What age did you let your daughter get her ears pierced

Saturnalia

Reading this thread has given me the urge for new decorations again!!!

I'd love to get my antitragus re-done. I got it pierced for my 30th then I got an audio-typing job weeks later and I kept knocking the ring with the earphones so took it out. Though I am also toying with the idea of a couple of microdermals on my breastbone.

To answer the thread question, I was allowed my earlobes pierced at 15. I first wanted pierced ears when I started school and most of the girls in my class had earrings. The rest got theirs done over the summer break as we were "going up to seniors" so age 11.

I can understand my mum not wanting to let me have pierced earrings as she doesn't like piercings at all and would not be able to cope with cleaning them.

balletshoes

hunnie wrote: »

Hi,
I can't really understand the attitude that to pierce a baby's skin in order for her to wear earrings so very young is 'traditional' and so must be followed.
I don't think anyone is saying this is a tradition which "must be followed". Its a tradition which some choose to follow.
What purpose is served? Why is it traditional? When did this first start?
Without the reasoning behind it, the parent is just being mindless and not thinking things through for themselves.
Regards
Hunnie

what purpose is served by getting your ears pierced? none whatsoever, its purely decorative - like brushing your hair and tying it up, like wearing pretty clothes etc.
Or - a personal bugbear of mine if we're talking about the pointlessness of something to do with babies adornments - sticking a hairband on a baby who has no hair, and won't have hair falling into their face for a couple of years to come .

There are lots of traditions, in all cultures, which on the face of it have no purpose. Do we always research every part of tradition in our culture before we go along with it? I'd suggest not - especially if we consider the bit of tradition we are choosing to follow to be no big deal in the grand scheme of things.

LutonGirl

My Mum was anti-piercing and I nagged for years to have my ears done, to no avail. When I was 13 i did it myself in the bathroom with a sterilised needle and an ice cube and used a pair of gold sleepers from a friend. Mum was horrified and didn't speak to me for days. Back then it was just ears that got pierced. I reckon Mum's silence would have lasted months rather than days if I'd pierced anything lower than my ears!

I had no problems with them, no infection or anything. I just used salt water to bathe them and they healed fine. They still are 30 odd years on.

Ironically, I had a second hole done in my left ear a few years later by gun in a jeweller's shop and it got horribly infected.

MallyGirl

My Mum was also anti piercing and I had mine done after my last O level exam - then phoned her and told her so that she had a few hours to calm down a bit. Such a coward! My younger brother then said he was going to get his done and she said that if he did he would be leaving home - despite him being about 14 at the time. She relented and bought me some earrings when I was about 25!!!
I have said 16 to DD - she would spend all her time taking them out for PE and they would get lost.

19lottie82

I think I was 10??? I'd been nagging at my Mum for what felt like my whole life, before she finally gave in. Maybe her timing wasn't great though, because six months later I was sitting an exam for a scholarship for a local private school. One part was writing an essay entitled "The Best Day of my Life"..... and what did I write about? Yes, you guessed it! :rotfl:Needless to say I wasn't offered the scholarship!!

Since then I have had my nipple, belly button, nose and tounge pierced, plus a further 2 holes in each ear lobe and my tragus pierced and another weird ear piercing that I can't remember the name of!

I've taken most of them out not, but I don't regret any of them!

duchy

But does she show any signs of wearing her PJs to ASDA ?

I do think for British born people it does tend to be a working class thing...... The upper classes seem to wait until Camilla is old enough to wear grandma's pearl earrings . Obviously some other cultures have a tradition of little girls having it done. Knowing first hand how much it hurts had I daughter rather than a son I probably wouldn't have had it done when they were small (and my son never expressed a wish for it )

I had mine done about the age of fifteen - much to my Mum's dismay but as I paid for it out of my Saturday job earnings she couldn't really complain.

jackieblack

My DD had her ears pierced today. She was 18 in February.

Saturnalia

duchy wrote: »

I had mine done about the age of fifteen - much to my Mum's dismay but as I paid for it out of my Saturday job earnings she couldn't really complain.

I was finally allowed mine done at 15 (paid myself but needed parent's signature) then the following year after finishing my GCSEs and being old enough to consent for myself I got a second pair of lobe piercings. Followed by a third pair and a nose stud during my first term at uni. I'm now 33 and those little silver studs are still there and I still love them.

Spendless

duchy wrote: »

The upper classes seem to wait until Camilla is old enough to wear grandma's pearl earrings

I'd agree with that. I'd be very surprised if I was to read a story about Prince George being taken for his ear pierced and a quick google at images of the Queen's youngest granddaughter, Lady Louise aged 10, seems to suggest her ears aren't currently pierced.

amberfinn53

I got mine pierced as a tiny baby, which I am so glad about as I have always loved them but would never have been brave enough to get them myself! It was never a big deal for me as they were always there so I was never really fussed about getting ear piercing like my friends, as I already had them! I eventually got my belly done (freeze spray! Way too much of a wimp!) at about 18/19? Then got my cartilage done whilst in America as it was something I had wanted for a while, just never had the courage!

I think it is completely personal choice between the parent of child, the only thing I will say is children are very clever and very stubborn, it they want something so badly they will get it.

So it is worth the consideration of if you could bear them going to a dodgy back street place which is possibly unclean and more likely to cause an infection, this is an extreme point but. Had a few friends who did this because their parents just wouldn't even consider a piercing and it didn't end well!