I am toying with the idea of getting my ears pierced, possibly while I’m on vacation next week. It never used to be something I found appealing, but a couple of years ago my opinion started to shift about piercings, and now I find them quite appealing, for the most part.
I’m inclined to start with my ears even though, honestly, I’ve never really had much desire to wear earrings. Still, it seems like a safe beginning. Most women my age (38) seem to have had their ears pierced at least at some point.
So, I’d like to hear about your ear piercings, but I’m even more interested in hearing about other types. How did you decide? Where did you go? Any regrets?
I used to be afraid of needles as a kid, got over it (thanks to lots of doctors needing to needle me) and started getting pierced. Not pierced but just got my ears pierced.
I got 2 holes in each ear, plus the cartilage at the top of one ear. I ended up letting the top one close and having it re-pierced once. It just wasn’t working out for me.
I pretty quickly found out I was allergic to everything but hypo-allergenic earrings. I have to get gold. It’s not such a big deal - you can find them quite cheaply at Claire’s.
Ever since then, I’ve just worn continuous hoops from Simply Whispers. As in, I never take them out or change them other than maybe twice a year when I have to get dressed up and wear something else. Usually I just wear one set, sometimes I mix it up and wear two sets (otherwise my second holes stay empty).
I don’t know how common this is, but it works for me. I never have to worry about losing backs. Nothing ever gets snagged (I went through 3 years of karate without having any earring issues). I know they don’t irritate my ears. And I don’t have to worry if my hoops “go” with anything I’m wearing.
I had my ears done the first time when I was…oh, 8 or 9. With a needle. My mom’s a nurse, so she just put local anesthetic on and it was quick, and really didn’t hurt much.
The second and third times, I had it done with one of the piercing guns. I’ve since let one of the holes close up, and I just wear two - usually hoops except for parties.
I got my nose done in India, when I was 17 or so. I started with a stud - that was a mistake. I should have started with a hoop. Nowadays - 17 years later - I wear a simple gold and diamond stud, with a twisty back so I don’t have to actually put the back in - it ain’t easy to reach up there and I have no idea how other people do it.
The hoops Zipper points to makes me laugh. My grandmother was wearing those, and I have a set, too. They are as old as the hills and have just been made into something new. However I am not allergic for short periods of time. Long-term, though, I wear gold.
I had my left ear pierced in early March, 1985. I found it to be incompatible with my living situation at the time (i.e., my parents told me to take it out or find somewhere else to live). As I was 16, that was a significant obstacle.
It has long since grown over, and I have pierced nothing else since. Most non-ear piercings now seem like a sad cry for attention to me now, but I’m old.
At one point I had five piercings in my earlobes (three on one side, two in the other), plus another one in the upper cartilage of the three-hole ear.
Nowadays, I tend to use only the two “traditional” ones in my lobes. I just don’t wear as much jewellery as I used to, so one pair of earrings at a time is more than enough, especially since I rarely wear any earrings at all.
I also have a piercing in my navel that’s a leftover from my early 20s, and another one in my nose that’s a souvenir from Lisbon.* Quite happy with both, and don’t plan on getting rid of them anytime soon.
The only piercing I’d caution against is the cartilage piercing in the upper ear. Mine never healed properly (I stupidly had it done with a gun, because I was young and didn’t know better), and would routinely get infected. Eventually, it got infected so badly that there was some painful pressure that could only be dealt with by removing the earring… and once it healed, the hole had closed up to the point that I wasn’t too keen on forcing the earring back through. I know quite a few other people with similar stories, so it seems to be a common problem (apparently has something to do with how it spends most of the night pressed between your pillow and your scalp, neither of which are particularly sterile surfaces).
ETA: In general, I’d recommend piercing with a needle done by in a professional studio over a piercing gun in a mall kiosk. The studio is more likely to use high-quality piercings, and have to observe a higher overall standard of cleanliness in their workspace. Plus I’d always trust a pro over a clerk earning minimum wage and whose primary job is selling cheap sparkly accessories.
Left ear pierced once. Had it done about five minutes before we had my daughter’s ears pierced, to reassure me that it really didn’t hurt. (It didn’t, not even a little.)
She was about ten months old. She turned 18 two months ago, so do the math.
I like it - it looks cool. No desire for further pierces, ears or anywhere else. Sometimes I think about getting a tattoo, but haven’t yet.
My first ear piercings were also done by my doctor after a novocaine shot. It hurt like hell. All my subsequent ear piercings - can’t remember the total number, since a few of them have closed up, but I think I currently have eight “active” ones - have been with the gun and that was much quicker and easier.
Have had the nose pierced a few times too, twice with the gun and once with a self-piercing earring. (I did the latter because it was going into a hole that had closed up and thus formed scar tissue, which I’d heard was much more painful to pierce through.) But they never lasted long. I have no problems with my ear piercings but my nose piercings were constantly getting infected - there was simply nothing I could do to stop this so I just gave up eventually.
Have thought about getting a nipple pierced but I don’t really want to risk having the same reaction as I had to my nose piercings. Eyebrow, same thing and I’m not a fan of piercings in any of the other locations.
