‘Ear we go again!

I have an unnecessary fear of needles, always have – but I’m working on it. I can now confess that when I look at a needle I don’t feel the need to sprint a hundred miles in the opposite direction. But, well into my teen years I still haven’t been able to pluck up the courage to pierce my ears and honestly I don’t know if I ever will. I envy those who consider having the cartilage pierced when I stand there with untouched ears.. I love earrings –they’re versatile and give instant glamour to a look. I don’t want to be old and regret any of my youthful days, memories should be full of positivity and no regrets – would not getting my ears pierced be a serious regret? Call me dramatic but I love the hoops, the danglies and the studs.  So, I began to search for solutions..

  I’m about 8 or 9 years old at this point, lots of girls my age have already got their first pair of studs.. Me? Nothing of course.  It was a normal day the day that I thought I’d struck gold, perhaps the weather was a little below perfection but I was content. But, to my excitement I discovered treasures of all treasure when I found out about ‘clip on earrings’. They looked cheap, plastic and were like something that was put into the reject pile for the Dame’s costume in the local pantomime but I loved them. The concept was magnificent to me, wearing earrings with no needles involved! In awe I clipped them onto my ears – a little tight but I’d cope…

  I’m 11 now, ‘clip on earrings’ you say? Um no, how ‘uncool’. ‘Yeah..I’m so nearly a teenager’. I got to the point where I thought I was too cool for school.. The novelty of the clip on earrings soon wore off, they were tight, fell off in public and looked outrageous (in a bad way). So, I was back to square one.. no earrings and heaps of fear of the word ‘needle’. By this point even more girls my age seemed to be piercing holes into their ears. I was jealous.. But low and behold my answer was right under my nose! On a recent rant to my friend about how amazing her earrings were and giving her an interview on how she managed to cope with the pain of having them pierced, she replied, ‘I didn’t.’. Puzzled at the reply I was about to dig deeper until ‘SNAP’. She had removed her earrings with one quick movement and a ‘clunk’ noise. ‘They’re magnetic’ she exclaimed. No way. Nostalgia of my 8(ish) year old self flashed back, it was like the ‘clip on’ discovery all over again. The answer to my problem! I rushed home after school and after some quick persuasion bought my pair in the local Claire’s shop. After taking an age to pick the perfect ones I choose some ruby looking studs and some metallic ballerina style ones for versatility! For the first few hours they were great, I fooled people into the illusion of having pierced ears.. But the problem came when my ears went red and painful on removal of the earrings.. Hmmm it seems magnetic force wasn’t quite the way forward for my lobes.

  I’m now my current age and still – no earrings. Now, even more girls have their ears pierced. To be precise I swear everyone on the planet except me has their ears pierced. I’m still not ready to rush into having my ears pierced, so they remain naked. But, I have had another revolutionary experience! Flicking through my newly arrived Vogue that comes every month due to my subscription to the magazine (call me fashion crazed) I spotted another answer to my problem! Hopefully this time it will be a success! The latest fashion accessory – the ear cuff. For those of you uneducated on the matter of the ear cuff hopefully this will clear it up:

 

S/S 2013 ear cuff

 

 Although some ear cuffs require a pierced ear some are just merely hooked over the ear! So I’m hoping that this is the real answer to my earring obsession.. and for now, with no pierced ears the ear cuff will remain faithful and practical! I’m not saying that I would go ‘all out’ with this structural demon of a cuff (above) but local high streets have a select few that tickle my fancy! (Because unlike the magnetic earrings the back won’t fall off when you walk past a radiator! Not a good look!)

* image credit to Google Images