*runs up you you, panting heavily, and grips your upper arm*: DID YOU KNOW YOU COULD JUST BUY EAR-PIERCING EARRINGS ON AMAZON?? FOR HARDLY ANY MONEY??
I waited until my order arrived to tell you about it, because it felt as if it could not be the case that I would buy a 12-pack of assorted ear-piercing earrings for about a dollar a pair and have them be, like, actually the same earrings they pierce earlobes with at thirty bucks a double-pop. But now I have seen it with my own eyes. (In fact, you can also buy an ear-piercing gun, but NO THANK YOU, I’M ALL SET.)
I wanted ear-piercing earrings for MULTIPLE REASONS:
1. Elizabeth wants to change her earrings about twice a year, so I like to get her earrings she can just leave in all the time
2. I am the same way about my upper-lobe piercings: I just like to leave a pair of earrings in all the time without taking them out or changing them
3. In 6-9 months I will be able to change my cartilage piercing, and I will want something very surgical-steely for that
I have little mini gold studs I wear in my upper-lobe piercings, and because “piercing is free, just buy the earrings,” and because I didn’t realize I could buy locking-back surgical-steel earrings anywhere other than a piercing place, I paid THIRTY DOLLARS for those earrings (I did not need another set of piercings, just smaller studs than I’d had my ears pierced with). Now I find the EXACT SAME ONES for slightly over a dollar a pair. This makes the whole thing seem like a rip-off. Which is silly, because all along it has NOT been free piercing, it has been $30 (or whatever) for piercing-including-earrings. But they SAY it is $30 for just the earrings, and I am very irritated by irritating marketing ploys. And I am so annoyed that they followed right through with that ploy and actually did charge me $30 for just the earrings.
Anyway! I am sorry, I am so wound up with excitement, I am not composing this post in an organized fashion.
What happened was this: I was writing the post about my fresh new cartilage piercing, and I wanted to find a picture that illustrated what I meant by “non-bezel-set,” because I’m not sure what that other kind of setting is called (I would call it “regular,” maybe). And the hits I got for images of ear-piercing earrings included some from items listed on Amazon, like this one, that looked VERY VERY MUCH like the earrings I’d been offered at my recent piercing session:
(image from Amazon.com)
Surgical Steel Ear Piercing Studs 12 Pairs Mixed Colors White Metal
And so I clicked through, and I read the details, and I read the reviews, and with hope and disbelief I ordered three sets: the silver-looking bezel-set ones above, the same basic deal in gold-looking metal, and a 12-pack of mini gold studs. And they arrived, and they appear to be FOR REAL. Behold!
There is perforation between each pair of earrings, so you can tear off just one set. You could give a few pairs in her favorite colors to a niece with recently-pierced ears, and keep the rest for yourself!
They have the sharp points and the locking backs. They look identical to the ear-piercing earrings I’ve bought before (for THIRTY DOLLARS A PAIR). They are glorious. I love them. I am so happy.
This is what the backs of the packages look like (blue is what’s on the back of the two sets of colored stones; red is what’s on the back of the gold studs):
I am especially pleased with the 12-pack of mini gold studs (2mm instead of 4mm like the usual piercing studs). I’ve been wearing mine for so many years that the plating has mostly worn off and they look silver, but DARNED if I was paying another $30! Now I have TWELVE PAIRS, all shining and golden! But those are also the ones I’m most nervous about, because they are a different brand than the others, and they are the only one with a review saying they irritated the reviewer’s ears so she wondered if they were not surgical steel as advertised. Well! We will see!
Another set I considered but decided against is this one: it has only six pairs, and includes duplicates from the other sets—but it has stars, hearts, and pearls. I also considered this set, which is what I was originally looking for when I set out to find a picture of what I meant by “non-bezel-set”/”regular” (and here they are in silver-color). Turns out it’s called “prong style.”
I shouldn’t be surprised, but this is a shocking revelation.
