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Earrings are jewelry that can be worn on one's ears. Earrings are commonly worn in a piercing in the earlobe or another external part of the ear, or by some other means, such as stickers or clip-ons. Earrings have been worn across multiple civilizations and historic periods, often carrying a cultural significance.
Locations for piercings other than the earlobe include the rook, Tragus piercing, and across the helix (see image in the infobox). The simple term "ear piercing" usually refers to an earlobe piercing, whereas piercings in the upper part of the external ear are often referred to as "cartilage piercings". Cartilage piercings are more complex to perform than earlobe piercings and take longer to heal.
Earring components may be made of any number of materials, including metal, plastic, glass, gemstone, , wood, bone, and other materials. Designs range from small hoops and studs to large plates and dangling items. The size is ultimately limited by the physical capacity of the earlobe to hold the earring without tearing. However, heavy earrings worn over extended periods of time can lead to stretching of the piercing; ear stretching can also be done intentionally.
Howard Carter writes in his description of Tutankhamun's tomb that the Pharaoh's earlobes were perforated, but no earrings were found inside the wrappings, although the tomb contained some. The burial mask's ears were perforated as well, but the holes were covered with golden discs. This implies that at the time, earrings were only worn in Egypt by children, much like in Egypt of Carter's times. The Tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amen: Discovered by the Late Earl of Carnarvon and Howard Carter, Volume 3, pp. 74–75 Other early evidence of earring-wearing is evident in the Biblical record; gold earrings were a sign of wealth, but ear piercing was also used on slaves. Encyclopedia of Body Adornment, p. 94 By the classical period, including in the Middle East, as a general rule, they were considered exclusively female ornaments. During certain periods in Classical Greece and Ancient Rome also, earrings were worn mainly by women, though they were popular among men in early periods and had resurfaced later on, as famous figures like Plato were known to have worn them.
The practice of wearing earrings was a tradition for Ainu people men and women,Sherrow, Victoria (2001). For appearance' sake: the historical encyclopedia of good looks, beauty, and grooming. Greenwood Publishing Group via Google Books. p. 101. but the Government of Meiji Japan forbade Ainu men to wear earrings in the late-19th century. Earrings were also commonplace among nomadic Turkic peoples tribes and Korea. Lavish ear ornaments have remained popular in India from ancient times to the present day. And it was common that men and women wear earrings during Silla, Goryeo to Joseon.
In Western Europe, earrings became fashionable among English courtiers and gentlemen in the sixteenth century during the English Renaissance. Revealing of attitudes at the time, and commenting on the degeneracy of his contemporaries, Holinshed in his Chronicle (1577) observes: "Some lusty courtiers and gentlemen of courage do wear either rings of gold, stones or pearls in their ears, whereby they imagine the workmanship of God to be not a little amended." Among , a pierced earlobe was a symbol that the wearer had sailed around the world or had crossed the equator.
Piercing the ears for wearing earrings is practical for two main reasons: first, wearing earrings in pierced ears for prolonged periods is far less uncomfortable than alternative means of attachment to the earlobe (such as clips), and second, the fastenings are generally more secure, which means that the risk of losing an earring is lower. However, styles and attitudes in the late 19th and the first half of the 20th century dictated that piercing one's ears was considered primitive, barbaric, or to be practised only within certain ethnic groups; thus earrings during this period were predominantly clip-ons. In 1951 Queen Elizabeth II had her ears pierced so that she could wear a pair of earrings given her as a wedding present, perhaps prompting many other women to follow suit. By the late 1950s or early 1960s, the practice of piercing the ears re-emerged in the Western world, among young women who wished to identify with the anti-materialist youth culture, and as an act of generational rebellion, especially those who had travelled to more distant or exotic locations.I Love Those Earrings: A Popular History from Ancient to Modern, Chris Filstrup, Jane Merrill Teenage girls held "ear-piercing parties", where they performed the procedure on one another. By the mid-1960s, with the invention of more modern ear-piercing devices, physicians began to offer ear piercing as a service; simultaneously, Manhattan jewelry stores were some of the earliest commercial, non-medical locations for having one's ears pierced.
By the late 1960s, ear piercing began to make inroads among men through the hippie and Homosexuality communities, although they had been popular among sailors for decades (or longer).
