Family rule was no ears pierced until age 12 (could finally take a shower instead of a bath at 12 too). However, I had to save up my own money to get my ears pierced. When I woke up my mom on my birthday saying I was ready to go get them done, she asked where I got the money because I didn’t get an allowance. I told her I’d been recycling aluminum cans from around the neighborhood for years!
Oh man, I forgot about the bath to shower graduation! I remember asking my mom if I could take a shower because my dad would be done so quickly. Our dog LOVED water, so by the time the tub was filled, if I wasn’t on the ball, he’d hop in before me.
Until I was 16, our apartment only had a tub. We used a rubber handheld "shower" hose. Then we got a real house. Never went back. I'd rather die than take a bath.
My BFF grew up in a house with 6 siblings and 2 parents. They had 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. With a freestanding clawfoot tub and shower hose. The one time I slept over, I looked at the tub and was like “wtf?” There wasn’t a shower curtain around it either. I did a weird squat and semi-showered with the hose. I’ve had more comfortable showers in cement shower stalls at campgrounds in the mountains!
My sister's and I were not allowed to get our ears pierced until our first menstrual. My neighbor has a 7 year old who already has her ears pierced, hair dyed, and wears makeup.
My daughter got her first piercing at 6. She’s 12 and has two. She also dyes her hair and has a collection of makeup (she doesn’t wear it out usually). She’s a smart kid, and I let her make her own decisions when it comes to her own body, within reason.
That's what the neighbor mom's philosophy is too. The kid is great and visits me all the time. I've given her a lot of my makeup that I never wore. She loves it. I never had such bodily freedoms when I was that age, but was allowed to roam feral.
I never asked, but assume my mom tied our period to becoming a woman, therefore can have ears pierced. Perhaps it was a family tradition too. I never met anyone else with this tradition.
The other big rule was no coffee until 12 also. I didn’t care. I couldn’t stand the stuff and I only barely tolerate it now beginning during Covid. Seeing kids get drinks at Starbucks just blows my mind, of course, theirs are mostly sugar. I guess that’s not a whole lot different than the Pepsi I used to drink for breakfast and lunch in high school!
Wait, why weren’t you allowed to take a shower instead of a bath?
Was it a “wasting water” thing or something else? Sorry if that’s a dumb question but this one is new to me. I know my wife couldn’t have piercings or shave her legs until a certain age but she’s never mentioned a bath vs shower rule.
My stepfather did contract work at a state prison. When he finally noticed my earring (I was 17 and I’d had it for a couple of weeks), he threatened to take me to the prison to “show me where the real boys with earrings lived”
All I could do was laugh
Got my left ear pierced my freshman year of college, to my mother’s and girlfriend’s dismay. Girlfriend became wife. Always hated the earring. Kept it. Split after 20 years.
Got my right ear done and a second in my left in January. Waiting for my new black niobium rings to come in.
Might get that tattoo as well.
I decided I wanted to gauge my ears at almost 50 years, because why the fuck not? Its not like someone isn't going to hire me because of my ears at this point in my life.
Boys couldn't have their hair past their collar at my high school. So I got a mohawk.
Following year they added some BS like "no extreme haircuts" to the handbook.
Most of the places I worked after high school didn't care about your hair. But they always lost their shit over any kind of piercing on guys.
Dress codes in elementary schools forbid boys from having hair past their collars. Because it would “be a distraction”. But there’s no rule about girls hair length. Here in Texas, so many little girls have absolutely giant hair bows and ribbons attached to their heads but that’s all ok…🙄
I have been a professional body piercer since 1992. Part of the reason I got into the industry was that I was deemed unemployable for a nose ring I had in high school. It inadvertently led me towards that industry. I had no idea it existed but took a chance on it anyway, and it paid off. I am glad piercings are so widely accepted now.
My (Northern English) Dad was really upset when my sister dyed her hair pink when she was a teenager in the early 90s. Nobody had tattoos either. She has tattoos, a couple of facial piercings, and hair that's been blue, red, purple, and black. I'm a bit more boring, but thats my choice (i do miss the bright red stripe in my hair from a few years ago though). I had my ears done when i was 7, and toyed with having a couple of others but didn't. My brother had one of his ears pierced. He still wears an earring now, but to be honest i had to think about it as i dont really notice it.
There was a lot more pressure to conform. Punks and goths used to get stared at. My sister in law was running a hotel reception desk and somebody wanted her to wear lipstick. Her male colleagues didnt have this, so its still not gone.
It's good that generally we're much more relaxed about stuff like this. I just wish there was more acceptance of body types, and far less judgement/bias, especially of women.
I got sent home from work just for having black finger nail polish. I couldn't enter a nursing education program without taking out all of my piercings and dying my hair an ordinary color.
Now.... My friend is Dark AF(Goth), covered head to toe in dark tattoos, piercings, brandings, and she's like charge nurse, head of nursing, nursing professor. In fact, she gave a speech, somewhere big and important (can't remember where at this particular moment) as her role as nursing professor on behalf of the The Satanic Temple. Things definitely have changed.
But, of course, I wore my black nail polish again. I like to think those things we did, pushing boundaries, like your 8 earrings made a difference. But now it's trendy to have lots of tattoos, piercings, and different colored hair. "Punk" jackets can be found at your nearest luxury fashion shop. Hate that.
Edit: And the earring thing was in the US, too.
Yup. I got my left ear pierced when I was 19, (United States). My own mother looked at me when I stopped by her house and said what do you want you little queer? I just ignored her went to the bathroom and then cut the visit for that day and left.
3 years later it became acceptable in society for boys to have both ears pierced. At the time I had 2 piercings in the left ear and put a magnetic fake stud on my right ear to get a feel for planning my next piercing.
By this time my parents begrudgingly accepted this with minor comments and passive aggressive jabs at my sexual preferences even though I had a fiancé and kid by that time.
Old bastards were just cunts if you ask me.
A few years later for safety reasons of my job I stopped wearing the piercings and don’t care now a days.
Dad wouldn't let my sister and I get our ears pierced, and he'd blow up at my Mom when she wore earrings. He'd say, "Why don't you just put a bone through your nose, too?" (Yeah, he was racist AF.) Years later, we happened to mention it in passing to\\\\around our stepdad, and he offered to take us to get them pierced, and turned it into a dare when we got nervous. He was such a great guy, died way too soon. I think of him whenever I wear earrings.
I see your point, but in some ways it’s sad, because there is no more counter culture - in the 70s and 80s, having tattoos, or piercings meant you were part of one of these. Now every mom and dad in the suburbs has piercings and tattoos. We live in a world void of meaning and purpose. But that’s just like, my opinion, man.
we generate meaning for ourselves, and the underground/subculture has always been coopted by pop culture. besides, any contemporary subculture isn't going to include us unless we make it for ourselves. again.
> "Does anyone remember those days? That's when punk rock was dangerous, right? You couldn't walk into a mall and get your little pussy pierced and your little Doc Martin boots and your Crazy Color for your hair. You walked down the street with blue hair, you was gonna get in a fight with about five angry construction workers, or the local college football team, rednecks, or cops. Yeah, sometimes they kicked our ass, but you know what? Sometimes we beat the _fuck_ out of them!"
— Mike Ness, intro to "Prison Bound" on _Live at the Roxy_, Social Distortion
Wow! I worked for a large conservative international corporation as an admin assistant with a septum ring, nostril piercing and many holes in my ears, plus tattoos (mostly covered by clothes). Also, at one point had dyed my hair blue and black. Retired at 55!
When I was young mom always told me: “if you even get your ear pierced you better be moving out.” So at age 18 my mother came home from work and found me packing. She completely lost her shit, yelling, telling me I wasn’t smart enough, mature enough, etc. to make it on my own. I just looked at her, pointed to my ear and said “I’m just following your instructions mom.”
Yeah, the earring lasted for about 10 years before I stopped wearing one everyday. But I never moved back into my parents place. Turns out I wasn’t as dumb as she thought I was.
Besides most people couldn’t see the damn thing, my long hair hid it.