I buy Studex piercing studs on eBay and wear them for years… I’ve probably bought maybe 6 pairs total for myself and my daughter, always the Studex brand. I wear them in my cartilage piercing and my second love holes, with no problems. I’ve also bought “bullet backs”, which are more comfortable than the butterfly-style earring backs, and make wearing these earrings for literally months at a time very comfortable.
LOBE holes. Second holes in my EARLOBES.
NOT love holes.
You corrected it before I could respond! I’m all, “LOVE holes?!? Lyssa! This is a family show!!”
LOLOLOLOLOLOL
I’m dying. I was reading this going, “Must not google ‘love holes.’ Must NOT google ‘love holes.'”
And this news is a REVELATION.
star
I am still reeling a bit from the idea you can buy an ear piercing gun. Am picturing slumber parties of the future where instead of ice and needle the hostess pulls out her ear piercing gun.
Also yay for such a great find!!! I have nothing pierced but nonetheless have been reading with interest.
Slightly off topic, but you can also purchase a tattoo gun online. Even if you are sixteen and have a parent-monitored credit union Visa card. And you can tattoo all your **ahem** impulsive neighborhood friends before your mother catches you.
My little brother was very popular in our neighborhood, until he WASN’T.
OH MY
My eyes are VERY VERY WIDE RIGHT NOW.
Perfect for my little girls who love to change their earrings but mama doesn’t want to invest in such expensive earring! thank you for this revelation.
Ok, now I’m really curious what the “piercings are free, you only buy the earrings” places would do if you brought in your own set. Surely they would still charge you something, right? Because they have to pay the tech by the hour and rent on their mall space and etc.
My guess is that they would turn out to have a firm store policy about only using their own earrings.
Here in Canada we can buy those earrings at most major drug stores, but still for about $10-12, so I’m salivating at the thought of $1. I have a couple of the bezel set colours, the gold hearts and gold stars. I love them all!
I prefer to wear the piercing studs as well (I tend to leave them in for a lot longer than I probably should), and I’ve actually gone to the store before to buy a pair, paying full price, the same I would have paid if I’d gotten my ears pierced. It literally never crossed my mind that there was another option available, and I hadn’t even considered until now that maybe I paid too much.
So thank you for this post! I will be taking a look at Amazon in the very near future!
The stars are the ones I had for my first and second set of ear piercings. Come to think, I may still have those.
The stars were my first too! I still have them! Elizabeth wore them for awhile, which thrilled me.
I am not sure what is the best part about this – the post or the comments about love holes and a 16 year old tatooing his friends (which sounds hilarious until I realize in a few years I will have a 16 year old boy – gah!).
It seems like the marketing is backwards for the mall ear piercing places- shouldn’t they be giving away free earrings with the piercing? It makes more sense to pay for the service of ear piercing by a highly trained professional (ha!) and get free product than the other way around.
I SO AGREE. It makes way, way, WAY more sense to say that the PIERCING is $30 (a service I definitely want to PAY for) and that the earrings are INCLUDED/FREE. That’s how it was with my cartilage piercing: the piercing cost $30, and the earring they needed to use was included in that price.
I have had some of these in my shopping cart forever, since hunting for surgical stainless steel jewelry. Good to know they’re the real deal!
This is fantastic news. My oldest girl had hear ears pierced in January, for her 8th birthday, and it’s been kind of a pain in the ass! We have had one or two easily cleared up infections, but the worst was when the freaking skin grew OVER the front of the earring. So I want to get ones that she can wear all the time but are big enough to not submerge themselves in her earlobe ewwwww. Thanks! Just today I put on my TO DO list, “check Swistle” and here I am, rewarded!
I was looking at the these exact sets just a couple weeks ago!! My daughter’s earring backs keep falling off, and I was looking for something for my 2nd/3rd piercings. Thank you for the trusted review! I just 1-clicked those suckers.