By the early 1970s, ear piercing had become fairly widespread among women, thus creating a broader market for the procedure. Throughout the United States, department stores would hold ear-piercing events, sponsored by manufacturers of earrings and ear-piercing devices. At these events, a nurse or other trained person would perform the procedure, using the ear-piercing device to pierce customers' earlobes with sharpened and sterilized starter earrings.
In the late 1970s, multiple piercings became popular in the punk rock community, and by the 1980s the trend for male popular music performers to have pierced ears helped establish a fashion trend for men; this was later adopted by many professional Sportsperson. British men started piercing both ears in the 1980s, with George Michael of Wham! as a prominent example. By the early 21st century, it had become widely accepted for teenage boys and men to have either one or both ears pierced.
Multiple piercings in one or both ears first emerged in mainstream America in the 1970s. Initially, the trend was for women to wear a second set of earrings in the earlobes, or for men to double-pierce a single earlobe. Asymmetric styles with more and more piercings became popular, eventually leading to the cartilage-piercing trend from the 1990s onwards. Double ear piercing in newborn babies is a phenomenon in Central America, particularly in Costa Rica.
By the 1990s, boutique jewelry stores, such as Claire's and Piercing Pagoda, had become a mainstay of shopping malls in the United States, with inexpensive ear piercing via a multiplicity of styles of starter earrings as their primary offering, usually performed in plain view so as to demystify the procedure and present it as a quick, simple, exciting, and even enjoyable experience rather than as a painful ordeal, as it had often been characterized. This further popularised ear piercing, attracting both male and female customers, parents with younger children wanting their ears pierced, and encouraging repeat visits for multiple piercing, with teenage girls and young women as the primary target segment. Claire's claims it has performed over 100 million ear piercings, more than any other retailer.
From the 1990s onwards, with the increasing popularity of body piercing, a variety of specialized piercings in the ear other than the lobe had become popular; these require professional piercers who are trained with piercing techniques using bevelled piercing needles and specialised piercing jewellery rather than conventional ear-piercing instruments and basic starter studs. Such ear piercings include the tragus piercing, antitragus piercing, rook piercing, industrial piercing, helix piercing, orbital piercing, daith piercing, and conch piercing. In the 21st century this has further developed into the concept of ear curation, in which multiple piercings are "designed" for each customer to complement their ear shape, any existing piercings, and their desire for unique and personalised ear piercings and jewellery. Such designs are often referred to as "constellations", and some piercers have become renowned for their work with celebrities and influencers; as such, ear piercing has moved from the mainstream to having become a form of haute couture as it involves specialist practitioners, intricate designs, high-quality materials, and custom fitting.
In addition, earlobe stretching, while common in indigenous cultures for thousands of years, began to appear in Western society in the 1990s, and is now fairly common. However, this form of ear piercing is still infrequent compared to standard ear piercing, and may still be considered countercultural by some.
Sometimes, two helix piercings hold the same piece of jewelry, usually a barbell, which is called an industrial piercing.
Like any other cartilage piercing, helix piercings may be painful to receive, and bumping or tugging on them by accident during healing can cause irritation. When they are left alone and not being irritated or touched, there is typically no discomfort. Piercers recommended avoiding unnecessary touching of helix piercings during healing, which can take 6 to 9 months.
A long-standing home method involves using ice as a local anesthetic, a sewing needle, a burning match or rubbing alcohol for disinfection, and a semi-soft object, such as a potato, cork, bar of soap, or rubber eraser, to hold the ear in place. Yarn may be drawn through the piercing and tied, as a device for keeping the piercing open during the healing process. Alternatively, a gold stud or wire earring may be directly inserted into the fresh piercing as the initial retaining device. Home methods are often unsafe and risky owing to improper sterilization and poor placement.
Another method for piercing ears, introduced in the 1960s, was the use of sharpened spring-loaded earrings known as self-piercers, trainers, or sleepers, which gradually pushed through the earlobe. However, these could easily slip from their initial placement position, often resulting in considerable discomfort, and often would not penetrate fully through the earlobe without additional pressure being applied. This method fell into disuse owing to the popularity of faster and more successful piercing techniques.
