When and where did you get your ears pierced?

[Sakuracherry]

In my country, some people go to a dermatologist to have their ears pierced after high school graduation. I had a big shock when I met exchange students from the U.S and Australia when I was in middle school. Some of told me that they had their ears pierced when they were babies! Now I'm in my mid 20s and my ears are not pierced. I don't even know where to go to get my ears pierced. I'd like to hear your experiences.

 

[dk168]

When I was 11 back in 1976.

My mum took me to a local jeweller in HK, and the lady used a piece of ginger to rub my earlobes until they were hot and numbed, marked the spot with mercury red paint, before piecing each earlobe with the sharp end of a 22K loop/sleeper earring (I *think* she sanitised it with mercury red paint first).

I applied mercury red paint to my ears for the next few days, definitely not a pretty sight, and kept turning the loop/sleeper to prevent sticking.

DK

 

[Smith1942]

I had mine done at the age of 12 at the local hairdresser. My mother wouldn't let me before that age. I was able to pick from quite a large array of studs, and I chose the fake "diamonds" - surprise surprise. (I guess they were CZ.) They used a piercing gun and no anaesthetic, although I don't remember it hurting very much.

I do remember how absolutely thrilled I was to have pierced ears at long last, and how much I loved the way those little CZS - with a gold bezel! - looked.

 

[Sparklelu]

I was in 6th grade 12 yrs old (196 New Years Eve, in a rather seedy looking jewelry store/ headshop in Greenwich Village in NYC.
Earlier in the year, for my birthday my parents had said I could get my ears pierced "that year"! I held them to it.
So my dad and I ventured down to Greenwich Village, mid afternoon of New Years Eve, and he took me into this strange combo of a vintage jewelry clothing store hippie hangout and I got them pierced. I have no recollection of the actual piercing, but I know I was only allowed 14k gold balls.
I had a second piercing above done about 5-6 years ago at the mall, at a place aptly named the Piercing Pagoda. She put the hole too close to the first one, so I let them close and just last weekend I had new piercings up higher and I'm sporting baby bezel( cz's) that need to stay for 6 weeks, just in time to be replaced with either BGD preset baby bezels or AVC bezels for Valentines day!
My DD had hers done at a kiosk in the mall when she was 6, and she almost only had one done! She screamed holy heck and wanted no part if the second pierce. And it was her idea she wanted earrings like mommy.
Now they pierce kids both ears at once.

 

[TooPatient]

My 7th b-day. They did it at the hair salon with a piercing gun. OMG it hurt! I didn't want them to do the other ear but they told me I had to since they'd already started. After all that, they washed and cut my hair! Shampoo/conditioner into freshly pierced ears

My grandmother wanted my ears pierced when I was a baby.

 

[Circe]

I begged and begged and begged the year I was 10-going-on-11, and my mother finally agreed to let me have it done somewhere around my birthday. We went to an odd vintage jewelry store on 57th and ... 6th, maybe? I cleaned them loyally, and they healed clean.

Then I spent two decades wistfully longing for multiple piercings, which were first denied to me by my parents, and which I then denied myself because I thought I wanted a career in a potentially conservative field. Then I hit 31 and thought, screw it, so I went to a fancy piercing/alterna-jewelery place down in the Village (Venus by Maria Tash, and I recommend them highly) and had two more holes done in each ear. THOSE took about a year and a half to heal, partially because they were verging on cartilage, and partially because with my usual impeccable timing, I chose the year I was on freaking blood thinners to have a thing that can take time to heal no matter what done. But I can now wear graduated studs up my lobes like an Sumerian priestess, and that makes me happy.

And then last year around this time of year, I had two small gold hoops put in my right ear, same place. I would have done both sides at the same time, but the piercer warned me that they could take a year or more to heal (truth) and that I might want to wait until this set healed to do the other side. They're just about at the point where they don't pain me regularly, but since I'm just about to start trying for a second kid, thus soon to go back on the blood thinners ....

... well, I guess symnetry is how I'll celebrate getting through gestation, labor, and breastfeeding on the second-go round? Oddly, my husband claims he likes the piratical effect. So we'll see how I feel in a (knock wood) year or two, then ....

 

[packrat]

3rd grade. Local hair salon w/the gun. Mom sat me down and said "If I see you wince, if I hear one whimper or peep out of you, you leave with one ear done and that's the end of it". Stoic, me.