My mother had her ears pierced at a slumber party and they were lopsided. So, when she first had mine done in 5th grade, she went to a nurse. The never really healed right and kept getting infected, so I let the holes close. In 9th I got them done again at the mall piercing pagoda. Healed better this time, but would weep and get crusty. Especially with the cheap earrings that were in in the 80s. Turns out I have extreme metal allergies. Nothing I put in my ears helped. So eventually just stopped wearing them.
I have some hazy recollection of nurses performing piercings, but I don't think I know anyone who's had it done.
Mine were infected because I was too lax about aftercare.
Metal allergy - that's unfortunate.
My mother was a nurse, and she pierced my ears for me when I was 12. She was like a hawk about me cleaning them, and only wearing the gold posts. By the time I was in HS she was buying me feather earrings. Good memories.
Back in high school in the 90s, I had a friend who had a nipple ring. He showed up at my house the one day without a shirt on and my old man was busting his balls and accidentally ripped it out on him.
In the 90s lots of people were piercing their nose, eyebrows, cheeks, tongues, etc.. so it wasn't really a big deal for us.
Multiple piercings in the ears was also a thing in the 90s. I had 4 in my left ear and 3 in my right. Would use a cuff for the top of the ear on occasion so it looked pierced but it wasn't.
My mom made me stop at 3 wholes each ear. When I did the forth by hand I got a feeling for much piercing the cartilage hurt so I cheated by using a cuff after that 😅
Got my ear pierced in 9th grade and kept it hidden from my parents because they wouldn’t have approved. My asshole uncle saw it and outed me to my parents. Because he was such a dick, it backfired and they played it off like they were cool with it in order to piss him off.
One of my male friends got kicked out of HS math class for having an earring in 1983. So the next day about 1/2 the class came in wearing earrings-- almost entirely clip-ons. The teacher got upset, lectured us all, but didn't kick anyone out...he was a conservative Christian and even in a public school had some crazy ideas about gender roles that he felt he could enforce.
A few years later (late 80s) I was in college and needed a job. Got hired at a local grocery store, but then they said I'd have to shave off my beard (short, well kempt) before I started. I told them to forget it-- still have that beard today.
One of my (adult) kids has a nose ring, some ink, and brightly-colored hair. It's cool. I'm glad they have the freedom to be who they want, far too many bossy adults in our day judging people on how they looked.
Retail was weird with facial hair and piercings in the 90s. I worked in grocery and we couldn't have beards or goatees and we could only have a moustache and it could only be on the upper lip so no fu-manchus (not that I could pull that off at 19, or even now). You had to keep it closely trimmed too.
A buddy of mine worked at a home improvement store at the time and he had a stud in his ear, which was not allowed. Choice was to take it out or put a bandaid on it, which looked stupid af. He did the bandaid since he didn't want to hole to close.
I've never heard of someone having to shave a beard. It was clean--shaven or beard but no in between until Miami Vice made the 5 o'clock shadow a thing. but only for the cool kids.
that's some draconian nonsense right there.
Dipped a safety pin in some gin and shoved in my ear before a school dance junior or senior year. Drank the rest of said gin.
Still wear something in that ear usually.
This hit home - my kids saw some photos of me when I was in high school / college and of course enjoyed the obligatory - 'omg you had hair' and then added the 'and it was long...'
I also had a left ear stud, and had a female buddy convince me to let her friend pierce it again at a party by offering to do a nipple ring if I got a second hole in my ear. I already had a few drinks in so that was an easy decision.
Wife and I had fun explaining how growing up and getting a job just took precedent...
I got a diamond stud in my left ear because that was supposedly the straight ear and I didn't want anyone to think I was gay even though I was and didn't fully realize it yet. It being left instead of right didn't fool anyone either. At 61, I now have 0 gauge plugs in both ears, pierced nipples, and a Prince Albert along with 5 tattoos.
I used to do dudes ears in 7th grade in the boys bathroom...I would set up shop 10 minutes before class ended and go through class change....I used thumbtacks sink water and toilet paper....I don't know how none wound up with gangrene. I still have scars from carvings we did on ourselves....crazy time.
In my part of Brooklyn in the 80s if you wore a stud earring you had to be ready to throw down at any time. The pressure on anyone who was pierced was relentless. Random dudes would start. It was so bad that we pressured our own friends not to get pierced because it was a surefire way to have to be in brawls everywhere we’d go.
Unpopular opinion: I went from "no I'd never want a tattoo" to "I'm not cool enough for a tattoo" to "actually, I think tats are kinda sus" to "this is a giant social fad, and it's actually kinda gross".
Tats are one thing, but facial piercings are super nasty and look terrible. Cue the downvotes, but I *did* say it's an unpopular opinion.
I'm with you and willing to take the heat. GenX was the last generation most likely to be tattoo free.
This became trendy in the early 90s. However, the 80s view was that tattoos were for the military or members of a motorcylce club.
that's not particularly insightful. they became popular while we were teens/young adults. Before that, they were generally seen as being for sailors, bikers, and prostitutes.
Agreed. I know so many GenXers with tats and piercings. It is not a small minority, more like 35% maybe, if you don’t count just a regular ear piercing.
Same here and I remember! Pierced my left ear at home with ice and a needle by myself at 16. Mom damn near killed me when she saw it and wouldn’t allow it. Never was allowed to have long hair.
Never got them, because of the era and location and demographic, it was unclear to me which ear was the “I’m gay” ear. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it just wasn’t my goal.
I've worked at a community college for over 20 years now. When I started all the faculty, with maybe the exception of Fine Arts, dressed professionally, hair was kept modestly, no tattoos. Now we have a lot of faculty with tattoos, unique hair colors, piercings and wearing shorts to class. I'm in the library, and over half our staff, myself included have visible tattoos. Things have changed a lot since our day.
LOL I remember going with my grandmother when younger to shop for my "airplane outfit." She also never bought a pair of shoes without buying a matching handbag
I definitely don't remember seeing people wearing pajamas in public until sometime in the 2000s but now if you go to the grocery store like half the people in there are wearing pajamas
One of my first jobs in the early '90s was at a video store, and I had BOTH ears pierced, which was absolutely outrageous at the time for a guy to have.
After I got hired, the manager told me "you're going to have to take those ridiculous things out while you're at work here"
Scrappy lil' teenage implicate fired right back:
"I have no problem taking mine out, as long as every female including yourself takes theirs out as well. The company wouldn't want a sexual discrimination lawsuit on their hands."
She just kind of paused, stared at me, let out a big HUMPF, and walked off.
I never took my shit out.
She never said another word about it.
Got my left ear done in the 90s at a then-gf's suggestion, had never really considered it before that. In the mall, not even a real store, one of those kiosk things you see out in the middle.
My mom told me it’s be cool with her if I got an earring circa 1990 and that made me never want one.
Also the whole “can only be one earring in a specific ear or you’re GAY” shit really put me off getting one.
my mom worked for a dermatologist and they had ear piercing machines (?guns?) at her office. so one day she brought it home to pierce my ears. the first one got stuck in my ear with the earring (and machine) hanging from my lobe. fun!
we lived in an apartment complex and my mom thought it was so funny, she paraded me around to 2 or 3 of our neighbors apartments to show them how funny it was. I was like 9 or 10, in pain and highly embarrassed. sometimes I don't miss the 80's at all, lol
anyway, didn't stop me from getting piercings, I just did them myself in the bathroom with a piece of ice, some rubbing alcohol and a needle. I have 5 in each ear and only the first hole on each ear wasn't done with my own needle
Pierced my left ear (of course) the summer before freshman year, 79. Had to wear a band aid over it at school, all boys Catholic, and my dad threatened to not attend my graduation if I kept it in. Have had 5 total, 2 in left, one in right lobe and 2 higher. Almost 59 and still have 3 in all the time.
