by Akshun on Mon Oct 24, 2005 9:53 pm
Here is an interesting piece I found in "SHE" magazine dating from 1972.
I'm sorry it's so long but I didn't want to edit it as it gives an insight into ear piercing at the time, including where and how much! According to the internet, ÂŁ6.50 equates to about ÂŁ55 today!
++++++
earring aid
SALLY VOAK gets a hole in two
There are three things women worry about when coming here to have their ears pierced,” said beauty therapist Katherine Corbett, “one—the position of the holes; two—the cost; three—the pain involved.” Being yellow through and through, my worry was definitely number three. after hearing lurid tales of corks and darning needles, septic lobes, bloodstained pillows, months of anguish and agony I’d very nearly chickened out of the whole “operation” at the last minute.
“Anybody would think you were going to have some sort of necessary surgery—like a vasectomy, or something—instead of just a bit of cosmetic nonsense,” said my husband, adding helpfully, “Of course, you’ll bleed like a tuck pig you know. Tell you what, I’ll do it for you with a fine-gauge electric drill.”
You can always rely on your other half to comfort you in your hour of need
—like hell. Still, like a vasectomy, I was intending to regard this operation as irreversible—no pulling out the sleepers and letting the holes close up at the first twinge of pain or leaping off the couch in agony with one ear pierced and the other intact. No, from this moment on, the decision had been finally made.. . I would go through with it.
When you start doing a bit of research into the kind of people who have pierced ears, you come up with some surprising findings. Gipsy types, old salts, all the women in the life of Roger Vadim and—it’s claimed—half the female population of Lambeth South (under the age of 10!) Reasons seem to vary from status (as in the case of the gipsies), tradition, sex appeal and keeping up with the Joneses. In the bad old days, anyone could be locked up as a vagrant unless he had some visible means of support and single gold hoop worn through one lobe could always be exchanged for food and lodging in times of hardship. The Vadim ladies obviously didn’t have to flog their earrings to buy a crust of bread but golden hoops and pierced ears certainly look good with the kind of wanton tousled beauty mould into which he successively poured Brigitte Bardot, Annette Stroybeng, Catherine Deneuve and Jane Fonda.
The tiny tots of Lambeth? Fond mums with a passion for decorating golden-haired moppets with names like Sharon and Tracy, perhaps? I always remember being acutely envious of girls with pierced ears when I was at school. Although the rules stated “no jewellery allowed except plain wrist watches,” they were allowed to wear their hoops, studs and even pearls! Maybe my present desire for ear piercing was nothing but a Freudian thing after all.
Chuckling nervously at the “painless” claim on the brochure, I booked an appointment with Katherine Corbett, 21 South Molton Street. London W1Y
1DD (Tel: 01-493 5905 and 01-629 6136); she also has a salon at 2 North Street Arcade, Havant, Hants P09 1PX (Tel: 07012 6232). I could have had the job done at a jewellers, but I felt that a beauty specialist would probably be calmer and more sympathetic (and probably more used to mopping up spilt blood!) The cost, including nine ct gold “sleepers” and any after-care, is £6.50. Katherine is one of those very calm ladies who immediately inspires confidence. Her salon is small but cosy with a vaguely medical, as well as cosmetic, atmosphere. This is because she deals with the more “embarrassing” kind of beauty treatments as well as the purely self-indulgent ones. Things like the removal of broken veins, warts, strawberry birthmarks, blackheads and superfluous hair. All her treatments are medically approved and she is an SRN.
Her method of ear-piercing is an unusual one. “After many years of using diathermy for removing superfluous hair, it occurred to me that the cauterising action of the fine electrode I use could solve the bleeding problem with ear-piercing.” Here’s hoping, I thought, as I lay back on the couch and prepared for the worst.
First, Katherine tucked all my hair behind my ears and marked two tiny spots on my ear lobes to pinpoint the position of the holes, I watched in a mirror. ”You’ll notice that the points I’ve marked are quite a distance from the lobe tip—this is to allow a bit of lobe to show below the gold sleeper. Another thing, the holes must balance, and since no-one’s ear lobes are a perfect matching pair it may look as though the marked points are slightly different. They are!”
Satisfied that my holes would “balance”, I tensed myself for the next bit: a local anaesthetic. Just a quick prick into each lobe far less painful than the deep lunging tactics I’d been used to at the dentist. For cowards like me, a “local” is better than a swab with cotton wool soaked in a “freezing” solution. But you must choose a beautician who is an SRN and therefore qualified to give it. In a few seconds my lobes were completely numb and if Katherine hadn’t mentioned that she’d pierced the holes with the diathermy needle, I’d never have known. It was painless, despite the fact that my lobes are tough and thick as old leather.