Now I have three in the left and still one in the right. Haven't worn earrings in years so I'm pretty sure they've at least partially grown shut.

Took my daughter in last year, in 3rd grade, to a salon, since she refused to go to a piercing studio like I wanted b/c she's scared of needles. The lady did one side crooked-whether it was her mistake or London moved her head I don't know. I took them out and she insists it hurt too badly so she refuses to have it redone.

 

[wakingdreams53]

I was around 3 months old by my pediatrician with a piercing gun. As I grew, it became more noticeable that the holes were not symmetrical, but that only limits the type I can wear (no hoops). It never really affected me, but when I was 13 I wanted to get it fixed by adding a new hole to my left ear and having the old hole close itself up. We went to a Pakistani jewelry store (my mothers logic was that they have many beautiful piercings, so they would do it well). That would've been a great plan if I were a more responsible 13 year old. They used a gun and I allowed the piercing to get mega-infected and had to take antibiotics. I know it was my own fault, but this experience definitely turned me off of ever getting pierced.

 

[Cozystitches]

I was 5 and went to one of the piercing places in the mall. I remember being so excited! When I was 13 I got my second piercing again in the mall. And finally when I was 18, cartilage piercing in the mall.

 

[Enerchi]

I think I was about 13 and my mother was ADAMANT that pierced ears looked "cheap" and there was no way she was going to approve me getting mine pierced. So.... w a needle and embroidery thread, I cleaned the needle w rubbing alcohol and then just rammed it thru my ear lobe!! I can not recall how painful that must have been, but I know rotating the thread thru was a very ugly process. Both ears were infected because I had no idea how to care for the piercings and I had long hair at the time, hiding my ears! Eventually, I put in pierced earrings I had on a porcelain doll and my grandmother noticed them... The jig was up - I was outed because my grandmother recognized the earrings --- that evening did NOT end well for me. My mother was flaming mad for the longest time!

I look back and that and wonder, "what was I *thinking*????" !!!

 

[TooPatient]

I think I was about 13 and my mother was ADAMANT that pierced ears looked "cheap" and there was no way she was going to approve me getting mine pierced. So.... w a needle and embroidery thread, I cleaned the needle w rubbing alcohol and then just rammed it thru my ear lobe!! I can not recall how painful that must have been, but I know rotating the thread thru was a very ugly process. Both ears were infected because I had no idea how to care for the piercings and I had long hair at the time, hiding my ears! Eventually, I put in pierced earrings I had on a porcelain doll and my grandmother noticed them... The jig was up - I was outed because my grandmother recognized the earrings --- that evening did NOT end well for me. My mother was flaming mad for the longest time!

I look back and that and wonder, "what was I *thinking*????" !!!

Did you ever watch the TV series Full House?

There was an episode where they did just exactly that! I thought that it would be better for a parent to take a kid and have it done correctly rather than risk big infections.

 

[joyluck]

When I was little the the neighbor across the street pierced my ears at home. They got severely infected so my parents let the holes close and I later got them pierced "for real" when I was in 6th grade at a jewelry store.

My 2nd holes were done at a Piercing Pagoda. No issues with either holes.

 

[Maria D]

Age 7, by my pediatrician. The year was 1968. My mother tried to have it done when I was an infant but the doctor wouldn't do it so she waited until he would.

 

[yennyfire]

12 at the pediatrician. My 7 yo dd has been begging since she was 3. I finally caved and said she get have them pierced when she turns 8 in August. I'll take her to the pediatrician.

 

[sweet_pea]

I got mine done the summer before first grade I believe. I really really wanted them done so my mother took me to a local small jewelry store that did ear piercings.

 

[Matata]

When I was 13, back in the Middle Ages, it took extreme bravery to subject oneself to the torture of ear piercing -- hold ice cube to ear until well frozen, put a potato behind ear, shove a sewing needle with string through ear, tie string in a loop, pull string through hole several times a day so hole didn't heal with string in it. After 2 weeks, remove string and insert a post earring. Twirl earring several times a day to keep hole open until healed. Didn't work out so well for me. Several years later the piercing gun arrived on the scene and I successfully repierced my ears.