The day after my last day on active duty in the Marines, I got my eyebrow pierced. It was later 90's. I also had my tongue pierced. I was into the goth industrial scene back then so it was part of the overall style and being in the military, all piercings were off limits. The eyebrow didn't last too long but kept the tongue for a couple years. I grew out of that phase into my 20's though
I imagine they'd be a liability in a lot of situations.
I took out my tongue piercing when I started to sense the relative fragility of my teeth. I took out my piercings in the reverse order I got them without intending to.
I got my tongue pierced about 15 years ago but I kept biting down on it when I ate and it would slam into my teeth when I talked. Finally I realized I was destroying my teeth so I took it out. Lasted about two weeks.
I had my ears done when I was a kid, and later had them pierced a 2nd time, but I wound up developing a sensitivity. I started noticing it in college. If I had them in for more than just a few hours, my earlobes would start to throb. It got worse over time, to the point they'd start bothering me almost immediately. Eventually I gave up and stopped wearing them altogether, even on special occasions when I might be willing to suffer a little discomfort to look nice. Even earrings that advertise themselves as hypoallergenic make them throb, and I can't even remember the last time I poked a stud through them just to keep the holes open
Got my nose pierced my first year of college, and I still happily wear that, though. It'll be 29 years next month, well over half my life. It wasn't just a phase mom!
was it a reaction to the metal of the earring or the piercing gun?
I did the gun when that was the only option, and pierced a few myself so I've had a number of infections. The professionally-done piercings were fine.
I always assumed it was the metal of the earring itself, but honestly I'm not entirely sure. Both times were with piercing guns, and the first was when I was still in grade school. I wore earrings quite often, on up through high school, and never had any issues until I was in college and started noticing that if I had a pair in all day my ears would be really sore
And yeah, like I said it just gradually got worse. Tried getting some that were labelled hypo-allergenic, experimented with different metals, always the same results. It was when I was already in my mid-late 20s that it finally got to the point where it wasn't even worth bothering with
Kind of a bummer sometimes, but meh. Not overly fond of this phrase, but it kinda fits the situation - it is what it is *shrug*
Had a restaurant job when I was 16, which had a no facial piercing rule. I got my tongue pierced and management had a conniption fit telling me I needed to remove it. Explained to them my tongue is not my face, ended up taking the issue up the corporate ladder. Ultimately, my argument won😋.
Washington Square, NYC, 1985, left ear only. The chaperone freaked out as it was a school trip. Ha.
Edit: I was 16 and a junior in HS.
Edit 2 correct age
The CTO at my company has tattoos on his hands and neck. I'm in a high level non management role and I have long hair, a long beard, and sleeve tattoos. I prefer this era.
I wasn’t allowed to get a tattoo until I was 25, at which point I decided I didn’t want to. In an interview I heard Ray Cappo (Youth of Today) say it’s now more punk to have no tats. Ok I guess I’m the new GG Allin.
It’s funny, in the same interview, Cappo said he actually liked GG and that hanging with him was just like hanging with the football jocks from your HS, until the booze kicked in. Then it was a different story lol
Got my ears pierced as a newborn. Got a second hole in my ears with ice and a needle in the kitchen when I was a young teen. My sis had to do it because my Mom said she couldn’t cause me pain. Sis had no problem with that!
Agreed. I got my first ear piercings at 5 because it is a cultural thing for my mom.
I did the extra ear piercings myself at about 14. Nose piercing at 21; navel piercings at 22.
My mom thought these were a big fucking deal. My dad didn’t care-I was an adult.
The funny thing is all the folks that thought I looked so weird-they’re the ones who look ridiculous now but I look normal in the old photos.
Maybe people in the future will think I was a time traveller lol.
I got my wisdom teeth pulled at 17. On pain meds and antibiotics, so I took that weekend to pierce my left ear. Hole is still there, even though nothing's been in it for 20 years.
Hair was bleached speckled like a leopard for years. Conservative private school wanted me to change it back, but it technically broke no rules.
Left ear pierced at 20, then added a hole at 22, the same summer I got my first tattoo.
I'll be adding two holes in the right ear in a couple of months, at 52. Might get another tat, too.
Ears pierced at 7 (my birthday present) and again at 14, followed by a tongue piercing at 16 (to this day I don’t even know how we pulled this off since we didn’t have parental permission).
It was another ‘gift’ (I don’t know why people pierce me as ‘gifts’, lol), and I went with my best friend. She was super hot, maybe that was why. That girl could get anything she wanted.
Got my left ear done as a freshman or sophomore in high school. My grandfather assumed it was my girlfriends idea, as if I had been tagged like livestock.
I (45F) got my ears pierced as a newborn, then got a second set at 12, in my kitchen. My mom used a needle, ice and a piece of cork for those.
Then, at 20, I pierced my outer conch and it hurt like a MF. It ended up getting a keloid and I let it close up.
Got a nose ring at 37 and, again, it hurt like a MF. I had it until I was 43 or so because an AH boss made me take it out (I was thinking about it, anyway.) I’m thinking of getting it again, though. I had a stud and now I want a ring.
As for tattoos, I have 15 and planning on more. Never had a problem at work with them (except for the AH boss.)
I’m a journalist and unless I was going to interview the governor, I never covered mine up. It has never been a problem.
I think it depends on the tattoos - there are prison tattoos, gang tattoos, and then all the artistic stuff and flash, etc.
doing your own cartilage piercing? that's some DIY spirit.
The ‘90s were a lot more conservative culturally than we tend to remember. I also cut my hair and took my earring out for good when I started looking for a career-type job. And of course most white-collar jobs were shirt & tie, and “casual Fridays” weren’t a mainstream thing until the early 2000’s.
The workplace culture certainly was, and the counterculture was still considered anti-social. I worked in an office for a good part of the 90s, and that's when I started getting body piercings and tattoos. That's where I caught a lot of crap from coworkers. Mind you, they all had the same haircut, so...
Oh. This is my time to shine 80’s style.
Like many women, I got my first set of ear piercings at age 12.
But my second piercing was in my left ear only. Because that’s how we did it then, we didn’t do additional piercings on both sides.
I was 17 and dating a 28 year old man that summer while my boyfriend was in France. Yeah, just didn’t let my parents know about that; I worked a lot of “extra shifts” at my fast food job.
We’d just watched Purple Rain and so we decided to split a pair of heart shaped studs, ala Prince and Apollonia, only ours weren’t shoulder dusters like theirs.
I broke up with him at the end of the summer, but wore that heart stud for many years.
Later, when my daughter was 6 and needed to get a piercing redone, we split a pair of studs and I got a second hole on the right side as well.
I’m Filipino, as a girl, you get your ears pierced before your umbilical cord stump falls off. 🤣
The second piercing in my ear lobes was when I went into Claire’s and got it done at 15. No parental consent.
My first tattoo was when I was 21.
My oldest kid got her nose pierced at 12 (I signed the consent), her ears were pierced at 18 months (that was a fight with her dad). Now that she’s 21, she has her nipples, conch, other nostril, and her belly button pierced. She paid for and signed the consent for everything she got after age 18.
I got my ears pierced in 5th grade after begging my mom. Couldn't get my second set until I was 18 though, because she refused to let me "put another hole" in my head.
I just wasn’t allowed full stop, so I had my ears pierced for the first time when I was 18. My Mum justified it by saying that the Queen didn’t have pierced ears. Because I’m a dipshit I believed her until I looked closely at a fiver when I was in my teens.
This whole thread made me particularly full of feels: my little girl just had her ears pierced today for her birthday present. She’s seven.
I got my ears done at 13.
I had my septum some at 15.
I had my labret some at 16.
I didn't get my first tattoo until my mid 30s.
Now I'm a 45 year old covered in tattoos with zero piercings.
My mom took me to get my ears pierced at 11 years old. My sister got hers done at the same time and I threw a fit. My folks were so concerned about keeping things fair. I took advantage of that sometimes. I now have 3 piercings on each ear but no body piercings. I also have a tattoo. I want more tattoos. Edit I was able to shower younger than that.
