A PIERCING QUESTION




BY REBECCA


Well, I'd talked about it for years. I thought about it in high school, but
wanted to be sure I got the correct ear, etc., and never really thought I'd go through
with it. My wife was okay with it, but I had no clue how everyone else would accept it.
I researched it on the Internet: when to do it, how to hide them, whatever. I
chickened out before, but this time, when we were in the mall, I decided to do it.

We went to a kiosk in the middle of the mall and stared at the piercing earrings
for awhile. I picked out what I thought were small posts, and told the woman I
wanted to do both ears. We walked around the mall for a few minutes, as we
needed to wait until another employee returned from break. They do both ears at once,
so they need two people. Not so bad so far. We returned to the kiosk. I entered the
end door and sat down. The salesgirl asked if I wanted to hold a stuffed animal when
they do the piercing. I declined. My wife thought it would be a photo opportunity. No chance.
They marked dots on my ears; they looked like okay positions to me. Next was the actual
piercing. It wasn't bad really. I heard the sound of the piercing gun ( more like a staple gun),
then a tingling and very warm sensation in my earlobe. The feeling was very tight on my
ear, but I was told I could loosen the earrings at home.

We arrived home. The kids were already back from school for Thanksgiving break.
My sons didn't notice, but my daughter noticed almost right away. I explained I always
wanted to do this, and finally decided to do it. The kids were okay with it. As things turned
out, my Mom called that night and my daughter blabbed to her that I got my ears pierced.
She seemed okay with it. I wouldn't have told her yet, but what the heck. Earring care was
sort of a pain. You need to swab them with an antiseptic everyday, and turn them so they
don't get stuck in one position. It's kinda neat though, because every time you turn
them you remember your ears are pierced. I timed the whole thing well. I had 10 days off
from work over the holidays. The Internet references I found said you could wear the earrings
for seven to 10 days, then hide them when you go back to work. Sounded pretty good. After
about 5 days I switched to smaller posts (the first ones were very big on a guy). The only
problem: after about six days one of my ears swelled up and I could barely keep an
earring in it. I probably brought it on myself. They recommend keeping the same earrings
in place four to six weeks. Anyway, I got past the swelling and it was time to go back
to work. Amber had a good suggestion: Get some plastic posts from Claire's at the
mall. Had no clue what I wanted, but the salesgirl found them for me. They are
intended for girls that play sports: clear plastic posts that slip over earring posts.
You can put them in from the back of the ear and cut them so they hardly show. I tried
them for a couple days. Though they are clear, I always thought people could see them.

I thought, well it's been almost two weeks, let's try going all day without anything
in there. Not a good choice. It took several minutes (plus some pain) to probe an
earring through the holes that night. I remembered one of the Internet tricks and used
a small piece of plastic tag. You know, the plastic piece holding price tags on clothing.
As it turns out, these worked the best for me. You can cut them with nail clippers to
the right length to fit in your ear without showing. If you lose it, just cut a new one.
It keeps the piercing hole open nicely. I used them for two or three weeks until I was
sure the holes would stay open. How many people do you think noticed my ears? Well,
in four months I got comments from four people. One co-worker thought I was making
a fashion statement. Another wasn't sure if it was there all along. A teenage daughter
of a friend noticed, and a 7 to 8-year-old boy who told me boys don't wear two earrings.
That's it. I wore a single earring to my company Christmas party; not a single
comment. People don't notice the holes either. Final comments:
It does require some care to keep pierced ears. I generally wear them
to bed one or two nights a week. My right ear keeps trying to close up. I need
to work on it. I usually wear the left earring on weekends away from work, so it isn't
a problem. I'm sure if I did nothing with my ears for a few months, the holes
would eventually disappear. I do like having my ears pierced. Now there's a huge
selection of earrings to choose from, but I'm still trying to find the right pair of hoops.