FOR THE KIDS / FASHION : The Hole Story : Both boys and girls are having their ears pierced--and at younger ages. Many children sport multiple earrings.
Eight-year-old Brian Lacy’s favorite earring is the tiny diamond stud he wears in his left earlobe. He has a hoop earring, and little gold and silver ball studs, but the diamond is awesome, man.
Brian knows what’s hot. He’s been watching the MTV channel since he was 2. His idol is rock singer Jon Bon Jovi, who sports an earring in his left ear. That’s where Brian got the idea.
So, when he asked his mother in December if he could have his ear pierced, she said, why not.
“It fits my son,” said Lynne Lacy of Thousand Oaks. “He’s adorable.” He plays the electric guitar, and with his longish hair, the earring matches his image, she said.
So when did little boys start getting their ears pierced?
Since idols like basketball star Michael Jordan began piercing the lobal frontier. Girls are getting into it more too, and at a younger age. Instead of having a hole in each earlobe, they’re opting for three--even five--holes on an ear.
Lacy said most parents had this reaction: “I would never let my child pierce his ear.” She said, “Parents absolutely refuse.”
Even Brian’s father was taken aback when he heard what his son had done. “He was speechless,” Lacy said. “He didn’t believe it.”
Holly Earles, owner of California Street Gear in Thousand Oaks, pierces the ears of 10 to 20 people a day in her store that is lined with thousands of earrings.
“Last week alone we had six boys,” she said. Boys usually go for one hole in the left ear. As for girls, she has done up to seven on one ear. She doesn’t pierce the cartilage in the upper ear--the latest earring craze. Nor does she do noses. The chance for infection is too great.
Parents appalled by the prospect of their children coming home with holes in their ears can gain some relief in knowing that anyone under 18 must have parental permission. Earles insists on verbal approval from a parent, and she calls the parent at work or home.
“Anyone can forge a note,” she said.
The piercing itself is simple. Earles, a registered nurse, places a dot on the lobe where the earring is to go. Then she uses an earring “gun,” actually shaped like a handgun and loaded with a special earring stud. When the gun goes off, it’s the stud that goes through the earlobe. It’s not painless. It stings for a few minutes.
“There’s no blood,” she said. People can’t contract any disease from the procedure, she said. The earring is the only thing that touches the skin and it comes in a sterilized packet.
The earrings must stay in place about a month and be swabbed daily with an antiseptic. Then she will remove the studs. Because they have a double lock on the back, they are difficult for the wearer to remove. At that point, the wearer is free to put any kind of earring in the hole.
Earles charges $5, including the cost of the earrings. Other establishments may charge a few dollars more. (Earles will drop the price to $3 for one hole.)
Latino and African-American parents often have their baby’s ears pierced. “We did a 6-month-old yesterday,” Earles said.
Doing an infant is easier than a 2-year-old, because the toddlers are too squirmy and can fiddle with the ear, causing an infection. It’s better to wait until they are 5 years old.
Earles encourages elementary-age kids to buy small earrings that don’t dangle. Parents don’t like to see the dangling kind on their young children, and schools frown on it because of the hazards on the playground.
It’s a mystery to Earles--as well as to most parents--why girls want several holes on each earlobe. Equally mysterious is why fashion trends now seem to dictate odd numbers--say, three in one ear and four in the other.
Andrea De la Torre, 18, couldn’t explain it either when she had Earles’ employee add another hole to her left ear, bringing the total to three in the left and two in the right.
“If you have the same number, you’re odd,” she laughed. “Most of my friends have three or five.”
Which boys are most apt to get an ear pierced? Not jocks and nerds, according to Ken Anderson, 14, who pierced his with a thumbtack. The more rebellious kids, skateboarders and those who lean toward the punkish are most likely, he said.
But what seemed rebellious and odd a few years ago is now just the status quo, professional ear piercers say.
“We do a good percentage of men and young boys,” said Julie Niles, manager of J. C. Penney’s hair styling and piercing salon in Thousand Oaks. About 100 people a month pay $7.50 to get holes punched in their ears.
“The girls have gotten younger,” she said. It used to be that they waited until they were 16 or 18 years old, an age when parents finally relented. But now they come in at 5 and 6 years old, she said.
She will pierce the cartilage, but she won’t do noses. And when a teen comes in with a note from home, she still calls the parent.
Renae Kapotsy, manager of the Piercing Pagoda in Ventura, has become a good judge of handwriting when it comes to notes from home. Her kiosk at the Buenaventura Mall averages 200 to 300 people a month. One girl, who was turned away for lack of a note, returned with one 30 minutes later. But two words--daughter and pierce--were misspelled.
* FYI
Here are a few places that pierce ears: Piercing Pagoda, Buenaventura Mall in Ventura, 658-2267; Merle Norman Cosmetics & Lingerie, Carriage Square Center in Oxnard, 485-1491; California Street Gear, Janss Mall in Thousand Oaks, 494-0366; J. C. Penney in The Oaks in Thousand Oaks, 497-3010.