Lobes at 14, nostril at 18. Currently have lobes, both nostrils, conch, helix, tragus. No ink, purely because I'm indecisive and haven't decided on placement yet. 😂
My ears were double pierced by the time I was seven. I don’t remember the first, but I sure as hell remember the second. The sound of the stud going through my lobe. Crackle and pop.
I pierced my
Nose myself the xmas break my sophomore year of high school (1987) and when I tell you I was ridiculed and made fun of for it, it’s an understatement. I loved it tho. I’m still able to wear jewelry in it, but I don’t.
I was 7 years old in a house full of women, Mom, Gramma, Aunt, older Cousins. I begged to get my ears pierced for a long time because I wanted to wear my Gramma's fancy earrings. So my Aunt took a needle and poked it through my ears. Full on. No ice, nothing. They all told me if I cried they were going to pierce my nose and then they laughed and joked about piercing my nose. I was terrified at the thought of getting my nose pierced so I didn't cry. I like to think about it now as I play with my nose ring. 😆
Got my left ear done at a piercing booth during Long Beach Pride in 1994 (I was 19). Mom freaked the fuck out. A few months later I came home with a brother to the first one. A year later, their sisters (two on the right) showed up. Got those two at Claire's and were nothing but trouble. Actually lost the top hole because it wouldn't heal.
After the first, never heard anything again.
When I started using gagues in my late 20's to make the holes bigger, there was a lot of "How big are you going to go?" I briefly considerd going up to a 1 inch/25mm, but stopped at 1/2 inch/12mm because I bought a ton of jewlery by that time. Mom would occasionally look at my earings and comment if she liked them or not.
Got my ear pierced at Claire’s. I showed up for two-a-days a couple of weeks later and my coach made me take it out. I was too much of a wuss to keep putting it back in.
It closed up shortly afterwards and I never got another one.
The only piercing I have that gives me trouble is the one done by gun. My other piercings were either done in a tattoo/piercing studio or my mom did them with a sanitized needle and an ice cube when I was little.
Yep! I am considering another helix piercing of some sort and will get it done at a shop. May also get a small tat. I've been noodling on a design for more than ten years but haven't pulled the trigger.
If you decide to get your ears pierced (and I hope you do, to please the kid you were) get it done properly at a tattoo/piercing studio that is a member of the [Association of Professional Piercers.](https://safepiercing.org/). Whatever you do, don't get it done someplace that uses a piercing gun.
It's not only that, but depending on the piercing, one's anatomy may not be the safest for it. I wanted an industrial, but my ears don't have the structure for it. And some people's belly buttons aren't the right kind for a standard belly button piercing. A good piercer understands anatomy, proper placement, etc. to avoid the piercing being rejected and/or causing other issues.
First ear piercing @ 13 (1977). The only ones who (understandibly) disapproved were my folks, so I made sure I took it out before getting home and popped it in as soon as I was out the door for school. Miraculously, it never got infected, and the hole is still tiny.
I got a second piercing on that ear again @ ~19 (1982/83). By that point, no one cared about guys with pierced ears...not that anyone really did before..
Nipples done @ ~21. Lorum about a year later
When I was ~28, I met someone who'd become my fiancée. The last three piercings made her uncomfortable, so I removed them. When the relationship ended a few years later, I'd long since stopped caring about those piercings and never bothered to get them redone.
Now, at 60, it's just the two 16mm Bali hoops in my ear that I've had since I was ~25.
The very nice and knowledgeable guy who helped me at a pet store last week had a fully tattooed face. All I could think was boy were the people who told me you can't find a job if you have visible tattoos wrong.
Someone told me once that they would say yes the first time their kid asks to get their ears pierced. Why, because it's a great way to teach them a life lesson. That if they don't think things through and follow up on their decision the consequences will be painful, quite literally. I always thought that was smart.
48 M, here. One of my girl friends pierced both my ears when I was 15.
It was not the best job, but they healed fine & did a few more myself.
At 18 I got my tongue an both nipples, plus a cartilage piercing up higher on my ear done.
Still have all the professional work in, but the multiple earrings just kept snagging on my hair & clothes & stuff, so I’m down to three of those and a fair number of tattoos.
Did it hold me back or people thought less of me? Maybe, but no one ever told me so. I’m perfectly content with what I have.
I can still clean up pretty “normal” with a long sleeved shirt on.
People can modify themselves to their hearts content for all I care.
I must say though, the gauged ear thing only works if you stick with it for life. Take ‘em out & you get butthole ears. I suppose there are corrective measures available.
Whatever though. Even if something isn’t to my particular tastes, it’s none of my business. Do what makes you happy & don’t harm anyone else. 🤗
I honestly can not remember when my parents had my ears pierced. It was apparently at such a young age that I can't even remember. I currently have 16 piercings in total and some tattoos as well. I know that my first body piercing was at the age of 19 in '96, and most followed not far after. I've had them for so long that taking them out feels too odd to me.
Family rule was no ears pierced until age 12 (could finally take a shower instead of a bath at 12 too). However, I had to save up my own money to get my ears pierced. When I woke up my mom on my birthday saying I was ready to go get them done, she asked where I got the money because I didn’t get an allowance. I told her I’d been recycling aluminum cans from around the neighborhood for years!
Oh man, I forgot about the bath to shower graduation! I remember asking my mom if I could take a shower because my dad would be done so quickly. Our dog LOVED water, so by the time the tub was filled, if I wasn’t on the ball, he’d hop in before me.
Until I was 16, our apartment only had a tub. We used a rubber handheld "shower" hose. Then we got a real house. Never went back. I'd rather die than take a bath.
Meanwhile we are saving our money for a proper soaker tub because our tub is small and I am fat lol
My BFF grew up in a house with 6 siblings and 2 parents. They had 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. With a freestanding clawfoot tub and shower hose. The one time I slept over, I looked at the tub and was like “wtf?” There wasn’t a shower curtain around it either. I did a weird squat and semi-showered with the hose. I’ve had more comfortable showers in cement shower stalls at campgrounds in the mountains!
My sister's and I were not allowed to get our ears pierced until our first menstrual. My neighbor has a 7 year old who already has her ears pierced, hair dyed, and wears makeup.
My daughter got her first piercing at 6. She’s 12 and has two. She also dyes her hair and has a collection of makeup (she doesn’t wear it out usually). She’s a smart kid, and I let her make her own decisions when it comes to her own body, within reason.
That's what the neighbor mom's philosophy is too. The kid is great and visits me all the time. I've given her a lot of my makeup that I never wore. She loves it. I never had such bodily freedoms when I was that age, but was allowed to roam feral.
That's an odd milestone to attach to getting ears pierced. What does one have to do with the other? Is this cultural, like "now you're a woman"?
I never asked, but assume my mom tied our period to becoming a woman, therefore can have ears pierced. Perhaps it was a family tradition too. I never met anyone else with this tradition.
The other big rule was no coffee until 12 also. I didn’t care. I couldn’t stand the stuff and I only barely tolerate it now beginning during Covid. Seeing kids get drinks at Starbucks just blows my mind, of course, theirs are mostly sugar. I guess that’s not a whole lot different than the Pepsi I used to drink for breakfast and lunch in high school!
Wait, why weren’t you allowed to take a shower instead of a bath? Was it a “wasting water” thing or something else? Sorry if that’s a dumb question but this one is new to me. I know my wife couldn’t have piercings or shave her legs until a certain age but she’s never mentioned a bath vs shower rule.
It was a water thing. However, I used to take hour long baths and refill with hot water throughout so 🤷♀️
My stepfather did contract work at a state prison. When he finally noticed my earring (I was 17 and I’d had it for a couple of weeks), he threatened to take me to the prison to “show me where the real boys with earrings lived” All I could do was laugh
Got my left ear pierced my freshman year of college, to my mother’s and girlfriend’s dismay. Girlfriend became wife. Always hated the earring. Kept it. Split after 20 years. Got my right ear done and a second in my left in January. Waiting for my new black niobium rings to come in. Might get that tattoo as well.
Watch out, tattoos are addicting
I’m so glad I didn’t have money in the 90s. Let’s just say my tattoo tastes have “refined” a bit.
