Ear piercing is one of the oldest known types of body modification, with artistic and written references from cultures across the world dating back to early history. One of the earliest signs of earrings worn by men are from the walls of Persepolis in ancient Persia, the carved images of the soldiers from different parts of the Persian Empire that are displayed on some of the surviving walls of the palace showing the soldiers wearing an earring.
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| Ear Piercing Fashion |
Pierced ears were popular in the US through the early 1920s, and then fell into disfavour among women due to the increasing popularity of clip-on earrings. Nonetheless, a small male following continued to exist, especially among sailors, for whom a pierced earlobe often meant that the wearer had sailed across the world or had crossed the equator. In addition, if a non-service member sailor was involved in and survived a sinking ship, they were usually seen wearing an earring in the left ear. There was also a long-held belief according to which puncturing the earlobe was beneficial to increasing the acuity of eyesight or of hearing. Also, it was a common belief amongst sailors that if their ship wrecked and their bodes washed up on a shoreline, the person to find them would take the earring as payment for a Christian burial. It is because of this belief that many sailors invested quite a bit amount of money on gold earrings, as they were very superstitious.
Ear piercing became commonly available in the offices of physicians. Some of the earliest commercial, non-medical locations for getting an ear piercing appeared in the 1970s at Manhattan jewellery stores, although the overall commercial market was still in the infancy stage. By the 1980s, ear piercing became common among many women, thus fuelling a broader market for the procedure. Department stores across the country would hold ear piercing events, sponsored by manufacturers of earrings. At such events, a nurse or other trained person would perform the procedure, either pushing a sharpened and sterilized starter earring through the earlobe by hand, or using an ear-piercing instrument.
In the late 1960s, ear piercing started gaining popularity among men through the hippie and gay communities. In the late 1970s, amateur piercings, sometimes with safety pins and/or multiple piercings became popular in the punk rock community. By the 1980s, the trend for male popular music performers to have pierced ears helped creating a fashion trend for men. This was later adopted by many professional sportspersons. British men started piercing both ears in the 1980s; George Michael of Wham! was a prominent example. The heavily jeweled Mr. T was an early example of an American celebrity sporting earrings in both ears, although this trend did not become popular with mainstream American men until the 1990s.
In several Western cultures, piercing the left vs. the right ear alone has sometimes been considered to be associated with a particular sexual orientation. In the late 60's it was said that "left is 'right' and right is 'wrong'"; the left ear being safe for piercing by straight men and a pierced right ear meaning one was gay.
Multiple piercings in one or both ears was first seen in mainstream America in the 1970s. In starting days, the trend was for women to wear a second set of earrings in the earlobes, or for men to double-pierce a single earlobe. Asymmetric styles with more and more piercings gained popularity, eventually leading to the cartilage piercing trend.
A type of specialized cartilage piercings has since become popular. These include the tragus piercing, antitragus piercing, rook piercing, industrial piercing, helix piercing, orbital piercing, daith piercing, and conch piercing. In addition, earlobe stretching, while common in primitive cultures for thousands of years, began appearing in the Western society in the 1990s, and is now a fairly common sight. However, these types of ear piercing are still infrequent compared to standard ear piercing.
Today, earrings have become one of the most popular jewelry good among people of all age groups all across the world. A variety of earrings are available in the market that can be used to create a gorgeous look. A great choice of fashionable earrings can be used to suit any outfit, whether you’re looking to make a statement or like a more understated look. People can enjoy classic style beautiful silver hoop earrings, stand out with buffalo horn ear drops or choose natural style with an amazing choice of wooden ear drops.
Types of Ear Piercing
The different types of ear piercing techniques that are in practice in recent times are -
- Ear - Anti-Tragus
- Ear - Auricle
- Ear - Conch
- Ear - Daith
- Ear - Industrial
- Ear - Orbital
- Ear - Lobe
- Ear - Pinna
- Ear - Forward Pinna
- Ear - Rook
- Ear - Scaffold
- Ear - Snug
- Ear - Tragus
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