About a year ago, my daughters started noticing my earrings and commenting on others’ earrings, too. Eventually the conversation turned into questions about how earrings stayed in ears. After I explained a hole needed to be pierced in an ear in order to wear earrings, they quickly lost interest and decided clip on earrings would suffice, that is, until several friends at school started sporting real earrings.
They began asking a lot of similar questions, and we answered as honestly as we could.
- Will it hurt? Yes, it will probably hurt for a minute and maybe ache for a couple days.
- What if the first hole hurts so much I don’t want to pierce the second one? Well, I’m not sure. I’ve never met anyone who experienced that.
- Will it bleed? I don’t think so, but your ear will be red for a little bit.
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Ultimately, after talking about it forever, the girls decided they really wanted to go through with it and do it together. At this point, I assumed we’d head to the mall, pierce their ears in less than 15 minutes, grab a soft pretzel on our way out, and be home in an hour.
But that’s not what my husband had in mind. Before he buys anything, he spends hours researching, and this was no exception. He read dozens of reviews for ear piercing businesses and settled on a standalone ear-piercing shop in Frisco with excellent reviews. He made an appointment, and our girls could barely contain their nervous excitement.
The Steps
When we arrived, we selected a pair of gold earrings for each girl that would be in their ears for the next couple of months as the holes healed.
Since our daughters were concerned about the pain, we opted for numbing cream. It was an additional cost, but we felt it would be worth it. I didn’t want our oldest daughter to have a bad experience while her younger sisters were watching, possibly causing them to back out.
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The numbing cream takes about 25 minutes to take effect, so they sat on the soft pink couches and admired the crystal chandeliers while plastic wrap clung to their earlobes, keeping the cream in place. Sitting for half an hour made their nerves fray, and there were a couple of times they each thought about backing out. We reminded them that the numbing cream would keep them from feeling pain, and that seemed to calm their fears enough to continue.
After the cream took effect, we were ushered into a cute, pink and white room with plenty of space and seating for all six in our family. There were baskets of toys and books to play with, as well as a sound machine.
Our middle daughter opted to go first. She sat in chair in front of a mirror that looked similar to a hairstylist’s station. The technician explained everything she was doing, the equipment she used, and what to expect in the most kid-friendly way. She put everyone in the room at ease.
She carefully measured and marked with a black marker where the holes would be. Then she checked to make sure we agreed with her placement. After that, she continued to talk our seven year old through everything and answered every one of her 328 questions with a smile and a joyful heart. She allowed us to take video and pictures and made sure we had the best angle before she continued. She pierced the first ear and then moved to the second.
Our daughter beamed with pride as she admired her earrings! We had plenty of time to take more pictures and talk to her before moving on to the next girl. After that, the technician repeated the same process for each child, giving them the same amount of attention and time. She didn’t rush or make us feel like we needed to hurry, and each girl truly had the same experience.
Our toddler was loud and difficult towards the end, but everyone in the store offered to help soothe him, and no one made us feel uncomfortable about his volume or squirminess.
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Afterwards, the tech taught the girls (and us) how to clean the girls’ ears every day and answered our additional questions. There was a precious photo wall made of flowers that the girls used for some more pictures before we finally left.
At Home
We gave all three girls Tylenol 30 minutes before they went to bed because the numbing cream wore off, and they each complained of their ears aching. I thought laying on a pillow might be uncomfortable, but no one had any problems going to sleep.
We cleaned the girls’ earlobes most mornings and evenings with cotton swabs doused in the medicine the shop sent home with us and didn’t have any problems. Our four year old didn’t like cleaning around the holes, but it never hurt her.
It’s been three months since the girls got their ears pierced, and in the end, it was way more money and time than it would take if we had gone to the mall, but I’d do the same thing again, if given a choice. The adage holds true: You get what you paid for, and for us, we paid for a positive experience and great memories for our girls. Plus, we have lots of videos and pictures to document the occasion well.