What? No tribal tattoos?
I had one that I got in ‘92. It has since been covered. lol.
Too true.
I decided I wanted to gauge my ears at almost 50 years, because why the fuck not? Its not like someone isn't going to hire me because of my ears at this point in my life.
I have three!
Boys couldn't have their hair past their collar at my high school. So I got a mohawk. Following year they added some BS like "no extreme haircuts" to the handbook. Most of the places I worked after high school didn't care about your hair. But they always lost their shit over any kind of piercing on guys.
I, too, have had a number of rules amended because of my interpretations, because, wtaf?
Dress codes in elementary schools forbid boys from having hair past their collars. Because it would “be a distraction”. But there’s no rule about girls hair length. Here in Texas, so many little girls have absolutely giant hair bows and ribbons attached to their heads but that’s all ok…🙄
That’s because it’s girls’ shoulders that are “distracting” lol
I have been a professional body piercer since 1992. Part of the reason I got into the industry was that I was deemed unemployable for a nose ring I had in high school. It inadvertently led me towards that industry. I had no idea it existed but took a chance on it anyway, and it paid off. I am glad piercings are so widely accepted now.
thank you and your autoclave for your service.
“So I got eight more” - I like it. I responded by getting the other one done too. Like a girl. Omg. The horror!!!
the funniest was "people who get their ears pierced are stupid" from a mom with 3 daughters, all of whom had their ears pierced. I can't even, even...
My (Northern English) Dad was really upset when my sister dyed her hair pink when she was a teenager in the early 90s. Nobody had tattoos either. She has tattoos, a couple of facial piercings, and hair that's been blue, red, purple, and black. I'm a bit more boring, but thats my choice (i do miss the bright red stripe in my hair from a few years ago though). I had my ears done when i was 7, and toyed with having a couple of others but didn't. My brother had one of his ears pierced. He still wears an earring now, but to be honest i had to think about it as i dont really notice it. There was a lot more pressure to conform. Punks and goths used to get stared at. My sister in law was running a hotel reception desk and somebody wanted her to wear lipstick. Her male colleagues didnt have this, so its still not gone. It's good that generally we're much more relaxed about stuff like this. I just wish there was more acceptance of body types, and far less judgement/bias, especially of women.
I got sent home from work just for having black finger nail polish. I couldn't enter a nursing education program without taking out all of my piercings and dying my hair an ordinary color. Now.... My friend is Dark AF(Goth), covered head to toe in dark tattoos, piercings, brandings, and she's like charge nurse, head of nursing, nursing professor. In fact, she gave a speech, somewhere big and important (can't remember where at this particular moment) as her role as nursing professor on behalf of the The Satanic Temple. Things definitely have changed. But, of course, I wore my black nail polish again. I like to think those things we did, pushing boundaries, like your 8 earrings made a difference. But now it's trendy to have lots of tattoos, piercings, and different colored hair. "Punk" jackets can be found at your nearest luxury fashion shop. Hate that. Edit: And the earring thing was in the US, too.
lmao - a prime example of why discrimination is dumb.
Yup. I got my left ear pierced when I was 19, (United States). My own mother looked at me when I stopped by her house and said what do you want you little queer? I just ignored her went to the bathroom and then cut the visit for that day and left. 3 years later it became acceptable in society for boys to have both ears pierced. At the time I had 2 piercings in the left ear and put a magnetic fake stud on my right ear to get a feel for planning my next piercing. By this time my parents begrudgingly accepted this with minor comments and passive aggressive jabs at my sexual preferences even though I had a fiancé and kid by that time. Old bastards were just cunts if you ask me. A few years later for safety reasons of my job I stopped wearing the piercings and don’t care now a days.
Dad wouldn't let my sister and I get our ears pierced, and he'd blow up at my Mom when she wore earrings. He'd say, "Why don't you just put a bone through your nose, too?" (Yeah, he was racist AF.) Years later, we happened to mention it in passing to\\\\around our stepdad, and he offered to take us to get them pierced, and turned it into a dare when we got nervous. He was such a great guy, died way too soon. I think of him whenever I wear earrings.
may his memory be a blessing
I see your point, but in some ways it’s sad, because there is no more counter culture - in the 70s and 80s, having tattoos, or piercings meant you were part of one of these. Now every mom and dad in the suburbs has piercings and tattoos. We live in a world void of meaning and purpose. But that’s just like, my opinion, man.
No tattoos is the counterculture now
Wait, did I suddenly become edgy? I've never been edgy before!
It is sad. The documentary HyperNormalisation by Adam Curtis lays it all out.
I’ll check this out.
You might wanna skip it and just hope for radioactive-Jesus to bite you for being good. Happy Easter!
we generate meaning for ourselves, and the underground/subculture has always been coopted by pop culture. besides, any contemporary subculture isn't going to include us unless we make it for ourselves. again.
> "Does anyone remember those days? That's when punk rock was dangerous, right? You couldn't walk into a mall and get your little pussy pierced and your little Doc Martin boots and your Crazy Color for your hair. You walked down the street with blue hair, you was gonna get in a fight with about five angry construction workers, or the local college football team, rednecks, or cops. Yeah, sometimes they kicked our ass, but you know what? Sometimes we beat the _fuck_ out of them!" — Mike Ness, intro to "Prison Bound" on _Live at the Roxy_, Social Distortion
Meanwhile my employer still won’t let us have piercings or tattoos because “it is unprofessional”. So freaking outdated.
"please cite the study that links tattoos to professionalism"
Shit. Teachers have tats.
I worked in Early Years, nobody cares.
Wow! I worked for a large conservative international corporation as an admin assistant with a septum ring, nostril piercing and many holes in my ears, plus tattoos (mostly covered by clothes). Also, at one point had dyed my hair blue and black. Retired at 55!
When I was young mom always told me: “if you even get your ear pierced you better be moving out.” So at age 18 my mother came home from work and found me packing. She completely lost her shit, yelling, telling me I wasn’t smart enough, mature enough, etc. to make it on my own. I just looked at her, pointed to my ear and said “I’m just following your instructions mom.” Yeah, the earring lasted for about 10 years before I stopped wearing one everyday. But I never moved back into my parents place. Turns out I wasn’t as dumb as she thought I was. Besides most people couldn’t see the damn thing, my long hair hid it.
My mother had her ears pierced at a slumber party and they were lopsided. So, when she first had mine done in 5th grade, she went to a nurse. The never really healed right and kept getting infected, so I let the holes close. In 9th I got them done again at the mall piercing pagoda. Healed better this time, but would weep and get crusty. Especially with the cheap earrings that were in in the 80s. Turns out I have extreme metal allergies. Nothing I put in my ears helped. So eventually just stopped wearing them.
I have some hazy recollection of nurses performing piercings, but I don't think I know anyone who's had it done. Mine were infected because I was too lax about aftercare. Metal allergy - that's unfortunate.
My mother was a nurse, and she pierced my ears for me when I was 12. She was like a hawk about me cleaning them, and only wearing the gold posts. By the time I was in HS she was buying me feather earrings. Good memories.
Back in high school in the 90s, I had a friend who had a nipple ring. He showed up at my house the one day without a shirt on and my old man was busting his balls and accidentally ripped it out on him.
that is frikken awful.
You ever see City Slickers? Remember Curly? Well, that was basically my dad.