I love piercings. I got my ears pierced when I was a baby, by my doctor.
I got another set of ear-piercings when I was 15
I got a third one in the middle of my left ear when I was 15
I got my nose pierced when I was 17
I got my nipples pierced at the request of my husband when I was 25
I got my ear lobes stretched at 35, after one of my cab drivers showed me pictures of people from his tribe with stretched lobes.
One of my ears was originally pierced too low, and the stretching nearly split it. I let that one close up. The other one is stretched to a 00 gauge, and I keep a marble taper in that one. Turns out, I like having just one lobe stretched after all.
I knew a guy in high school who got a very, very serious infection in his ear piercing - not the cartilage though, on the lobe. He actually went into toxic shock over it. Looked gross, too.
It is important to keep your earrings clean. I soak them in isopropyl alcohol after wearing.
I still have holes in my ears from when I got them pierced in sixth grade. I never wear earrings, though, because even the hypoallergenic ones hurt.
When I was a freshman in college, I got my right eyebrow pierced. I loved it, but it got infected, so I took it out and let it close. I kind of want to try again, but I feel like that would be equally as unsuccessful.
I got my ears pierced about 5 or 6 years ago. I had always wanted to get them done, then I finally decided it was time for a newish look (not much you can do when you’re bald and a guy).
Walked right into the mall, and had them stamp two studs in with a gun. It felt like someone bit my ear. My wife was with me, and she said I didn’t even flinch. After waiting the 6 weeks, I switched them out for some hoop gages, and am now at the thickness I like.
I have two 12G holes in my right lobe, and a 00G in my left. I’ve had the former for about five years, and I first got the latter pierced in January. I stretched it out over about eight months, and it’s been its current diameter for about four.
I’m considering other piercings – mostly a labret and a bridge – but that’s all I’ve got for now.
The feeling, to me, is like someone is tugging hard on your ear. It doesn’t really hurt at all, and I don’t regret any of them.
I think piercings are great. I’ve had my ears, tongue, and nipples pierced. It took years for my mom to allow the ears and I was thrilled!
I never was able to enjoy them because my ears act all odd and they get oil pockets and scar tissue and won’t let me keep earrings in. I’ve been toying with the idea of going to a studio for straight-needle ear piercings for years, though…
My tongue, well, that HURT. It was not a piercing for me. That came out when I was 20 and I never got it back.
My nipples, though, are another story. They look and feel amazing. I went to a studio where everyone was very professional, honest, and businesslike. I took my boyfriend with me and it was a very positive experience. I started with Medusa hoops, which are like a cross between a hoop and a barbell, and now I switched to just barbells. They take FOREVER to heal but it was completely worth it.
I had my first set of lobe piercings done when I was about thirteen at the mall with a gun. The subsequent set of lobe piercings was also done with a gun when I was about sixteen or so. My tongue frenum piercing was done when I was twenty at a good piercing studio, and I took it out after a year or so as it was beginning to reject. It’s really more of a temporary/vanity piercing than a permanent one.
I’m considering a new ear piercing, though, possibly a daith.
My mother said she wouldn’t let me get my ears pierced until I was 16 but she eventually relented and I had them done at 11. I then spent a good solid year nagging before I got my navel done at 13.
After than I just kept going! I had two industrials done in each ear, one horizontal and one vertical. My tongue. Both nipples. A hood piercing. Don’t google that last one at work if it didn’t seem apparent what it was.
I’ve taken most of them out now but I still have the horizontal industrial, navel and hood.
If I didn’t work in a professional job I would have a couple of facial ones.
I got my ears pierced when I was 7. Had them later re-pierced around age 12 because the holes closed up. So now I have two holes in one earlobe, one of which doesn’t go all the way through.
When I was a freshman in college (18 or 19) I got my left eyebrow pierced. I basically did it because I thought it would look hot, and I think I was right. I had been a complete conformist all through high school and I guess I wanted to just do something for me. I dyed my hair purple too. Being a college student in Ann Arbor, I didn’t stand out all that much.
The thing I remember the most clearly is how accepting my very conservative grandmother was. I said, ‘‘Gramma, will you be embarrassed hanging out with me looking like this?’’ and she said, ‘‘I’ll never feel embarrassed hanging out with you. I love you.’’
I got it done in a shady-ass tattoo parlor in Ann Arbor, by some lady who had heroine tracks running down both arms. They used sterile equipment though. It was not the least bit painful, until I went out into the cold, then there was some stinging for the first week or so, but nothing near as bad as I had imagined.
Eventually I had to get a real job, so the piercing had to come out. My greatest regret, honestly? Letting the hole close up. It looked good on me, and weirdly enough, it didn’t look that unusual or ‘‘punk,’’ it just seemed to fit my personality. I might get it re-pierced someday.
I wore two earrings in my left lobe and three earrings in my left cartilage for many years. After so many infections, I finally took them out for good. Now my left ear is slightly larger and thicker than my right ear. Not Elephant Man large, but noticeably a tiny bit larger. And the holes will never close; you can still see sunlight clear through the cartilage holes.