Ear-piercing instruments, sometimes called ear-piercing guns, were originally developed for physicians' use, but became widely used in retail settings. Today more and more people in the Western world have their ears pierced with an ear-piercing instrument in specialty jewellery or accessory stores, in beauty salons and in pharmacies; however, some choose to do it at home using disposable ear-piercing kits. An earlobe piercing performed with an ear-piercing instrument is often described as feeling similar to being pinched, or being snapped by a rubber band. Piercing with this method, especially for cartilage piercings, is not recommended by many piercing professionals, as it is claimed by some to cause blunt-force trauma to the skin, and that it takes longer to heal than needle piercing. In addition, the external housing of most ear-piercing instruments is made of plastic, which cannot be sterilized in an Autoclave, potentially increasing the risk of infection. Piercing the cartilage of the ear with an ear-piercing instrument has been known to shatter the cartilage and lead to more serious complications.
An alternative method that has been growing in popularity since the 1990s is the use of the same hollow piercing needles that are used in body piercing. Some piercers may use a forceps or clamp to hold the earlobe during the piercing, while others pierce the ear freehand. After the desired placement of the piercing has been marked, the piercer positions the needle tip at the desired place and angle, and quickly pushes the needle fully through the earlobe. Immediately after the piercing, a cork can be placed on the needle tip behind the earlobe; if a cannula has been used, the needle is withdrawn, leaving the plastic sheath in place through the new piercing. Depending on the type of starting earring the client has selected, the piercer then inserts the jewellery into the end of the needle or cannula sheath, and guides it through the new piercing either forwards or backwards, and finally attaches either a clasp (for a standard earring post) or labret stud (if a flatback labret has been used). The piercer then disinfects the newly pierced lobe again. Once the piercing has been completed, the used needles and cannulas are then disposed of.
Regardless of whether their ear piercing is to be performed with an ear-piercing instrument or a needle, the client will first select their desired piercing jewellery, sign any consent forms, and is usually seated so that the piercer is able perform the piercing with ease. Ear-piercing practitioners normally disinfect the earlobe with alcohol prior to piercing, and mark the intended point of piercing, providing the client the opportunity to confirm that the position is correct, or to have the mark repositioned. Once the client agrees upon the intended placement of the piercing on the ear, the piercing is usually completed within a few minutes.
In tribal cultures and among some neo-primitive body-piercing enthusiasts, piercings are performed using other tools, such as animal or plant organics.
Initial healing time for an earlobe piercing is typically six to eight weeks. Subsequently, earrings can be changed, but if the piercing is left open for an extended period of time, there is some risk that it may close, requiring re-piercing. Piercing professionals recommend wearing earrings in newly pierced ears continuously for at least six months, and sometimes up to a year. Cartilage piercings require more healing time (up two to three times as long) than earlobe piercings. Even after fully healing, earlobe piercings tend to shrink in the prolonged absence of earrings, and may in some cases close.
With conventional earlobe piercing, there are common, but usually minor health risks that can be minimised if proper piercing techniques and hygienic procedures are observed. One study found that up to 35% of persons with pierced ears had one or more complications, including minor infection (77% of pierced-ear sites with complications), allergic reaction (43%), (2.5%), and traumatic tearing (2.5%). Tearing or splitting of the earlobe can be avoided by not wearing earrings during activities in which they are likely to become snagged, such as while playing sports. Hence, such activities should be avoided during the healing period following the piercing. Torn earlobes may require surgical repair.
With cartilage piercing, it is commonly believed that piercing with a conventional piercing instrument and ear-piercing studs, which are not as sharp as bevelled piercing needles, can cause trauma to the cartilage, make healing more problematic. Further, because there is less blood flow in ear cartilage than in the earlobe, infection can become much more serious. Regardless of the piercing method, however, infections of the upper ear are commonly reported resulting following cartilage piercing.
Nickel in earrings worn in pierced ears is a significant risk factor for contact allergies, and there is a correlation between the piercing of young girls' earlobes and the subsequent development of nickel allergies. Harmful earrings (pl. Szkodliwe kolczyki) Fizjointormator. Retrieved 2015-04-01
Certain people have a predisposition to the formation of following ear piercing, which often require dermatological intervention to address.
Similar customs are practiced in other Asian countries, including Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Laos, although traditionally most males wait to get their ears pierced until they have reached young adulthood.
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