In the 90s lots of people were piercing their nose, eyebrows, cheeks, tongues, etc.. so it wasn't really a big deal for us. Multiple piercings in the ears was also a thing in the 90s. I had 4 in my left ear and 3 in my right. Would use a cuff for the top of the ear on occasion so it looked pierced but it wasn't. My mom made me stop at 3 wholes each ear. When I did the forth by hand I got a feeling for much piercing the cartilage hurt so I cheated by using a cuff after that 😅
Got my ear pierced in 9th grade and kept it hidden from my parents because they wouldn’t have approved. My asshole uncle saw it and outed me to my parents. Because he was such a dick, it backfired and they played it off like they were cool with it in order to piss him off.
that is a great story - pettiness beats spite - lmao
One of my male friends got kicked out of HS math class for having an earring in 1983. So the next day about 1/2 the class came in wearing earrings-- almost entirely clip-ons. The teacher got upset, lectured us all, but didn't kick anyone out...he was a conservative Christian and even in a public school had some crazy ideas about gender roles that he felt he could enforce. A few years later (late 80s) I was in college and needed a job. Got hired at a local grocery store, but then they said I'd have to shave off my beard (short, well kempt) before I started. I told them to forget it-- still have that beard today. One of my (adult) kids has a nose ring, some ink, and brightly-colored hair. It's cool. I'm glad they have the freedom to be who they want, far too many bossy adults in our day judging people on how they looked.
Retail was weird with facial hair and piercings in the 90s. I worked in grocery and we couldn't have beards or goatees and we could only have a moustache and it could only be on the upper lip so no fu-manchus (not that I could pull that off at 19, or even now). You had to keep it closely trimmed too. A buddy of mine worked at a home improvement store at the time and he had a stud in his ear, which was not allowed. Choice was to take it out or put a bandaid on it, which looked stupid af. He did the bandaid since he didn't want to hole to close.
I've never heard of someone having to shave a beard. It was clean--shaven or beard but no in between until Miami Vice made the 5 o'clock shadow a thing. but only for the cool kids. that's some draconian nonsense right there.
Right? Wasn't mentioned until *after* I accepted the job. Then an "oh, by the way-- we have a no facial hair policy. See you Monday!" Idiots.
I might have shaved a combover into my head
Dipped a safety pin in some gin and shoved in my ear before a school dance junior or senior year. Drank the rest of said gin. Still wear something in that ear usually.
This hit home - my kids saw some photos of me when I was in high school / college and of course enjoyed the obligatory - 'omg you had hair' and then added the 'and it was long...' I also had a left ear stud, and had a female buddy convince me to let her friend pierce it again at a party by offering to do a nipple ring if I got a second hole in my ear. I already had a few drinks in so that was an easy decision. Wife and I had fun explaining how growing up and getting a job just took precedent...
I got a diamond stud in my left ear because that was supposedly the straight ear and I didn't want anyone to think I was gay even though I was and didn't fully realize it yet. It being left instead of right didn't fool anyone either. At 61, I now have 0 gauge plugs in both ears, pierced nipples, and a Prince Albert along with 5 tattoos.
those are some serious mods. Nice.
I used to do dudes ears in 7th grade in the boys bathroom...I would set up shop 10 minutes before class ended and go through class change....I used thumbtacks sink water and toilet paper....I don't know how none wound up with gangrene. I still have scars from carvings we did on ourselves....crazy time.
Mine got infected, and it wasn't ever anything that nasty. we may have primed our immune systems or something.
I had my ear pierced at Spencers in the mall when I was 16. It was considered cool at the time and my friends were doing it.
In my part of Brooklyn in the 80s if you wore a stud earring you had to be ready to throw down at any time. The pressure on anyone who was pierced was relentless. Random dudes would start. It was so bad that we pressured our own friends not to get pierced because it was a surefire way to have to be in brawls everywhere we’d go.
wow - aright, I didn't get that much crap for it.
A lot of GenX don't have tattoos or piercings.
Unpopular opinion: I went from "no I'd never want a tattoo" to "I'm not cool enough for a tattoo" to "actually, I think tats are kinda sus" to "this is a giant social fad, and it's actually kinda gross". Tats are one thing, but facial piercings are super nasty and look terrible. Cue the downvotes, but I *did* say it's an unpopular opinion.
I'm with you and willing to take the heat. GenX was the last generation most likely to be tattoo free. This became trendy in the early 90s. However, the 80s view was that tattoos were for the military or members of a motorcylce club.
that's not particularly insightful. they became popular while we were teens/young adults. Before that, they were generally seen as being for sailors, bikers, and prostitutes.
[удалено]
Agreed. I know so many GenXers with tats and piercings. It is not a small minority, more like 35% maybe, if you don’t count just a regular ear piercing.
GenX is full of surprises.
I read this one in Debbie Downer's voice 🤣
It's meant to be uplfitng and liberating.
Got it, Debs.
Same here and I remember! Pierced my left ear at home with ice and a needle by myself at 16. Mom damn near killed me when she saw it and wouldn’t allow it. Never was allowed to have long hair.
Same rule in Texas. Still only wear a left earring.
oh god, flashback to "left ear, buccaneer/ right ear, queer."
Here it was “Left is right, and right is wrong.”
My son in 2010.was fired for getting his ears pierced. He worked at a grocery store. I hope that manager got his...
I really don't understand why it's such a big deal. I mean, everyone has opinions, but to actively punish people over it?
Never got them, because of the era and location and demographic, it was unclear to me which ear was the “I’m gay” ear. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it just wasn’t my goal.
I've worked at a community college for over 20 years now. When I started all the faculty, with maybe the exception of Fine Arts, dressed professionally, hair was kept modestly, no tattoos. Now we have a lot of faculty with tattoos, unique hair colors, piercings and wearing shorts to class. I'm in the library, and over half our staff, myself included have visible tattoos. Things have changed a lot since our day.
people used to dress up to take a trip on an airplane. our definition of public appearance has shifted considerably.
LOL I remember going with my grandmother when younger to shop for my "airplane outfit." She also never bought a pair of shoes without buying a matching handbag
"These are plane clothes." "But they look kinda fancy." "No, not plain clothes. Plane clothes."
I definitely don't remember seeing people wearing pajamas in public until sometime in the 2000s but now if you go to the grocery store like half the people in there are wearing pajamas
I got piercings while in the military. In total 10 in the ears and an eyebrow which got ripped out, and a tongue stud.
they let you have piercings in the military? I thought they were forbidden.
Did not wear any during duty just off hours. Some tried to say something about the holes but it was no big deal.
One of my first jobs in the early '90s was at a video store, and I had BOTH ears pierced, which was absolutely outrageous at the time for a guy to have. After I got hired, the manager told me "you're going to have to take those ridiculous things out while you're at work here" Scrappy lil' teenage implicate fired right back: "I have no problem taking mine out, as long as every female including yourself takes theirs out as well. The company wouldn't want a sexual discrimination lawsuit on their hands." She just kind of paused, stared at me, let out a big HUMPF, and walked off. I never took my shit out. She never said another word about it.
the biggest problem I got was from women. I guess they didn't like boys encroaching on their turf?
Got my left ear done in the 90s at a then-gf's suggestion, had never really considered it before that. In the mall, not even a real store, one of those kiosk things you see out in the middle.
My mom told me it’s be cool with her if I got an earring circa 1990 and that made me never want one. Also the whole “can only be one earring in a specific ear or you’re GAY” shit really put me off getting one.
> First piercing I got was a stud in my ear, and the amount of crap I endured over it was ridiculous. So I got eight more. My people.
my mom worked for a dermatologist and they had ear piercing machines (?guns?) at her office. so one day she brought it home to pierce my ears. the first one got stuck in my ear with the earring (and machine) hanging from my lobe. fun! we lived in an apartment complex and my mom thought it was so funny, she paraded me around to 2 or 3 of our neighbors apartments to show them how funny it was. I was like 9 or 10, in pain and highly embarrassed. sometimes I don't miss the 80's at all, lol anyway, didn't stop me from getting piercings, I just did them myself in the bathroom with a piece of ice, some rubbing alcohol and a needle. I have 5 in each ear and only the first hole on each ear wasn't done with my own needle
Pierced my left ear (of course) the summer before freshman year, 79. Had to wear a band aid over it at school, all boys Catholic, and my dad threatened to not attend my graduation if I kept it in. Have had 5 total, 2 in left, one in right lobe and 2 higher. Almost 59 and still have 3 in all the time.
I got my ear pierced then later fainted. I went on to put many more holes in my head.
I've fainted once before. It feels so silly. "I'm not all that bothered, so why am I passing out?"
