Poll for the Guys: Are your ear(s) pierced?

Cloud • Mar 14, 2009 3:33 pm
Just curious about the general population and Cellarites.

Lots of guys in the past several decades have gotten their ears pierced at one time or another. Of course I'm involved in all that, and almost all of the guys in the body modification world I talk to have lobe piercings, but I got to thinking about how many men pierced their ear(s) once than gave it up.
Stress Puppy • Mar 14, 2009 3:53 pm
Yessum. I've had cartilage piercings, an industrial, and two lobe piercings in each ear. I stretched the bottom lobe piercings to 0 guage, but then took all the jewelry out. Now all but the stretched holes (hehe) are closed up.
jinx • Mar 14, 2009 3:59 pm
Do you have a pic Stress? I always wondered what the stretched out lobes looked like when people got sick of them.
Cloud • Mar 14, 2009 4:00 pm
Oh, I can find you a pic probably.

ETA: okay I can't find one handy. I could show you mine--they're at 8 gauge, which isn't all that big. Without jewelry, there's a definite hole there, though.
classicman • Mar 14, 2009 4:40 pm
I have none and don't think I'll ever have any. Just not my thing. One son has a pierced lobe he went a long time without anything there, yet recently started wearing a stud again.
monster • Mar 14, 2009 7:25 pm
I've heard sheldon wears studs ....out.
Beestie • Mar 14, 2009 8:02 pm
Earrings are for pirates and sailors.

Way back when, the tradition was that sailor/pirate buddies would buy a pair of earrings and each would keep one. When one of the friends died, the other would start wearing the remaining earring.
Rhianne • Mar 14, 2009 8:29 pm
Is "sailor/pirate buddies" a euphemism for 'gay lovers'?

Young men, all that time away from sea with few or no girls, it seems only natural that relationships would form.

Homosexuality was punishible by death in the British Navy at one point - was it Churchill who described the Navy using the phrase "rum, sodomy and the lash"?
lumberjim • Mar 14, 2009 8:43 pm
i had my left earlobe pierced in the 8th grade. I was 13. I kept it in until 11th grade or so, and then i let it heal. I can still feel a bump there. I'm over that. I don't wear jewelry per se. just my wedding ring and wristwatch......
Radar • Mar 14, 2009 9:29 pm
Had the left ear pierced in high school and shortly thereafter stopped wearing an earing. About 18 years later when I met my current wife, she noticed the hole (which had long since closed), took off her earing, and shoved it through.

Mmmmm ... good times.

I don't even wear my wedding ring or a watch anymore.
jinx • Mar 14, 2009 9:35 pm
I didn't wear a nose ring for about 5 years, and the hole closed up but stayed clearly visible, so I had it redone. I wear a gold bone in it, and my wedding band, that's it. I love my wedding band... just a big, fat, but totally plain gold band.
lumberjim • Mar 14, 2009 9:41 pm
jinx;545286 wrote:
I didn't wear a nose ring for about 5 years, and the hole closed up but stayed clearly visible, so I had it redone. I wear a gold bone in it, and my wedding band, that's it. I love my wedding band... just a big, fat, but totally plain gold band.

me too....i'm almost glad i lost the first one
Radar • Mar 14, 2009 9:53 pm
My wife and I never had matching rings. I bought a plain gold ring. I got too fat to keep wearing it and I really just didn't want to because she never wears hers. She doesn't wear it because she does nails and works with a lot of chemicals she things will mess a ring up.

She loves jewelry. I've given her diamond bracelets, necklaces, ear rings, etc.

I'd like it if we got very simple matching gold bands, though she likes diamonds so she probably wouldn't go for it. A nice platinum or titanium band would be cool too.
rfndong • Mar 14, 2009 10:04 pm
Rhianne;545277 wrote:
Is "sailor/pirate buddies" a euphemism for 'gay lovers'?

Young men, all that time away from sea with few or no girls, it seems only natural that relationships would form.

Homosexuality was punishible by death in the British Navy at one point - was it Churchill who described the Navy using the phrase "rum, sodomy and the lash"?


A submarine leaves port with 120 men and returns with 60 couples.

And no, it wasn't.
http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=112
SteveDallas • Mar 14, 2009 10:07 pm
jinx;545205 wrote:
Do you have a pic Stress? I always wondered what the stretched out lobes looked like when people got sick of them.

There's a guy who works at our public library who has those.. the discs are almost an inch diameter. I've heard more than one person in line asking him about them. :eek:
Stress Puppy • Mar 14, 2009 10:33 pm
No pics ATM, and I'm heading out, but maybe tomorrow.
monster • Mar 14, 2009 11:06 pm
Radar;545290 wrote:
She doesn't wear it because she does nails and works with a lot of chemicals she things will mess a ring up.


