Earrings
Because you are dying to know.
My ear-piercing experience at age 10 was a nightmare of sore, painful ears that never seemed to heal, and it was only in the last few years that I realized I was probably terribly allergic to the metal in the starter earrings they gave me, so while my ears were attempting to heal they were bombarded with contact dermatitis as well.
Over the years, I have had a few pairs of earrings that did not, for whatever reason, irritate my ears. I wore them religiously until I found another pair that seemed to work, and then I wore those religiously instead. The last time I found a pair of earrings that worked was sometime in high school; they were in a dish at a shop with a sign that said “$5/pair” and they were tiny silver hoops.
At the risk of sounding totally revolting, really the only instance I have had them off for the purpose of wearing another pair of earrings was a couple of weeks ago at my wedding. I even forgot to change them out for prom.
After having so many issues with my ears, once I found these tiny silver hoops, earrings became sort of a non-issue for me. I didn’t even think about the fact that I had my ears pierced and could conceivably dress them up.
UNTIL NOW.
I spotted some ridiculously adorable earrings at Target the other day and then found a set of three pairs that were also very cute, so I bought them all. I decided I was going to try out earrings again. The packages said “Nickel Free” on them (I am pretty sure nickel is what I’m allergic to) so I am testing them out. Here is how it went:
DAY 1 / PAIR 1
Earrings look cute. How do you get over the janglyness?!? I can hear myself everywhere. My left ear itched almost all day, but my right one was fine. Am declaring Day 1 a 50% success.
DAY 2 / PAIR 2
Appears to be going fine – no problems. This pair is not nearly as heavy or jangly. Declaring Day 2 a 100% success. Perhaps yesterday was a fluke.
I will probably try Pair 1 again soon to see if it does the same thing again (which would be sad because I like that pair the best) but for now, I am going to tentatively say the “nickel free” label does the trick. Yay for bodily experiments!
File Under: General
3 Comments
I need to get my ears pierced! I always look longingly at all the cute earrings I can never get; if I got my ears pierced, I’d definitely buy a gazillion earrings. I don’t know how you stayed with just one pair for so long!
But haha, yea for bodily experiments!
Piercing guns are evil! I got mine pierced when I was 8 but it didn’t heal at all, and one ear wasn’t even done straight so I took them out and got them re-pierced 11 years later by a body piercer. Now they’re big and saggy, and… I like them!
Leaving earrings in too long is bad? :\
I have my lobes pierced twice and I’ve had some 12g captives in for perhaps longer than a year. My ears healed ages ago though. I keep getting earrings (all titanium/surgical steel – I have the same allergic problems as you) but I don’t change them since it’s really difficult to get the ‘body art’ kind of ears off and on.