So I was talking to my Mom about piercings...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So the other day, I asked my mom if I could get a third hole done in my ear, and she said fine to that. Me being the “wreckless teenager” I am, I want to get other things pierced, possibley my eyebrow or lip. So I asked my mom about it. Her answer: Absoluley not. She doesn’t like them, and lots of health reasons that I don’t feel like repeating here. Anyway, she says that until I am 21, I am not allowed to get any other piercings besides a 3rd hole or my belly button. Also no tattoos. So my question to you guys is…is there an age before 21 where I can get it done without her permission, such as 16 or 18? I live in the United States, IL, if that matters.

Note: Mods, I didn’t really know where to put this thread, since it’s not really a general question, or a poll. But if you feel it is, feel free to move it. Thanky.

2

I believe that legally you can get piercings (and tattooing) done at 18. It may vary by state, however, so don’t take my word for it.

However, if you’re still living at home, I recommend you wait till you’re 21, just to keep peace in the family. It’s not going to kill you, and it may be something that you want now but don’t want by the time you’ve reached the age your mom has agreed she won’t try to stop you.

And whatever you do, please get it done at a reputable place by someone who practices the strictest hygiene standards!

3

I’m planning on going away for collage, so if I can get it done at 18 without my parents consent, I will get it done, then take it out while I return home, if my mom still doesn’t like it. 4 years later, I will show it to her, saying I just got it done. Oh flamingbananas you sly fox you! Anyway, I think she will wear down, she is pretty cool, and I am really responable. Don’t worry, I will be sure about how clean the place is. I am not planning on getting an infection. shrugs or I can wait till im 21.

4

Oral piercings (lips, tongue, etc) tend to be hard on one’s teeth-they can chip away at the enamel.

How old are you now?

5

I have yet to see someone remove a piercing in a place such as the nose or eyebrow or lip and there is no evidence of it, initially. A friend had her eyebrow pierced and hasn’t worn the piercing for a year now but it is still pretty obvious that there once was a piercing.

Don’t be surprised if you had a piercing and removed it for your Thanksgiving break and mom spots it, oh, right off (you sly fox, mom!) and the holiday was ruined because mom got really pissed off.

Just saying, is all.

6

I am 14 now, and I have all my permanant teeth in and such, if that matters. Normaly, my hair covers my eyebrows, so that might not be an issue. Well I hope not.

7

I predict that by the time you’re 21, non-ear piercings and tattoos will no longer be fashionable, and you’ll thank your Mom for her wise advice.

They’ll both still be around, but nowhere near the mainstream things they are now. Once something becomes mainstream, it loses its cachet as “fashionable” and “shocking”, so it loses favor. Think on long hair on men, afros, mohawks.

8

Well, yes, it matters…messing up your permanent teeth is expensive. They have to last another 90 years. You may want to wear your hair differently next year, or next week. The hole through the eyebrow thing is really not a good look to be stuck with. And try to remember that what you like at 14 is not what you will like at 15, or 20, or 22, or 55, but the holes will still be there. Also, many jobs require that you remove any eyebrow, tongue, lip, nostril piercings while you work. Now don’t say “well, I’ll just find a job elsewhere” because the jobs that allow them to stay in might not be what you want to do for a living.

Don’t limit yourself at this early an age. Don’t make permanent changes to your body at this tender an age. Don’t let a fad determine your future choices, or the impressions people will have of you. Don’t do anything that will disappoint your mother.

When my daughter was nine and wanted to get her ears pierced, I made her sign a contract that she would not get her ears pierced more than once, and that she would not cause any other holes to be made in her body until she was of age. It was in part a joke, but imagine my surprise to find that she carried that contract around for years. When friends (so-called) would tease her about only having one hole per ear (like it was some horrible thing) she would pull out the signed (and witnessed) contract as her excuse. And before you think she’s some nerdy goody-two-shoes, she was a regular on the rave scene and pretty wild in her youth. But she got through all that and now at 22 thanks me, as she sees some of her old friends with torn ears and scarred eyebrows. or trying to get decent jobs while hiding the scars of their youth.

I also told her she couldn’t get a tattoo until she turns 25. Her response was to wail, “but I won’t want it then!” to which I replied, “then why get something permanent that you are not going to want in 10 years?” Of course, being 15 at the time, logic did not work, but fortunately she still is un-tattoed, and doesn’t have the hassles some of the teens I work with have of keeping them out of sight while working.

So remember, no one (read future employers, potential mates, lawyers, judges, cops) will think badly of you for what you don’t pierce or tattoo.

And no, your mom didn’t pay me to write this post, but if she’d like to, I take PayPal :cool:

9

If you go with the “get it done at college and take it out upon coming home” thing I hope you plan on not coming home for a couple months at a time – most fresh piercings, especially the non earlobe-type, take a long time to heal before you can take them out for a few days at a time.

You’ve got all the time in the world to get whatever work done that you want to. And I’m saying this as an almost-24-year-old with two tattoos, two piercings in each earlobe and one pierced tragus. I very carefully planned my tattoos and piercings, and my parents have no problem with them (in fact, my mother has one tattoo more than I – since we get tattooed together, I’ve forbidden her to go into a parlor without me, wouldn’t want to fall further behind!).

