Throwback Tuesday — Tess Tales — The ear piercing

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My mom was a hoot but her reaction to getting her ears pierced surprised me. She had all her babies at home so she could handle pain well. Maybe except for…

Mom in her 70s with pierced earrings.

I walked at the mall this morning. The Piercing Pagoda (kiosk that pierces ears and sells jewelry) has been closed since March. It triggered a long ago memory of my Mom.

I had my ears pieced when I was in my late teens. It was trendy then and everyone was doing it. You had to go to a doctor to get it done unless you trusted your girlfriend with a fat needle and an ice cube. I didn’t.

My doc didn’t pierce ears. I don’t know if he hadn’t invested in the punch equipment or he was opposed to it. Didn’t matter to me. I found another doc to do it. It’s a pinch when it happens but I wouldn’t call it particularly painful. I had more soreness when I bumped it while curling my hair afterward.

My mother never had her ears pierced. After I did my ears, she always admired my earrings. She didn’t like the clips because they hurt. For her birthday I took her to get her ears pierced. She was in her 50s.

We went to a jewelry place at our local mall. It was a Saturday afternoon and it was busy. There was one child around 6 ahead of her. The piercing was done out in the open. You sat in a chair and they used a gun to insert “starter” earrings in. Easy peasy. They used a numbing cream.

The little girl was so excited. It was wonderful to watch. She thought this transformed her into a “big” girl. I remember that feeling. I had it when I got my first baby “high” heel shoes. Oh yes, there was a crinoline petticoat that sent me over the moon too.

Then it was my mom’s turn. I saw her wince. It was a big wince. I had assured her that it didn’t hurt much. More like a pinch. She said it wasn’t a pinch. She was sure they were ripping her ear off. The worst part was she couldn’t yell. After that little girl took it so well my mom thought she’d look like a big baby if she wailed.

She picked out an expensive pair of earrings as her gift and muttered all the way home. After that whenever I asked if something hurt, she’d say, “just a pinch” with a twinkle in her eye.

36 thoughts on “Throwback Tuesday — Tess Tales — The ear piercing”

  1. So so funny. I remember getting mine done. My mom was doing my aunt’s and I was in about first grade and said I wanted to do it too. I don’t remember much, she did use a needle and ice cubes. I don’t think the gun piercer even existed in stores then. But they were done perfectly centered and no problems ever. Your mom is a hoot.

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    • I got a second piercing about 5 years later. That one was at a Piercing Pagoda type of place. The woman asked me who did my originals because they were even. You can’t really tell but I thought it was funny a medical professional wasn’t more precise than a sales person at a kiosk.

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  3. My mom got her ears pierced later in life as well. I think we both went to a mall jewelry store kiosk for the starter earrings and it worked out well for both of us. Reading your post, I am left with an image of my mom before pierced ears, when she got dressed up and wore her flat button fake pearl earrings. If she talked on the phone, she took that earring off and set it aside so the phone didn’t hurt her ears. When I was young, I wanted to wear those earrings when I played dress-up and Mom said “no, they’ll pinch your ears and it will hurt.” So I never got to try them, but I can clearly picture my mom taking off those earrings and there would be deep ridges in her ears where the earrings were clipped.

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  4. Awww, what a sweet story. I remember when I did mine. My best friend was a nurse and she assured me it was going to be, like you said, easy peasy. I was nervous but wanted pierced ears in the worst way. Well she started with using an ice cube to numb the ear and whenever she’d start coming at me with the needle, I’d audibly wince. She’d laugh and I would wince and she’d try it again. We both ended up laughing, she at me and me at her for making light of something that I perceived as serious stuff. Anyway, the ice cube began to melt and water was running down my neck and what did we do…we’d laugh hilariously again. After 3 hours of this silliness, we only had one pierced but I was done. It took me months before I was brave enough to do the other ear myself (mostly because my mom teased me mercilessly). She loved teasing me in front of her bridge partners that I only had one ear pierced. Argh, that probably motivated me more than anything! So long ago and now I only put earrings in when I go out of the house. I rarely wear them otherwise. Sigh.

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  6. I remember when I had my ears pierced. The boyfriend of the time had them, and I;d always liked earrings. The first one was OK, but the gun jammed on the second and it hurt. I bathed them with TCP and vaseline, then was forever turning them (I had sleepers, not studs) and my Mum would shudder. Once was enough though. My niece has a pin cushion for a face, ears and naval, and those are just the ones you can see.

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  8. I had mine pierced when I was a freshman in high school. My Mom’s hairdresser did it… needle and ice. I don’t remember any pain. I did get an infection in both lobes from itching them while in biology class while messing with frog dissection. Ewww… never worried about anything back then… 1966.
    Nice to read about you and your Mom… sweet memory. I didn’t get to comment on this the first time around. We were moving!

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  9. I had mine pierced when I was in my 40s. I remember that “pinch” vividly!
    I still keep studs in at all times to keep the holes open nicely. As I have aged, my lobes are looser and softer (aging skin) and it is harder to get the hole to line up properly for the post to go through.

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  10. Cute story…….I remember VIVIDLY my ear-piercing experience. I went to a newly opened Mall (one of very few in the 80s) – I was 19 – brand new jewelry store. They sat me in a chair – no numbing stuff – and a young man with one of those scary looking “things” did my first ear and the gun got STUCK. It would not withdraw the “needle/nail/whatever” and he asked me to just hold the gun for him while he went to find someone to help. I forgot to mention the chair I was in was in the FRONT WINDOW of the store so mall shoppers were stopping to see the distressed girl in the chair holding the “gun” trying to smile…………..the two “gun advisors” the guy got had no idea what to do – so there were some unintentional tugs on the gun while they tried various things until it FINALLY let loose of my ear. Was I hesitant to have the second ear pierced with this THING? YOUBETCHA but I did it and it didn’t get stuck. Period. I love my pierced ears and have a big collection of earrings of all kinds. Would I do it again? Probably but knowing what I know how I’d make sure the danged gun worked properly AND I would refuse to sit in a window seat!!

    Hugs, Pam

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  12. Just a pinch! ~ Go Tess!

    After getting my ears pierced, my only issue after they healed was that I had to wear solid gold posts to avoid infection. These days, I wear the same solid gold earrings and posts every day. Just small gold balls, nothing seasonal. One less decision to make in the mornings.

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