We were told to bring our own earrings and they should be smooth gold balls. I wasn’t able to go shopping for my own earrings (can’t remember why, at this late date) and asked my mother to do it for me, and she paid no attention to what I’d requested and got me some cute little flower shapes instead. The doctor was dubious, but that’s all I had, so he put them in. And that, I think, is how I got my nickel allergy. My ears were crusty and oozing in no time, and I didn’t think my parents would finance another trip to the doctor (my dad had actually forbidden me to get my ears pierced because it “looked cheap”) so I had to fix the problem as best I could by taking the offending earrings out and putting, I shudder to think about this now, short lengths of nylon guitar string through the holes till they healed. Ugh.

Years later, I got a second set of ear holes, and by that time the piercing gun was all the rage (we didn’t yet know how ridiculously un-sterile those things could be) and earrings had evolved considerably, so it was possible to buy non-allergenic earrings off the rack. By the time I got the third set of ear holes done, properly, in a piercing store, the array of body jewelry available was downright amazing.

Since the first time I saw a bellybutton piercing, I’ve thought they were amazingly attractive. I just wish I wasn’t such a tubby old lady–I hate to think what a piercer would have to do to put one of those rings into my bellybutton. The other night at the upscale mall we passed a kiosk that was just loaded with glittery, sparkly, dangly bellybutton rings and I stopped to look at them–but the kiosk girl knew just as well as I did that there wasn’t much chance of a sale there.

Still, I was curious enough to look up bellybutton rings when I got home, just to see what the prices were like. Wow, there are a lot of body-jewelry web sites out there! Ye gods, if we’d only had the internet back in 1967. One of the sites I thought was particularly good was Fresh Trends. It’s not just for belly button rings, but that seems to be one of their specialties and the selection is amazing.

They also have a full line of tattoo aftercare products, earrings (including some cartilage-piercing earrings I’ve never seen before), rings, t-shirts, you name it. Sure wish someone would invent a time machine so I could give my teenage self some way better jewelry to start out with.

Submit this post to:

Hide Sites

I don’t know whether it’s all because my first pierced earrings were cheap, because up till the time I got my ears pierced, I seldom wore much jewelry. I’ve been trying to think back before that to remember if I ever got the itchies from something I wore, and I just don’t remember.

I had a nice neck chain that was supposed to be “rhodium plated” that made my neck itch like nobody’s business, but I think I got that after I had my ears done. I know I owned it in the same town we lived in when I got my ears pierced for the first time, but that’s as close as I can come on the timeline. Rhodium is related to platinum and it is supposed to be nonallergenic. Whether the manufacturer of the chain was a bit less than honest about the contents of the plating or whether I truly do react to rhodium, I don’t know. I have avoided rhodium plated jewelry like the plague ever since.

Of new holes and old

I got the first ear piercings done when I was sixteen. Two friends and I went to a local doctor’s office to have it done, and we were told to bring our own earrings. Foolishly, I trusted my mother to buy the earrings for me, and she just flat-out didn’t listen to the instructions. I was suposed to have plain gold balls. She bought daisies, made of who knows what. By the time I saw what she’d bought, it was too late to get replacements. The result of that was pretty much a foregone conclusion–I got horrible red crusty patches behind the earrings and ended up having to take them out and put lengths of nylon guitar string through the holes to keep them open while they healed enough to put new earrings in. Ugh.

However, those holes have stayed with me all these years and have never closed up. I can’t say the same for the second set of ear piercings I got. Of course, I got the second set done at an earring shop, with a piercing gun. I don’t think most people knew what a bad idea that was, at the time. Those holes tend to close up if I don’t wear earrings for more than a few days, which is a real nuisance.

The third ear piercings are right next to where the cartilage begins, on the outer edge of my ear. They were done by a professional piercer and (as one would expect) caused me the least pain and the fewest problems. Those holes don’t close up, but they do narrow down.

On finding good earrings

When you’ve got nickel allergy, finding good earrings isn’t always easy. Even the ones labeled “for sensitive ears” sometimes give me problems. I’ve had horrible reactions from ear posts labeled “surgical stainless steel.” On our recent vacation I wore one such pair by mistake and arrived at our destination with the second ear holes hurting and mostly swollen shut. Sigh. I have gold earrings from Tiffany’s in New York, that my aunt gave to me, that I can’t wear without coating the posts with clear nail polish. It seems as though neither price nor material is any guarantee.

So what do I wear when I want to be sure nothing’s going to happen? Titanium ear studs from the Fire Mountain Gems catalog. They don’t hurt. They don’t itch. The problem is, they are small and rather blah looking (even though they come in several colors). I need to find a source for more decorative, guaranteed nonallergenic earrings. If you can’t find ‘em at Tiffany’s, where on earth can you go?

Submit this post to:

Hide Sites