How long between asking and getting ears pierced?

[AmIreallyBeverly]

Assuming you are happy they are old enough to make the decision and look after them, how long was it between your child first asking to get their ears pierced and you letting them get it done?

Please no discussion about piercing babies or toddlers ears. They are too young to decide or give consent so it isn't relevant to this discussion.

I think it's quality more than quantity. She was 11, she had shown a strong interest for some time. I was reluctant to let her because I don't like mine.

I think your husband might be right about the "gateway piercing" thing btw. 2 lobe piercings is almost the norm at DD's school and other piercings are also very widespread by 15. We let DD have second lobe piercings, the rest she has to wait for.

They can decide themselves at 16, which comes round way sooner than adulthood.

A couple of years.

I said she could have them done at the end of year 6. In the end we did it at the end of year 5. It was a reward for all her efforts during the lockdown home schooling.

I wanted her to be old enough to look after them herself and to properly understand what was involved.

@BodyShapeWoes my dd used to wear the plastic ones too as she was allergic to most metals but over time her ears seem to have adjusted and now she wears pretty much anything.

I have told him he's setting himself up for a rebellious teenager 😁 I almost want it to happen so I can say I told you so!

I know you had a bad time of it and your DD’s dad sounds mental, but the vast majority of adult women have their ears pierced, regularly wear earrings and it’s just really no big deal. As you’ve already said DC is old enough to look after them themselves then I’d probably just wait until the next long-ish school holiday and book the first appointment available with a reputable piercer. So probably Easter time.

Both DD’s asked and changed their minds before I’d got the appointments booked.

DD1 ended up getting hers pierced for her 11th birthday but early so they were done at start of summer holidays before starting high school. DD2 got them done age 10 at the start of Christmas holidays with her Christmas money. Both were done very soon after they made their minds up that they were definite this time.

Both schools allow one set of ear studs, high school rule is to cover them for PE.

About 8 years. DD had them done just before her 16th birthday.

Until they're brave enough to have needles put through their lobes by a proper piercer; e.g not Claire's Accessories.

I made my dd wait until she was 10, but she had been asking for years. We only said 10 because she understood how to care for them properly. I'm glad we waited as i wouldn't have liked to have dealt with the embedded butterfly any younger! Additional piercings were 16 and after GCSEs. I don't like them, but knew if I didn't take her she would do top ear and conch etc herself.

Then you need to know the school's policy, if they have to be removed it will need to be tgat last day of term for the summer holidays

We got it done at the beginning of the next school summer holiday

About three or four years? We said they could get them done at 10. Both DDs asked before they were ten, that was the rule laid out, they talked about it positively before then, and then at 10 DD1 got hers done. DD2 is still too young, but understands the rules and is excited about being 'all grown up' and having hers done too. Our local piercing studio does them (properly, with a needle) over the age of 8, so I was comfortable with that; I would have made them wait if the choice was with a piercing gun or waiting.

I can't really complain if they go and get more things pierced as teens; I still have about 8 and when I was in my late teens I have 11 piercings.

I have boys but it was a bit of a rite of passage for the girls to get their ears pierced at the end of Year 6, to mark moving up to high school.

DD's school has a policy of no earrings (not even studs) so she had to wait until the beginning of the summer holidays. She was 14.

School are OK with one pair of studs. Not sure about PE though. I don't want to ask her in case she thinks we are going to agree. I don't think she'd care about wearing plasters anyway.

We are backpacking for a lot of the summer and I'm not messing about with fresh piercings when away.

Yes, they would be done by needle in a sterile environment etc. I've just checked the price out of curiosity and it's £30 per ear. Twice as much as I was expecting!

No piercings ever close up completely. Even if you can't put something all the way through anymore you will be left with a scar (albeit hopefully a small one). It's really common for ear piercings to stay a little open and then collect skin oils etc into the remaining hole. So piercings are permanent.

As
I said, it's not necessarily about the age. It's more about knowing when she definately wants it, rather than just because her best friend had it done (and looks really stupid if you ask me but obviously I would never say that to him, his parents or my daughter).

Mine only started age 13. Gave it a few months then did it for Christmas at a professional clinic (not bloody Claire's Accessories!!).

Oh wow my piercer is from £40 for a pair (dependent on choice of earrings)

Yes, they would be done by needle in a sterile environment etc. I've just checked the price out of curiosity and it's £30 per ear. Twice as much as I was expecting!

Start of the school holidays at the end of year 6 so they had time to heal and she was old enough to be trusted to take them out and put them in again unassisted for swimming and sport at secondary school.

This was made easier by the fact that the Mums of nearly all the girls in her class in primary held out til then so nearly all of them go their ears pierced the same weekend and got to spend the next month comparing infections. 🙄

I wish she'd never had it done though. She still gets infections in one of them (dirty fingers?). Drives us bananas.

My daughter started asking when she was about 5 and a half as a few of her friends had had them done.
I always said she could have them done when she was 10. But she became obsessed and nagging. I showed her YouTube videos to try and put her off but she was adament.

I eventually told her she could have them done for her 7th birthday which was 6 months away at this point, but in the end, I didn’t really see what the point in waiting 6 months was, so I booked her a surprise appointment two weeks later.

We had a few problems with one not healing but it did eventually and she was so chuffed. Im glad I did it, most of her class friends had them done and I didn’t want her to be left out.

My teenager, by contrast, has never asked and doesn't have the slightest interest in having them pierced. She spends HOURS in the bathroom every day examining her spots and applying all her various serums and creams, so I suspect she'd actually be very good at looking after newly pierced ears.

Several years in our case. Mrs Unicorn never had her ears pierced and she doesn't wear earrings. Little Unicorn 3 started to ask about getting her ears pierced when she was about 6-7 years old, we finally felt that she was old enough to decide for herself and understand the consequences when she was coming up to her 11th birthday, so she had them pierced 2 months before her 11th birthday during the summer holiday. The place we went to refuses to pierce ears of children younger than 7 as a matter of policy.

I had mine done at about ten. Had been asking for ages. Discovered I was allergic to nickel when they did't heal , despite doing everything properly. Swapped to silver or gold and it was fine after that.

2 years, having had an older friend have hers done. I told her she had to save up a huge number of stars on her star chart (she was allowed to redeem her stars for small rewards like a pack of stickers or sweets etc) to "pay" for it.
Never thought she would, but she never "spent" another star for the next 2 years until she had enough.
It was the summer holiday between year 1 and year 2, and actually it worked well because she was young enough to ask for help when needed and let me check. I knew a few who had it done in around year 6-8 that hid from parents when it was getting infected and ended up making it much worse.

We had always agreed the summer holidays between leaving year six and starting high school. This is what we stuck to. Also we would only use a reputable piercer that uses needles and had proper follow up care. Most piercers have a minimum age.

My mum wouldn’t let me have mine done until I was 16 and I hated her for it. I got my nipple pierced at 14 and my belly button at 15 without her knowledge.
Ears at 16 and by the time I was 20 I had 24 piercings. I’ve never regretted any of them even though I’ve taken some out and others have grown out.
My daughter started asking around age 6 and she’s having hers done for her 9th birthday in 2 weeks.
If they end up not liking them just take them out. Yes they do fully heal. All mine have. You just have a tiny dot of a scar. Hardly a drama really