Ear Piercings
The concept of ear piercing can be considered one of the oldest forms of body modification the world knows. The earliest known records of ear piercing can be dated back to the Elamite Civilization which was located in what today is known as Iran. This was about 3000 BC in which there are wall depictions showing Persian soldiers adorned with ear piercings.
In the US, the concept of pierced ears can date back well before the 1920’s but would fall in favor of women preferring to opt with a new product known as the clip-on ear ring. Men still continued to display pierced ears, especially those in the nautical business including the navy and commercial sailing vessels. The most common reason for the sailor wearing an ear ring is because of superstition. Many sailors who had survived a ship wreck could be found to have an ear ring in their left earlobe to signify their survival of death.
By the 1980’s, the ear piercing in females had returned back in full swing and only a decade latter, the male population would begin to adorn an ear ring. This was though for a while to be just a fad, and although it has dropped in favor a bit since the 1990’s many men still have their ears pierced. Furthermore, the growing body modification genre has reintroduced the tribal piercing of flesh plugs in which large chunks of the ear is removed and replaced with a plug that is either hollow or solid.
Today there is a large selection of possible ear piercing locations that can be seen in both the male and female gender, but certain techniques are favored more by one gender than the other. These ear piercing techniques include the helix or cartilage piercing, the industrial and rook piercing, the daith, tragus and snug piercing as well as the conch, anti-tragus and lobe piercing.
There is also a number of jewelry types that are now available depending on the type of ear piercing technique that is used. These jewelry types can include things like the captive bead ring, or a CBR as it is more commonly referred to as well as barbells, circular barbells, flesh plugs, flesh tunnels as well as the traditional stud and hoop rings. Each of these have their own unique use and design. For example, although it may be possible, the flesh plug or tunnel is usually reserved for the ears but can be used in the nose for a more extreme look, but precautions should be taken to prevent any complications as a result of modifying the nasal cavities to this extreme.
In general, when you go in for an ear piercing, if you choose a mall kiosk, your choices in jewelry will be limited since they use a piercing gun, whereas if you go to a tattoo parlor, since they use a cathode to do the piercing, the types of jewelry that can be used in the initial piercing can be greater. Make sure you check around to make sure you get a safe piercing.