 

[Enerchi]

When I was 13, back in the Middle Ages, it took extreme bravery to subject oneself to the torture of ear piercing -- hold ice cube to ear until well frozen, put a potato behind ear, shove a sewing needle with string through ear, tie string in a loop, pull string through hole several times a day so hole didn't heal with string in it. After 2 weeks, remove string and insert a post earring. Twirl earring several times a day to keep hole open until healed. Didn't work out so well for me. Several years later the piercing gun arrived on the scene and I successfully repierced my ears.

That's IT!! That was what I did in the basement on my own....minus the ice cube and the potato! Wow! How cool is that, Matata, our ears were done almost the same way!

TooPatient- no I never watched Full House but I agree, I wish my mother had taken me to do it properly rather than me doing this barbaric technique on my own.

 

[Verdy]

I was about 2-3 months old, at a local jewelry shop. My dad refused to let my mom pierce my ears, but one day he left for work a little early and she took the opportunity. He came home to a newly pierced and extremely fussy baby. Needless to say, he wasn't all too excited. I wore earrings all the time up until 4-5 years ago, when I took a pair out and didn't put in another pair for a year or so. After that I couldn't do earrings, whenever I try whether it be real or fake gold, my ears get extremely irritated and itchy, my lobes swell and get very red. I don't understand why I won a pair of BGD rose gold earrings a while ago and had to give them to my mom because I can't wear them.

 

[woofmama]

When I was 13, back in the Middle Ages, it took extreme bravery to subject oneself to the torture of ear piercing -- hold ice cube to ear until well frozen, put a potato behind ear, shove a sewing needle with string through ear, tie string in a loop, pull string through hole several times a day so hole didn't heal with string in it. After 2 weeks, remove string and insert a post earring. Twirl earring several times a day to keep hole open until healed. Didn't work out so well for me. Several years later the piercing gun arrived on the scene and I successfully repierced my ears.

That's IT!! That was what I did in the basement on my own....minus the ice cube and the potato! Wow! How cool is that, Matata, our ears were done almost the same way!

TooPatient- no I never watched Full House but I agree, I wish my mother had taken me to do it properly rather than me doing this barbaric technique on my own.

I had my ears pierced exactly like Matata. A neighbor lady did all of our ears, she would have a group of us over after we got our parents permission. We all sat around her kitchen table holding the ice cubes on our ears and waited our turn. Mine became infected the first two times so I had to let them close. I was persistent and kept going back for more needle jabs, infection be damned . When I wanted second and third piercings I had them done at the mall with a piercing gun. I haven't worn earrings in those holes for years. Hmmm maybe I *NEED* baby bezels

Enerchi you were brave to do your own!

 

[zoebartlett]

I was twelve and my mom took me to a salon to get my ears pierced.

 

[kalomeli]

After months of begging to have piercings my mom took me to a local jeweler who pierced them with a gun. I was seven years old and the first one from my class!

Now when I come to think of it my first earrings are very much like the diamond studs I'm wearing right now...

 

[NOYFB]

1st holes: 3rd grade at the Dr's office
2nd holes: 16 at the county fair

 

[Kelinas]

First pair: Korean Bekkil ceremony (100 days after birth, a HUGE celebration) by a jewelry store.

2/3/4/5 pair, at home in my room over the course of a month, with a needle, a lighter, lots of alcohol and sheer grit at 14.

Helix done at a piercing palor at 15. by far the most painful of all my body piercings simply because the healing time was so long.

 

[ame]

8 years old at some mall place for my first set. Subsequent piercings were mostly done at piercing shops.

 

[misssoph]

42. Not yet done!

 

[iluvshinythings]

I begged and begged and my parents agreed to let me have them pierced when I was 12. On my 12th birthday my mom took me to the doctor and he pierced them with a piercing gun.

My second holes were done when I was 17 at a hair salon. My mother was scandalized.

 

[House Cat]

I was 3. I vaguely remember being in one of those stores in the mall.

 

[chrono]

Got my ears pieced in my early twenties at the mall.

 

[boerumbiddy]

Never did. I have one of the world's largest collections of screw-back fake pearl earrings, possibly a lifetime supply.

 

[star sparkle]

First set was when I was 3 at the local jewelry shop with a piercing gun. I remember the day vividly, it didn't hurt at all and I was so thrilled with my new red stones in baby gold bezels! Got my second set of piercings during the summer between 6th and 7th grade. Don't remember that one so clearly, but I know it was with a piercing gun. Can't remember where.