You can reassure her that gold is fairly high ranking on the noble scale and so is not going to get messed up by the chemicals she uses. Of course, if her ring is copper, then that is is very reactive, so it is wise not to wear it while working.

My mom always said that she was allergic to gold -like Sophia Loren.
Rhianne • Mar 15, 2009 12:05 am
Thank you for that link rfndong!
Radar • Mar 15, 2009 12:57 am
rfndong;545292 wrote:
A submarine leaves port with 120 men and returns with 60 couples.

And no, it wasn't.
http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=112



I served in the USN. I think the gay rumors started because of the cracker jack uniforms. I can tell you the only gay man I ever met in the Navy was in basic training and he got booted out.

There were a lot of gay women though.
Radar • Mar 15, 2009 12:58 am
monster;545311 wrote:
You can reassure her that gold is fairly high ranking on the noble scale and so is not going to get messed up by the chemicals she uses. Of course, if her ring is copper, then that is is very reactive, so it is wise not to wear it while working.

My mom always said that she was allergic to gold -like Sophia Loren.



Is white gold really gold?
lumberjim • Mar 15, 2009 1:07 am
white gold is gold mixed with nickel
Pie • Mar 15, 2009 1:09 am
My dad had both his ears pierced when he was three or four years old -- it was the done thing for wealthy boys in India.
Cloud • Mar 15, 2009 2:30 am
most people are not allergic to gold, but rather to the alloys added to make it suitable for jewelry; could be nickle, but can be other metals, like palladium.

And Pie--that is very interesting. Very! If you have any more information about that custom, I'd love to have it. Oddly, among the most visited pages on my blog is a post about Indian nose piercing. Can't figure out why, exactly. Are these Indian people visiting my blog looking for solid info, or what? Wish I knew more about that. More research!
capnhowdy • Mar 15, 2009 8:13 am
Got my ear done in high school. I had almost forgotten about it. After not wearing an earring for all these years, (going on 40) the hole is still there. I still have my old earrings. Maybe I'll wear one to work one day just to freak my cow orkers out.
kerosene • Mar 15, 2009 10:11 am
I voted for my husband.

He had his ears pierced some 5 years ago. He occasionally wears hoops in them, when he can find the earrings.

As far as wedding bands...mine is a very simple gold ring with nothing on it. I use to have a ring with an aquamarine and the stone fell out of the setting. Since then, I have worn the gold band. I like it because it is simple and doesn't get caught on stuff. I don't have to worry about losing a stone, either. He has a titanium band. He needs the durability. Every piece of jewelry he has owned gets roughed up, too much to last.
Stress Puppy • Mar 15, 2009 3:26 pm
Here you go.

The hole in my right ear. You can see the tiny hole left from my previously 10-guage loops. This one used to be 0 guage.
Image

With a bic pen ink insert. Not sure what guage that is, but I figure everyone has a bic pen and can look at the ink part for comparison. Interestingly, a full bic pen used to fit through there.

Image

I haven't had any jewelry in any of my piercings for at least four years now.
Cloud • Mar 15, 2009 4:48 pm
what was the "some other answer"?

Stress Puppy; you could probably buy a flesh-colored plug to make the hole less noticeable, if you wanted
jinx • Mar 15, 2009 7:37 pm
Thanks Stress... much less noticeable than I would have though.
Elspode • Mar 15, 2009 10:16 pm
I have a single piercing...left earlobe. For the past several years, I have worn only a simple small gold hoop, but I used to wear different stuff in it, mostly wires. My favorite piece is a tiny hunk of nickel iron meteorite dangling on a tiny piece of chain on a stud.
ZenGum • Mar 15, 2009 10:56 pm
Nothing stuck in my body. I figure it is like anything natural ... sticking big metal spikes into it does not add to the beauty of it. IMHO, YMMV etc.

Also, check with an acupuncturist for advice on places they would never pierce: earlobe, eyebrow, nose, nostril, lip, tongue, nipple, navel, genitals... pretty much everywhere that is currently done for fashion. (Not saying that I "believe" in acupuncture, but this is a fun way to stir-up new-age bodymodders!)
lookout123 • Mar 16, 2009 12:21 am
I haven't worn them since my shortly after Lil Lookout was born but my left ear has 5 holes and my right has three.
sugarpop • Mar 16, 2009 12:57 am
monster;545264 wrote:
I've heard sheldon wears studs ....out.


heh
Stress Puppy • Mar 16, 2009 8:19 am
Cloud;545497 wrote:
what was the "some other answer"?

Stress Puppy; you could probably buy a flesh-colored plug to make the hole less noticeable, if you wanted


I kinda like having the holes.