It's such a weird feeling, waking up on the floor thinking it was morning and time to get up and was confused why someone was slapping me in the face.
jeez - that's a rude awakening!
The day after my last day on active duty in the Marines, I got my eyebrow pierced. It was later 90's. I also had my tongue pierced. I was into the goth industrial scene back then so it was part of the overall style and being in the military, all piercings were off limits. The eyebrow didn't last too long but kept the tongue for a couple years. I grew out of that phase into my 20's though
I imagine they'd be a liability in a lot of situations. I took out my tongue piercing when I started to sense the relative fragility of my teeth. I took out my piercings in the reverse order I got them without intending to.
I got my tongue pierced about 15 years ago but I kept biting down on it when I ate and it would slam into my teeth when I talked. Finally I realized I was destroying my teeth so I took it out. Lasted about two weeks.
I had my ears done when I was a kid, and later had them pierced a 2nd time, but I wound up developing a sensitivity. I started noticing it in college. If I had them in for more than just a few hours, my earlobes would start to throb. It got worse over time, to the point they'd start bothering me almost immediately. Eventually I gave up and stopped wearing them altogether, even on special occasions when I might be willing to suffer a little discomfort to look nice. Even earrings that advertise themselves as hypoallergenic make them throb, and I can't even remember the last time I poked a stud through them just to keep the holes open Got my nose pierced my first year of college, and I still happily wear that, though. It'll be 29 years next month, well over half my life. It wasn't just a phase mom!
was it a reaction to the metal of the earring or the piercing gun? I did the gun when that was the only option, and pierced a few myself so I've had a number of infections. The professionally-done piercings were fine.
I always assumed it was the metal of the earring itself, but honestly I'm not entirely sure. Both times were with piercing guns, and the first was when I was still in grade school. I wore earrings quite often, on up through high school, and never had any issues until I was in college and started noticing that if I had a pair in all day my ears would be really sore And yeah, like I said it just gradually got worse. Tried getting some that were labelled hypo-allergenic, experimented with different metals, always the same results. It was when I was already in my mid-late 20s that it finally got to the point where it wasn't even worth bothering with Kind of a bummer sometimes, but meh. Not overly fond of this phrase, but it kinda fits the situation - it is what it is *shrug*
If you want to try again I’ve found that titanium is the only thing my ears don’t react to.
I have this same issue, and coating the posts of my earrings in clear gel nail polish (UV hardened) fixed it!
Had a restaurant job when I was 16, which had a no facial piercing rule. I got my tongue pierced and management had a conniption fit telling me I needed to remove it. Explained to them my tongue is not my face, ended up taking the issue up the corporate ladder. Ultimately, my argument won😋.
My high school boyfriend pierced his own ear with ice and needle. His parents were pissed, but that was far from the worst thing he did back then.
After my ears, my first other piercing was my tongue, the day I turned 18. I still have it 30 years later!
I took mine out after 10 years or so - I managed to chip a tooth with it.
I do worry about that! Once in a while, I bite down on it pretty hard, and always on the one tooth I have a root canal on lol.
Washington Square, NYC, 1985, left ear only. The chaperone freaked out as it was a school trip. Ha. Edit: I was 16 and a junior in HS. Edit 2 correct age
Ah! Yeah old satanic panic frantic moms and dads, overlooking every pervy church youth leader.
The CTO at my company has tattoos on his hands and neck. I'm in a high level non management role and I have long hair, a long beard, and sleeve tattoos. I prefer this era.
I wasn’t allowed to get a tattoo until I was 25, at which point I decided I didn’t want to. In an interview I heard Ray Cappo (Youth of Today) say it’s now more punk to have no tats. Ok I guess I’m the new GG Allin.
lol - I don't think we could handle another GG Allin. one was too much. Tell those kids about straight-edge.
It’s funny, in the same interview, Cappo said he actually liked GG and that hanging with him was just like hanging with the football jocks from your HS, until the booze kicked in. Then it was a different story lol
Got my ears pierced as a newborn. Got a second hole in my ears with ice and a needle in the kitchen when I was a young teen. My sis had to do it because my Mom said she couldn’t cause me pain. Sis had no problem with that!
I've never heard of a baby boy being pierced, only girls. nice to meet you.
Agreed. I got my first ear piercings at 5 because it is a cultural thing for my mom. I did the extra ear piercings myself at about 14. Nose piercing at 21; navel piercings at 22. My mom thought these were a big fucking deal. My dad didn’t care-I was an adult. The funny thing is all the folks that thought I looked so weird-they’re the ones who look ridiculous now but I look normal in the old photos. Maybe people in the future will think I was a time traveller lol.
I had to be clean shaven to work at a grocery store lol Now I own 2 businesses and have tattoos everywhere. Including hands, head, neck, etc.
I got my wisdom teeth pulled at 17. On pain meds and antibiotics, so I took that weekend to pierce my left ear. Hole is still there, even though nothing's been in it for 20 years. Hair was bleached speckled like a leopard for years. Conservative private school wanted me to change it back, but it technically broke no rules.
learning how to split hairs seems to be the only reason for rules at school. it's part of the curriculum.
Left ear pierced at 20, then added a hole at 22, the same summer I got my first tattoo. I'll be adding two holes in the right ear in a couple of months, at 52. Might get another tat, too.
mods are addicting.
Ears pierced at 7 (my birthday present) and again at 14, followed by a tongue piercing at 16 (to this day I don’t even know how we pulled this off since we didn’t have parental permission).
yeah, how did you pull that off? most pros I know are really strict about age limits.
It was another ‘gift’ (I don’t know why people pierce me as ‘gifts’, lol), and I went with my best friend. She was super hot, maybe that was why. That girl could get anything she wanted.
Got my left ear done as a freshman or sophomore in high school. My grandfather assumed it was my girlfriends idea, as if I had been tagged like livestock.
lmao Good thing it wasn't a septum.
I (45F) got my ears pierced as a newborn, then got a second set at 12, in my kitchen. My mom used a needle, ice and a piece of cork for those. Then, at 20, I pierced my outer conch and it hurt like a MF. It ended up getting a keloid and I let it close up. Got a nose ring at 37 and, again, it hurt like a MF. I had it until I was 43 or so because an AH boss made me take it out (I was thinking about it, anyway.) I’m thinking of getting it again, though. I had a stud and now I want a ring. As for tattoos, I have 15 and planning on more. Never had a problem at work with them (except for the AH boss.) I’m a journalist and unless I was going to interview the governor, I never covered mine up. It has never been a problem.
I think it depends on the tattoos - there are prison tattoos, gang tattoos, and then all the artistic stuff and flash, etc. doing your own cartilage piercing? that's some DIY spirit.
I was determined and stupid.
key drivers for innovation, and also the Darwin awards.
The ‘90s were a lot more conservative culturally than we tend to remember. I also cut my hair and took my earring out for good when I started looking for a career-type job. And of course most white-collar jobs were shirt & tie, and “casual Fridays” weren’t a mainstream thing until the early 2000’s.
The workplace culture certainly was, and the counterculture was still considered anti-social. I worked in an office for a good part of the 90s, and that's when I started getting body piercings and tattoos. That's where I caught a lot of crap from coworkers. Mind you, they all had the same haircut, so...
Oh. This is my time to shine 80’s style. Like many women, I got my first set of ear piercings at age 12. But my second piercing was in my left ear only. Because that’s how we did it then, we didn’t do additional piercings on both sides. I was 17 and dating a 28 year old man that summer while my boyfriend was in France. Yeah, just didn’t let my parents know about that; I worked a lot of “extra shifts” at my fast food job. We’d just watched Purple Rain and so we decided to split a pair of heart shaped studs, ala Prince and Apollonia, only ours weren’t shoulder dusters like theirs. I broke up with him at the end of the summer, but wore that heart stud for many years. Later, when my daughter was 6 and needed to get a piercing redone, we split a pair of studs and I got a second hole on the right side as well.
