How I Pierced My Own Ears, and How You Can Too

There are some people out there who would say sticking needles through your own ears sounds like a terrible idea. If that is the type of person you are, then this article is not for you.

For me, piercing my own ears was an easy decision. I guess it is a little bit of the rebel in me, but more than that, it was about getting to know my own body. My ears were my own and once I decided I wanted to wear earrings, I wanted to pierce them myself.

So I started doing some research and found out that piercing your own ears is actually pretty easy, and if you do it right, painless. That's right, it really doesn't hurt if you do it right. You do have to make sure everything's really clean, in order to prevent infection, but as long as you do that, you should be golden.

If you decide to pierce your own ears, get a long, sturdy sewing needle, a bowlful of ice, a slice of apple, a ballpoint pen, and plenty of alcohol swabs and hydrogen peroxide. And also whatever pair of earrings you want (try to stick with sterling silver studs for the first pair to prevent irritation or allergic reaction; also studs are the best for the first pair because you have to turn them frequently to keep them from sticking, which is hard with hoops).

Make sure you read all the instructions and understand them before you begin.

Take an alcohol swab and clean your earlobes really well. Then in front of a mirror, mark dots on your earlobes where you want the holes to be.

Next, sandwich one earlobe between pieces of ice for a couple minutes, or until it is completely numb. If you ice your ear until it is completely numb, the piercing part will not hurt.

Then, take the needle and get ready to pierce. If you want, you can take the piece of apple and hold it behind your earlobe with your other hand, so that you have something to push against. However, this is not necessary because I did it without using a piece of apple.

The next part needs steady nerves, so take a deep breath, and then push the needle straight through your earlobe on the dot that you drew with the ballpoint pen. You'll be able to feel when the needle goes all the way through (because the reisistance will stop), but if you iced your earlobe sufficiently, you should not feel pain. Do your best to push the needle through straight, perpendicular to the earlobe, because you don't want the holes to be crooked.

Congratulations! You now have one pierced ear. Leave the needle in for at least one minute. This is important, because if you take it out instantly, the hole will close, and you will have difficulty getting the earring into the newly pierced ear. So leave the needle in for a while, and wipe the earring with an alcohol swab in the meantime. Then, take out the needle and quickly replace it with the earring.

Now, repeat with the other ear.

Once you have both ears pierced and both earrings in, you're done with the hard part. But the tedious part is still ahead.

Now you have to make sure you keep your ears really, really clean to avoid getting an infection. An infection can make the healing process messy and prolonged, so it's just way easier to avoid getting one in the first place.

This means washing your ears several times a day with hydrogen peroxide. Rotate the earrings while you wash them, to make sure they don't stick, and to get the hydrogen peroxide all over your earlobe.

Wash your hands frequently with antibacterial soap. Try not to touch your ears if possible, but if you must, wash your hands with antibacterial soap first.

One word of warning: hydrogen peroxide will lighten the color of the hair around your ears if you use it repeatedly. If you want to avoid this, pull your hair back and pin any hair around your ears up before you wash with hydrogen peroxide.

Make sure you rotate the earrings several times a day. This is much easier if you use stud earrings than hoops, so go with sterling silver studs for your first pair. Rotating the earrings each day will keep them from sticking (and then being painful when you unstick them).

You can also use alcohol swabs or other antiseptics. However, alcohol will sting and irritate the ears, so it might not be the best antiseptic choice.

Keep the same pair of earrings in until the ears are completely healed. This will be about two months. The ears will feel like they are completely healed before they are, so be warned. If you take them out early, you risk them hurting a lot and closing up, making it difficult to put the earrings back in.

If you follow these steps, you should be enjoying your beautiful pierced ears in about two months. And when someone compliments you on your lovely pierced ears, you can proudly say, "Thank you, I did them myself!"