Vogue said it, so it’s official: multiple piercings are in. Rooney Mara is blowing up the box offices with her
rebellious role in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; just last week Chanel and Givenchy displayed their pre-fall collections on models with elaborate facial jewelry; even Disney Channel stars like Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus and Vanessa Hudgens are getting face and body piercings.
So how are students at Emory reacting to the piercing trend? Her Campus Emory weighs in on the pros, the cons and the ‘ouch’ factor.
Nose rings:
“When you first get it pierced, it’s like plucking your eyebrows—it kind of stings and you tear up, but that’s it,” says Kelly Landeen, who got her piercing last October as a freshman.
According to Maddie Wen, “The nose one hurt a good bit when I had it done, but I absolutely love it!”
Maddie’s favorite aspect of her nose piercing is having more jewelry options. Kelly likes the street cred—“It makes me feel like a bada$$… even though I’m not,” she says with a laugh.
“I would say that I really like nose piercings, but they’re definitely not for everyone,” Kelly continues. “It’s not something you can easily reverse, because even if you take it out you’ll have a small hole that you have to use makeup to cover up. Really think about how you want people to perceive you, because you will have people who love it and people who hate it. But if you really love it,” she concludes, “then do it!”
Kelly says sometimes people initially judge those with nose piercings based on negative associations . “That’s why I have a stud instead of a ring. It’s less intense, smaller, and in my opinion prettier.” “I have to take my nose piercing out for job interviews,” Maddie adds, “because it might give the wrong impression to the potential employers.”
Kelly advises that after you get your nose pierced, “you just have to make sure not to touch it too much, because if it gets infected it will be really tender and look red and swollen.”She admits that her parents don’t love it. “But, it’s my face!” she says.
Cartilage:
Scarlett Carroll got her cartilage pierced just last week. “I got it because several of my friends had recently gotten piercings and looked great with them, and I didn’t have that many piercings already.” As far as the pain: “On a scale of one to breaking a bone it was probably three.”
Grace Shin comments that her cartilage piercing didn’t really hurt when she got it done, but hurt a lot for a long while after. “When it’s still sore, you can accidentally knock it against something and it hurts like crazy—but other than that it’s great!” She says that her favorite aspect of it is getting to wear one more earring. Scarlett comments that she can’t sleep on the side with her piercing right now since it’s still sore, but she likes the compliments and also how concealable it is.
Tragus:
The tragus is the cartilage flap in front of the ear’s sound passage. Sophomore Sara Cravatts says, “I was
terrified before I got it done, but it actually didn’t hurt nearly as much as I thought it would. I like it because it’s different but not too crazy and weird.” Sara has had her tragus pierced for about seven months; she got it over the summer on a whim. “The only inconvenience is it’s a pain to wear ear buds sometimes.”
Rook:
The rook is a piercing through the upper part of the inner conch in the ear, and is especially painful because of the thickness of the cartilage. “It hurt more than the other piercings because I could hear the cartilage being pierced through!” Rachelle Shea comments. “But it was only for a second.” She got her rook over winter break and likes it because it’s different. “Not many people have it,” she says.
“An inconvenience is that it hurts when I sleep on it sometimes and I don’t know how to take it out yet!” She admits. “But I will learn soon, I hope…”
Belly Button:
Grace Lea, who got her belly button pierced at the age of 12, says it didn’t hurt, but thinks she might have a
higher pain tolerance since her friends reported differently. According to Jackie Plant: “It hurt a lot.”
“I like it because unlike facial piercings, it’s very easy to hide and it’ll never interfere with future professional appearances,” says Grace, who is in the B-school.
There are some inconveniences: Jackie says hers used to get caught on her clothes and took an entire year to heal. Grace comments that she has to take it out for physical activities like martial arts, “but, other than that, it’s all good!”
Multiple Lobe Piercings:
Lydia McCormick has two lobe piercings in each ear. “I got my first set of piercings when I turned 13 and the
second when I turned 17.” She says they only stung for about an hour. Sophomore Melissa Monte has two piercings in one lobe and three in the other, and “none of them hurt more than a shot or a pinch.” Neither Lydia nor Melissa experienced inconveniences or infections, but Melissa stresses the importance of taking care of them to prevent infection.
“I love matching sets of studs like pearls or diamonds of different sizes,” Lydia says. Melissa agrees, also citing the convenience of fast healing and easy concealment.
Basic Lobes and nothing else!
Shira Weintraub is sticking to the basics. “I don’t want other piercings because my ears aren’t my best feature,”
she says. She doesn’t have any interest in facial piercings, and doesn’t want to risk “having a hole on my face” in case she would want to take it out. “I like them on others; other people can definitely pull them off,” she says. “But it’s already hard enough to pick out jewelry,” concludes Shira, whose many interesting studs are part of her signature look. “And it could get infected!”
And what do Emory guys think about piercings?
“If its just a little stud on the nose, that’s cute,” says Rahil Patel. “Ear is normal, and belly button is hot.”
“I think piercings in moderation often look nice but it sometimes depends on the person, “ says Kevin Frey. “Also, I think many would agree that it can be unbecoming if your body is covered in piercings.”
“I think girls with piercings are really attractive,” says John Villegas, who has three ear piercings of his own. “I’m not fazed with the whole classic normal ear-piercing thing. But if I see a girl with like an industrial bar or a tragus, I’m impressed. I automatically think she’s gotta be a little bad a$$ and find myself wanting to go meet her. Same goes for other piercings.”
Interested in jumping on this trend? Maddie went to Kolo in Little 5 Points. Kelly recommends The Piercing Experience—“it’s really good and really safe!”—conveniently located by Candler Park near Little 5.
But be warned: infections do happen, and they are not fun. Maddie weighs in on her cartilage stud: “It always gets infected, which is a huge pain because it gets swollen and hurts quite a bit.” If you decide to get a piercing, make sure to follow the care and cleaning instructions provided at the piercing shop in order to prevent infection or discomfort.