When I was a young kid I, about fourteen years old, a few of my friends got their left ear lobes pierced. I was intrigued and thought that cool but way too conservative to get mine done. When I went away to college I never thought about getting my ear pierced and just got on with my life. A few years ago, I'm 29 now, I dated a girl who had her ears pierced numerous times in each ear. One day she asked me if I'd get my ears pierced - I said no. She kept asking me, and I kept saying no. Although we stopped dating a long time ago I continued to think about what it would be like to wear earrings. After much debate with myself I figured even if it suited me, which I thought it would, there was no way I could wear earrings to work so even if I did get my ears pierced the holes would close up because they would never get a chance to heal before I had to remove the earrings. A convenient excuse, deep down I knew I wanted to get them pierced but was too concerned about peoples reacti ons.
At A Glance Author Mike Contact Mike@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Nancy Studio Can't remember Location NY About three months ago, having gotten laid off work I decided to take some time out. I had a lot free time on my hands, and started indulging in things I hadn't been able to do for years. I noticed a lot more guys were wearing one earring in each ear. I thought it looked cool. In some of my newly aquired free time I started thinking about getting my ears pierced. There were no constraints on my looks anymore and I couldn't use the healing period as an excuse to avoid getting pierced. I figured were I to get my ears pierced the holes would have pretty much healed by the time I started working again and I'd be able to go without earrings during the work week. As I debated whether or not to get pierced it became obvious, if I wanted to get my ears pierced I should just do it. After a few more days consideration I thought, it's now or never, just get them pierced and deal with it. The next day I would definitely get my ears pierced.
I woke up nervous as hell, still not entirely convinced that I had the confidence to wear earrings but determined to get my lobes pierced and see how I felt about it. Early in the morning I went downtown and after checking out a few places settled on clean looking store with friendly piercer, Nancy. She didn't have any appointments for an hour and could fit me in right away. I told her I wanted both my ears pierced, and she proceeded to show me a range of jewellery. I really wanted to get a low gauge captive bead rings, 8-10g, but I needed the holes to look relatively discrete for when I returned to work, and I still wasn't really 100% sure that I could carry this off anyway. After discussing the options with Nancy I decided on 18g captive bead ring.
After discussing the procedure and checking ID I was taken through into one of the piercing rooms. Nancy proceeded to lay out the equipment and prepared to mark my ears. The point of no return - I was completely nervous - and it showed. Nancy proceeded to calm my nerves, saying she thought the earrings would suit me. I sat up, Nancy marked my lobes and I checked the placement, it was perfect. She pierced the left ear first, positioning the needle on my lobe and quickly pushing it through. I hardly felt a thing. Then she pierced my right ear. Again this was relatively painless. Now I really had passed the point of no return. I got up and had a look at myself in the mirror. I looked quite a bit different but thought the earrings suited me. Nancy said the earrings looked great – but in reality I think she was just trying to help me relax.
I was pretty self-conscious leaving the shop. I couldn't believe it, after years of considering getting my ears pierced here I was walking around in public with my newly pierced ears. Every time I passed a mirror I would stand and gaze at myself. My ears were pretty sensitive for a few days, but I loved the feeling of the rings moving in my ears. After a few weeks I got used to both the feel and the look of the earrings. I got positive and negative comments from my peers, but again after a few weeks everyone just got used to the earrings. Now the holes are fully healed and I've bought some different jewellery that I sometimes wear. Looking back on the experience I can't believe I was so paranoid what people would think and that I made such a big deal of everything. All I would say to any guys thinking about piercing their ears is just do it. If you subsequently don't like it or can't deal with the occasional odd looks and negative comments you can always take the jewellery o ut. I'm really glad I plucked up the courage to get my ears pierced. They look great and when you take the jewellery out you can hardly see the holes, so it doesn't affect my career. If you've got any questions please feel free to e-mail me.