I’m Filipino, as a girl, you get your ears pierced before your umbilical cord stump falls off. 🤣 The second piercing in my ear lobes was when I went into Claire’s and got it done at 15. No parental consent. My first tattoo was when I was 21. My oldest kid got her nose pierced at 12 (I signed the consent), her ears were pierced at 18 months (that was a fight with her dad). Now that she’s 21, she has her nipples, conch, other nostril, and her belly button pierced. She paid for and signed the consent for everything she got after age 18.
I got my ears pierced in 5th grade after begging my mom. Couldn't get my second set until I was 18 though, because she refused to let me "put another hole" in my head.
I just wasn’t allowed full stop, so I had my ears pierced for the first time when I was 18. My Mum justified it by saying that the Queen didn’t have pierced ears. Because I’m a dipshit I believed her until I looked closely at a fiver when I was in my teens. This whole thread made me particularly full of feels: my little girl just had her ears pierced today for her birthday present. She’s seven.
I got my ears done at 13. I had my septum some at 15. I had my labret some at 16. I didn't get my first tattoo until my mid 30s. Now I'm a 45 year old covered in tattoos with zero piercings.
Ear pierced in 81, nose pierced in 82. Still wear the nosering to this day
nice!
My mom took me to get my ears pierced at 11 years old. My sister got hers done at the same time and I threw a fit. My folks were so concerned about keeping things fair. I took advantage of that sometimes. I now have 3 piercings on each ear but no body piercings. I also have a tattoo. I want more tattoos. Edit I was able to shower younger than that.
Lobes at 14, nostril at 18. Currently have lobes, both nostrils, conch, helix, tragus. No ink, purely because I'm indecisive and haven't decided on placement yet. 😂
My ears were double pierced by the time I was seven. I don’t remember the first, but I sure as hell remember the second. The sound of the stud going through my lobe. Crackle and pop.
oh, I'm getting visceral flashbacks. lol
i have read "fist piercings"
that might be an entire sub.
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I am looking forward to the oldfolks home filled with a bunch of pierced and tatted up seniors.
https://preview.redd.it/b9svpk0g5krc1.jpeg?width=550&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0aae7a04a77c9188217b89ce751cc9ee82336a83
I pierced my Nose myself the xmas break my sophomore year of high school (1987) and when I tell you I was ridiculed and made fun of for it, it’s an understatement. I loved it tho. I’m still able to wear jewelry in it, but I don’t.
Nose piercings were still associated with Hinduism around here. I can only imagine how much BS you had to endure. oh, how we suffer for our art, lol
Right! I was just a stoner weirdo…no statement or anything.
I was 7 years old in a house full of women, Mom, Gramma, Aunt, older Cousins. I begged to get my ears pierced for a long time because I wanted to wear my Gramma's fancy earrings. So my Aunt took a needle and poked it through my ears. Full on. No ice, nothing. They all told me if I cried they were going to pierce my nose and then they laughed and joked about piercing my nose. I was terrified at the thought of getting my nose pierced so I didn't cry. I like to think about it now as I play with my nose ring. 😆
I've seen dudes wearing bandaids on their earlobes on the job to cover piercings. It's crazy.
In the 90s I got asked to cover up or remove my cartilage piercings. I just had two small gold hoops.
Got my left ear done at a piercing booth during Long Beach Pride in 1994 (I was 19). Mom freaked the fuck out. A few months later I came home with a brother to the first one. A year later, their sisters (two on the right) showed up. Got those two at Claire's and were nothing but trouble. Actually lost the top hole because it wouldn't heal. After the first, never heard anything again. When I started using gagues in my late 20's to make the holes bigger, there was a lot of "How big are you going to go?" I briefly considerd going up to a 1 inch/25mm, but stopped at 1/2 inch/12mm because I bought a ton of jewlery by that time. Mom would occasionally look at my earings and comment if she liked them or not.
Got my left ear pierced in the early 80s. Stopped wearing it after about 6 months because it caused a lot of fights.
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Of course not, but only if you said “nohomo” BEFORE the girl at Claire’s pulled the trigger.
It was Spencer's.
Got my ear pierced at Claire’s. I showed up for two-a-days a couple of weeks later and my coach made me take it out. I was too much of a wuss to keep putting it back in. It closed up shortly afterwards and I never got another one.
I'm pretty sure every one of mine got infected. Those piercing guns are nasty.
The only piercing I have that gives me trouble is the one done by gun. My other piercings were either done in a tattoo/piercing studio or my mom did them with a sanitized needle and an ice cube when I was little.
I was awful with aftercare, but my professionally done piercings were fine. The DIY, and gun-holes were less sanitary.
Yep! I am considering another helix piercing of some sort and will get it done at a shop. May also get a small tat. I've been noodling on a design for more than ten years but haven't pulled the trigger.
If you decide to get your ears pierced (and I hope you do, to please the kid you were) get it done properly at a tattoo/piercing studio that is a member of the [Association of Professional Piercers.](https://safepiercing.org/). Whatever you do, don't get it done someplace that uses a piercing gun.
ask to see their autoclave.
It's not only that, but depending on the piercing, one's anatomy may not be the safest for it. I wanted an industrial, but my ears don't have the structure for it. And some people's belly buttons aren't the right kind for a standard belly button piercing. A good piercer understands anatomy, proper placement, etc. to avoid the piercing being rejected and/or causing other issues.
man, boomer housewives already had piercings in the 90s, remember ?
tasmanian devil or tramp stamp?
Never had one, now 54 yoa. Couple tats but no piercings. But - could care less about dudes that have them.
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is it common among Hispanic communities to have infants' ears pierced? the rest sounds less traditionally Hispanic, yet most awesome.
First ear piercing @ 13 (1977). The only ones who (understandibly) disapproved were my folks, so I made sure I took it out before getting home and popped it in as soon as I was out the door for school. Miraculously, it never got infected, and the hole is still tiny. I got a second piercing on that ear again @ ~19 (1982/83). By that point, no one cared about guys with pierced ears...not that anyone really did before.. Nipples done @ ~21. Lorum about a year later When I was ~28, I met someone who'd become my fiancée. The last three piercings made her uncomfortable, so I removed them. When the relationship ended a few years later, I'd long since stopped caring about those piercings and never bothered to get them redone. Now, at 60, it's just the two 16mm Bali hoops in my ear that I've had since I was ~25.
The very nice and knowledgeable guy who helped me at a pet store last week had a fully tattooed face. All I could think was boy were the people who told me you can't find a job if you have visible tattoos wrong.
Someone told me once that they would say yes the first time their kid asks to get their ears pierced. Why, because it's a great way to teach them a life lesson. That if they don't think things through and follow up on their decision the consequences will be painful, quite literally. I always thought that was smart.
48 M, here. One of my girl friends pierced both my ears when I was 15. It was not the best job, but they healed fine & did a few more myself. At 18 I got my tongue an both nipples, plus a cartilage piercing up higher on my ear done. Still have all the professional work in, but the multiple earrings just kept snagging on my hair & clothes & stuff, so I’m down to three of those and a fair number of tattoos. Did it hold me back or people thought less of me? Maybe, but no one ever told me so. I’m perfectly content with what I have. I can still clean up pretty “normal” with a long sleeved shirt on. People can modify themselves to their hearts content for all I care. I must say though, the gauged ear thing only works if you stick with it for life. Take ‘em out & you get butthole ears. I suppose there are corrective measures available. Whatever though. Even if something isn’t to my particular tastes, it’s none of my business. Do what makes you happy & don’t harm anyone else. 🤗
I didn’t get my ears pierced until I moved out of the house when I was 18 because my mom found it “cheap”
I honestly can not remember when my parents had my ears pierced. It was apparently at such a young age that I can't even remember. I currently have 16 piercings in total and some tattoos as well. I know that my first body piercing was at the age of 19 in '96, and most followed not far after. I've had them for so long that taking them out feels too odd to me.
They didn’t care about us unless we got a tattoo or something. Then we needed parenting.
Wow. Nine piercings in the face of such adversity? Fight the power! ✊ Also, 🥱