The next bit was a surprise. I’d heard that the little gold sleepers would be inserted into the holes straight away, to keep them open while the puncture lining grew. Not so. “So many people experience discomfort at the healing stage when gold pins are inserted straight away, that I never try it. Instead, I insert a small piece of surgical silk, which slides easily through the hole and also acts as a dressing.” I didn’t feel this bit either, but I watched in a mirror. The silk is white and stiff. Katherine threaded it through the hole, tied a deft knot at the back of the lobe, cut away the surplus at the front and dabbed on a small dollop of surgical glue to hold it in place. It didn’t show at all. “I used to tie a knot at the front as well until one very smart customer, who couldn’t bear to go about with what looked like two bits of string hanging out of her ears, begged me to cut them off and I hit on the idea of sealing them in with this glue. I’ve done it ever since.”
The main “nasty” bit was over, I was told not to bend down for about 20 minutes in case the blood did decide to flow but there was certainly no evidence of it at this stage. I booked an appointment to have the sleepers inserted in four days’ time and, ever pessimistic, went off to await the deluge. It never came - what did happen was quite different. After about two hours, when the anaesthetic wore off, my ears suddenly felt a bit tingly, as if I’d just surfaced from a deep dive in the sea. They were “popping” a bit too. But none of this was at all painful.
During the next four days, I had to remember not to wash my ears and not to sit under a hairdryer. I also had to resist all temptation to fiddle with the silk plugs. If they did come out, I had instructions not to worry or hurry back as the pins could still be put in with ease. They didn’t, and there was no blood or staining on my pillow.
Day four dawned, and back to the piercing couch for the sleeper insertion. Katherine cleaned off the trace of medicated gum from the front of the lobe, held the silk “tail” at the back of the lobe and twiddled it a bit. It slid out. I thought she’d probably wash away the little bit of “matter” which had accumu-lated—but no. “If I did, the washing would cause the holes to contract slightly, and then I might not be able to get the pins in without injuring the tissue which is already forming so nicely.” I’d chosen round flat studs for my sleepers—Katherine also has spheri-cal ones which can be swapped for a pearl—both in nine ct gold.
She polished the pins on a tissue and inserted them gently. No pain—and an audible sigh of relief from me! She didn’t pull the lobes at all either, just fixed the clips at the back comfortably tight. A too loose sleeper might slide about and cause friction and a too tight one would pinch.
The sleepers had to be left, un-touched, for at least four weeks. No “jiggling” to keep the holes open, bathing with antiseptics or other rituals were necessary. I found that there was a little irritation and I occasionally felt a mad urge to remove the pins. I resisted, which was just as well, as something must be worn constantly for 12 weeks while the lining of the punc-ture is growing. After the initial four-week “no-touch” period, it’s OK to wear other straight bar earrings. Katherine advised dipping the point of the pin in skin food or moisturiser before inserting it, and also told me to apply a spot of talcum powder at the back of the ears at night.
The punctures healed completely after about five weeks, but I resisted my yearning for gipsy hoops until the 12 weeks were up. By then, I’d got used to the feeling of having something hanging from my lobes and didn’t really notice it at all.
I now find it far more comfortable and convenient than wearing clip-style ear-rings, which, because my lobes are rather small, constantly dropped off at odd moments. Additional advantage: I can now hunt for beautiful antique wired earrings to add to my collection and friends know that earrings are a smashing Christmas or birthday present.
The lining of the puncture still feels like a tiny hard bead, but I understand that this will eventually soften. Mean-time, back on the London Underground I spotted an exotic-looking girl with a gaily-coloured ribbon hanging from a pierced hole in her left nostril. Now there’s an idea. .
If you prefer more conventional methods. Selfridges. Oxford Street, London W1A lAB (Tel: 01-629 1234) will pierce both ears and supply sleepers for ÂŁ2.19. Garrards, the crown jewellers at 112 Regent Street, London W1A 2JJ (Tel:
01 -734 7020). charge ÂŁ5 including gold sleepers; gold studs from ÂŁ6.50 and cul-tured pearls from ÂŁ7.50. Cyril Wilkinson, 62 Grosvenor Street. London W1X 9DA (Tel: 01-629 0437) charges from ÂŁ5 for piercing and gold sleepers.
