piercing pagoda places in the mall but the experience was more professional and the aftercare information was better. Also lots of options for first piercing earrings. My daughter did great! Happy to have had this experience.

Updated experience (6 months after initial appointment) : my daughter’s earring came off the first night and we didn’t realize it until later in the day. It had already closed up at that point. I called and went to the store right away. It was still Reddened and they wanted it to fully close before they stuck again. The manager of the store was there and I thought I was told I have up to a year to get it redone. So Ofcourse life happens and I didn’t get a chance to go again until 5 months after the appointment. When I called they said that it is not a year but 21 days for me to get it done. I do not recall that or else I would’ve gone sooner. The fact that I spent a lot more money on this piercing and jewelry and have nothing to show for it is truly upsetting. I think what I was told when I went into the store and what I got over the phone was 2 different things and now I will go back to a mall piercing pagoda place without all the bells and whistles. My MIL was shocked that they didn’t put it in correctly on the first attempt when it is more professional. I need to take away stars now since I feel The communication is off, I never got the piercing and paid a premium for this service. I’m sure everyone doesn’t get this experience but sadly this is mine.

Update: Immediately after posting the above review management reached out to me about clarifying their policy. I indeed was correct that I was within their policy of getting my daughters ears repierced since I contacted them immediately when it fell out. I rescheduled the appointment and did not have to repay. The second experience the nurse was professional and this time they had 2 nurses pierce her at the same time. Unfortunately the backing of one lobe did came off immediately so they had to re pierce that lobe. I understand that can happen however my daughters earring fell off again the next evening. I’ve been hesitant to review bc I wasn’t sure the earring would stay since it immediately came off again within 24 hrs of the piercing. It’s been about 3 weeks now and I can report that it has stayed in.

So overall my daughters ears are pierced. It took 2.5 tries, 2 times the earring fell out within 24 hrs and 1 miscommunication about the policy that was rectified speedily. I would honestly give this experience a 3.5 star rating (however I rounded up) just bc now she is a bit traumatized with anyone touching her ears. The choices of earrings are lovely and the manager was professional. It was just unfortunate that my experience was a few to many piercings and fall out...

I’ve never written a negative review and I’ve tried to write about my experience today in a composed manner.

My wife and I arrived at 4:30 for a scheduled appointment. By 5:30, we had not received any update or acknowledgment from staff, and we were getting tired and hungry. I politely asked how much longer the wait might be. I want to be very clear: I asked calmly and respectfully.

The response I received was shockingly rude. The energy in the room shifted immediately — it was as if I had yelled or been aggressive, which could not have been further from the truth. The staff’s demeanor toward us became noticeably cold, and we were made to feel as though we were a problem for asking a basic, reasonable question after waiting for an hour without communication. It was deeply uncomfortable, and in hindsight, I wish we had left.

The piercer in particular was surprisingly hostile. As we were seated in the chair, she smiled warmly and said “Bye Kelly!” (The client before me who was leaving the shop), then turned back to us completely stone-faced, with clipped responses. The contrast was blatant. We felt unwelcome, disrespected and frankly…shocked? As someone who works in education and as someone married to a retail manager, I understand how draining customer service roles can be — but this was not just fatigue or stress. This was unprofessionalism, it was also bizarre.

I regret not trusting my gut and walking away. I came in with a clear reference photo and asked multiple times for a very specific placement on a flat piercing. Despite that, the piercing was not placed where I requested. I’m now stuck with a permanent modification that doesn’t reflect what I asked for, on top of having paid a premium price for what ended up being a negative and stressful experience.

I understand the staff does tons of piercings a day, but I don’t. I saved for this for a while. It was a special treat that I was really looking forward to.

On the positive side, I will say the hygiene protocols and procedural information were solid and well explained. My piercer recommended I do things like sanitize my glasses and other things I would not have thought of.

But I must stress this for others- this is not the first placement issue I’ve had with Rowan — a previous piercing was also poorly placed (my second lobe is too close to the edge and not symmetrical with the opposite side).

However because of their protocols and methods, my piercings always heal well and because of this, I was willing to give them another chance. My cartilage piercings had always failed before.

I no longer feel confident returning to the UES studio, and I sincerely hope I can get my post changed at a...

I’ve been to this location a few times now and always had a good experience and found the staff very helpful. However, my last visit was the opposite where I could not get the help I needed and was turned away. For starters, I got a third lobe piercing during one of their free events on a Tuesday. The piercer-in-training was great, she made the process seamless and I should preface that she wasn’t the one who picked the jewelry/post I received.

That Saturday I noticed I had some extra swelling and realized that my earring post might be a little too small. I had some irritation but decided to try and get the swelling down. Well, the next day (Sunday) I wake up to even more swelling that has caused the earring to embed into my ear. I went straight to Rowan as any other time I’ve had piercing issue, they’ve helped me with no problems. When I got to the studio it was pretty busy, which I feel might be the reason for this particular interaction. I explained to the attendant at the register what the problem was, my ear is swallowing the earring because it needs a longer post. She immediately turned me away saying that once it’s embedded like that there’s nothing they can do and I’ll have to go to an urgent care to have it removed. I explain that it can still be pushed through and the simple solution is a longer post. She continues to turn me away even though she is not a nurse/someone to actually assist me. I’m not saying that isn’t their usual procedure but I don’t think it was her place to say no and direct me to medical help. I accept that she won’t get a nurse’s help and just ask her to see if I would be able to have it re-pierced for free given that it was a studio mistake that I received a post too small. She writes a note and says she’ll leave it for her manager to call me.

I go home and EASILY remove the earring myself and compare it to my second lobe earring (see picture) and notice it’s so much shorter. I replace it with the longer earring myself. Two weeks later and the piercing is doing great! I have yet to hear from anyone at the studio.

My concern with this interaction is the lack of care for my health by licensed nurses. It could’ve been a simple call to say, “Hey, I’m sorry we actually can’t give you a free piercing. But MORE IMPORTANTLY, how’s your ear, did you make it to an urgent care, is it healing okay?”

I do still recommend going here for a clean, quick experience. But I guess go in under the assumption that if something goes wrong you may not qualify for help. An option to book an appointment for “consultation/piercing help” would be really efficient. But they may be more concerned with the piercing experience than with the full...