The truth is, making the right decision can affect your look, on a daily basis.
Studio 5 contributor and Licensed Cosmetologist Andrea Graf
provides a lesson in “Ear Piercing 101.”
____________________________________________________________________
It is best to pierce ears, when a child is still an infant (if you don’t mind doing all the care for them yourself), or to wait until your child is old enough to be responsible for the care themselves. The care required isn’t difficult but it is necessary and must be followed every day to avoid complications. Around 8-12 years old should be an appropriate age for most, but you know your child best and should make that decision based on your child’s maturity.
Keep in mind, there is nothing currently required to certify for piercing ears most people at the mall who do it are high school students and have just been given basic instructions on how to do it. You can actually by an ear piercing kit yourself at many beauty supply stores; most important is that you/they follow correct sanitary procedures. If you want to use someone that has had more extensive training you can always go to a body piercing shop which requires training and certification.
First the earlobe should be wiped down with an alcohol wipe or hand sanitizer and then allowed to dry. Do NOT Blow on the ear to speed this up you will only be blowing germs on your child’s ear and our saliva is much more harmful than any dog or cat’s. After the ear has dried the ear should be marked for placement of the earrings and the “gun” can be loaded with the earrings you’ve picked out from a selection made expressly for this purpose. All earrings made for the purpose of piercing are put in sterile packaging and should be unopened until it ready to be used and not be touched at any point while loading the “gun” or piercing the ear. Now the gun is aligned with the marks that have been made on the ear holding it roughly parallel to the floor and you pull the “trigger”.
If an infection does occur due then the ear should be gently swabbed with a cotton ball soaked in hydrogen peroxide, allowed to dry and then antibiotic ointment applied while twisting the earring so that some of the ointment can get into the piercing. If the infection persists or at any time there is a red line coming from the piercing consult a doctor immediately.
As to best placement; it all depends on whether you have an attached or unattached earlobe and how well aligned your ears are. If your earlobe is unattached then you simply place it in the center of lobe keeping both spots level with each other. You may need to place one a little bit higher and one a little bit lower to keep them aligned visually but it should be no more than a tiny amount. If however you have an attached earlobe then the placement may need to be slightly farther out or in and even higher or lower depending on how much lobe you have to work with, making sure to keep it at least 3/16ths of an inch away from the edge of the lobe or you can never wear large or heavy earrings without running a higher risk of them tearing your hole. If you have ears that are noticeably higher or lower than the other or you have attached earlobes with less than 1/8th of an inch of lobe all the way around where you would be placing the piercing then earring of any kind are strongly discouraged. Earrings at this point would only bring attention to it and would distract from your other many beautiful assets.
To choose earrings that would be the most flattering to you, you should consider your face shape and the way that you wear your hair. Your earrings should never be a distraction but an enhancement to your over all look. You want to pick earrings that balance your face shape at jaw level, if you have a heart shaped face then rounder shaped earrings would be appropriate while a triangle face shape would generally wear something more dangly and long. If you wear your hair up then smaller earrings generally work best, hair down you would pick larger and if you wear your hair so that it completely covers your ears then no earrings are necessary at all.
Add comment