As has been pointed out, if you get an eyebrow pierced, it’s going to look pierced whether the jewelry is in it or not. When I take out my tragus ring, there’s still a big ol’ hole in the cartilage of my ear. It’s not just your mother you have to think about, it’s potential employers. My tattoos are carefully placed so that they are easy to cover up (one is on my bicep and one is on my calf). In fact, many employers’ dress codes require that tattoos not be visible. This means, in cases like mine, not only wearing long pants and longish sleeves, but light-colored shirts have to be thick enough that the ink doesn’t show through them. Not as easy as it sounds.

By all means keep discussion open with your mother. I would advise against going behind her back, should it come to that – is it really worth the trouble? You’ll still have your eyebrows when you turn 21, and you can pierce them then. I waited, at my mother’s insistance, until I was legally old enough to get a tattoo, and it didn’t kill me. In fact, in the intervening time I met a friend who designed my first tattoo for me, and it turned out so much greater than the ideas I’d already had (the pic linked to in my sig shows both tats, albeit indistinctly).

10

Will never understand why people think having a pierced lip looks good.

Fish on a hook anyone?

11

You must be truly naïve if you don’t think your mom won’t spot it out under your hair! Don’t you know yet that moms come equiped with x-ray vision?

12

Not to mention that chances are that whatever hairstyle you’re wearing now you would not be caught dead wearing by the time you go to college.

It’s really better to wait. I worked with a guy who was heavy into the goth scene for a number of years as a young adult, and he’s thanking his lucky stars now that he didn’t get any visible tattooing or piercing done; he’d have had to go through some seriously expensive removal in order to get a job in a normal office today. I can pretty much guarantee you that what you want at 14 will be the last thing on earth you want by the time you’re 21.

I hate to say it, but in this case your mom is right. It won’t kill you to listen to her and wait a few years. There are other non-permanent ways to rebel. Trust me, I did most of them myself at your age. :smiley:

13

So, why do you want to get these additional piercings?

14

I got my tattoo (first, probably) at 23.

I got my first non-earlobe piercing at 19. I got my eyebrow pierced. I loved it for the year and a half that I had it. I like my scar. It scarred pretty badly because it got infected (I was allergic to the metal).

I got my second non-earlobe piercing at 23. I got my nipple pierced. I loved it for the year and a half that I had it. I like my scar.

FYI: You cannot take out an eyebrow piercing for several days. It WILL grow back in, and that is a lot of money to throw away.

Am I reading right that you are allowed to get three holes in your ear and a belly button ring?

WHAT IN HELL ARE YOU COMPLAINING ABOUT?

AFAIK, you can get a tattoo at 18 in any state except Illinois, where you have to be 21, however, a bill was recently submitted (April 2004) to the legislature banning anyone under 18 from tattoo parlors without a parent and lowering the age to get a tattoo to 18.

15

Round here, someone with facial jewelry is referred to as, “Looks like they fell face down into a tackle box.”

I want to second some the posts that talked about how having facial peircings may keep you from getting a job. Most of us who are old enough to hire people for professional positions “just don’t get” facial piercings. Given a choice between two equal job candidates, one with piercings and one without, I’m going to hire the person who presents the best professional face to our older, conservative clientele.

Whistlepig

16

flaminglips, You are 14 years old. In 7 years, you will be 21. Think about what you were like 7 years ago. How would you feel now if your parents had allowed you at age 7 to make decisions that left your body permanently disfigured? This is exactly how you will feel at age 21 about your current decision-making abilities. Right now both your body and mind are undergoing rapid and radical changes. Give your future self a break. As has been pointed out, there’s lots of time to stick holes in yourself once you’re mature enough to know what you really want.

17

As someone who got 3 piercings within a year after turning 18, I’d say go for it if that’s what you want to do-- when you turn 18.

I agree with the sentiment here that, at 14, you have no idea what you will want when you turn 18, so if your mom says no, then forget about it for the next 4 years and re-evaluate it then.

18

Look, babe, if you’re cool enough with a hole in your face, then you’re definitely cool enough without one.

Don’t do it. Add an extra stripe of pink next time you dye your hair, make the tears in your jeans bigger, wear a collar with extra spikes, but don’t do anything you can’t (or won’t want to) remove whenever you feel like it.

If you must do it, then try a magnetic one first. Apart from anything else, while certain piercings look good on certain people, lip piercings have a high probability of face-fuck-uppery.

19

I’ve seen people who get pierced and look like the metal is a natural part of their body.

I’ve also seen people get pierced who look like idiots.

Don’t go against your mom on this one, bananas. It’s not worth it.

20

When I was a teenager, I wanted to get a tattoo. My parents wouldn’t allow it, but I knew when I turned eighteen I could do whatever I want.

So when I was 19 I checked out a few parlors and looked at designs. I wasn’t making that much money at the time, so a tattoo would have been a very big purchase for me. So I put it off until I could afford it. By the time I could, I had lost interest. At 23, having a tattoo just isn’t appealing for me. I am glad I thought it through before getting it at 19, however, when I’d be regretting it now and probably having to pay even MORE money to get it removed.

The point is, getting piercings may sound great now, but your intrest may not hold in 4-8 years. And personally I would not go behind your mom’s back to get them anyway- you risk straining your relationship with your mom and her trust. My cousin did that, and their relationship has been significantly strained as a result.