Sensitive Ears

[purly]

Anyone else here with sensitive ears? My right lobe (it's always the right one) closed up again and I had to go get it re-pierced.

I'm looking to replace my collection with only earrings that are hypoallergenic because I'm tired of this sort of thing happening. Maybe I'll try out the huggies and charms trend, so that I can be sure I have one or two pairs of things my ears can handle, but still get to wear lots of different designs.

For those of you with sensitive ears, what do you wear?

 

[bb2m]

I have extremely sensitive ears. I got my ears pierced when I was around 9 years old, and it wasn't until early adulthood (and multiple closings) that I finally realized infections aren't normal and that I have a metal allergy. Problem is I'm also lazy, and I don't like constantly having to switch out earrings and apart from special occasions, I just like to leave a pair in for an extended amount of time.

I can wear sterling silver or gold plated for maybe a few hours and still be fine, so if I want a statement piece for say a wedding, I can do that. Anything more than a few hours and infection starts. But for my every day earrings, they pretty much have to be 24k gold, which unfortunately I can't really find in the US so I end up buying abroad, or having people bring them back for me. Because it's 24k, they're really quite malleable and lose their form, but hey I haven't had to re-pierce my ears in about 20 years or so. I've been told pure silver might work too, but I've never come across any, and sterling silver is definitely an alloy that I still react to.

 

[Pevi]

Platinum works perfectly with sensitive ears, but make sure the pieces are small or the weight might make them irritate your ears.
The huggies with different pendants sound like a great idea and you could mix metals that way.
I have sensitive ears so I can’t wear ANYTHING costume, all I can wear is silver, gold or platinum, but even precious metals irritate my ears if I don’t disinfect them with alcohol or neosporin before I put them on.
Disinfecting the earrings makes all the difference for me!

 

[seidokat]

OP, I can't wear costume jewellery either; my piercings get red, itchy and inflamed in less than 10 minutes. For the past 3 years, I've been wearing a pair of custom made 14k gold 10mm mini huggie hoops that I'm very happy with. No issues so far, and they are comfortable enough to sleep in.

The charm huggies are a very good idea. I would recommend that you stay away from stud earrings with 'butterfly backs', because I've heard horror stories about the post and backing getting stuck inside of infected piercings. Threaded studs are fine, though.

If you're looking for a metal that's a bit different and less expensive than gold or platinum, I've heard good things about niobium (used in surgical implants), but most of the styles on offer are not very feminine, imo. I'd also recommend that you check out the selection at brands specialised in piercing, like Maria Tash and BVLA. Really lovely pieces, and they're made to be worn in brand new piercings and sensitive skin.

 

[lill_canele]

When my ears are freshly pierced they are very sensitive in the healing stage and I only wear at least 18k gold or platinum.
After a couple years, I can wear costume jewelry, but I usually don’t wear it for long and take them out at the end of the day.

On the daily I wear either 14k or 18k huggie hoops or gold ball studs with a ball screw back. I sleep and shower in them no problem.

As much as I love piercings I think my body really doesn’t like them. My regular lobe piercings took 3 months (I was told it would take 2-3 weeks) to heal and my cartilage piercings took 2 years (for most people it’s 1 year).
So whenever I get one I really need to plan out and commit lol.

 

[A bottle of Red]

Yeah my left piercing always closes slightly and in general my ears don’t like earrings much (even platinum posts). It’s a pity bec I think earrings are a nice finishing touch but don’t wear them much.
However I’m sensitive in general and after a while even a necklace or watch start to feel heavy so there’s that lol

 

[muddledmint]

When my ears are freshly pierced they are very sensitive in the healing stage and I only wear at least 18k gold or platinum.
After a couple years, I can wear costume jewelry, but I usually don’t wear it for long and take them out at the end of the day.

On the daily I wear either 14k or 18k huggie hoops or gold ball studs with a ball screw back. I sleep and shower in them no problem.

As much as I love piercings I think my body really doesn’t like them. My regular lobe piercings took 3 months (I was told it would take 2-3 weeks) to heal and my cartilage piercings took 2 years (for most people it’s 1 year).
So whenever I get one I really need to plan out and commit lol.

Haha I would be so happy if my lobe piercings took 3 months to heal. Mine literally took 4 years for the 1st holes and 6 years for the second holes. By healing, I mean fully epithelialized and won’t close up within an hour or two if I don’t have earrings in. I can wear 14k and 18k yellow gold, platinum, and titanium.

I recommend a threadless system like neometal. You can get many different “threadless ends” from different brands to change up the appearance of the stud, including ones made out of real gemstones and gold like BVLA. The threadless posts are available in different hypoallergenic metals including solid gold. The best thing is that you can change the front end without removing the post, which helps reduce irritation during the healing stage. I think threadless is much better than threaded during healing and more secure and is what is used by most reputable piercing studios.

 

[880]

I have sensitive ears and as a result don’t wear my earrings much.

 

[gymangel812]

i wear solid gold 24/7 with no issues:

14kt Solid Gold Star Stud Earrings 3mm4mm 5.5mm or 6mm Your - Etsy

This Stud Earrings item by MathewandMarieCo has 1242 favorites from Etsy shoppers. Ships from Manchester, CT. Listed on Sep 11, 2022

www.etsy.com

surgical steel works ok too

 

[andi]

I know this thread is about sensitive ears, but lately my neck has been so sensitive I am so upset that I can't wear my necklaces. With my ears I would be able to dip earring backs in some bacitracin but Im not having any luck with my itchy neck. Has this happened to anyone?

 

[N_Tonks]

One thing to consider—they might be sensitive to pressure. My daughter’s ears are sooooo sensitive, and while she does have metal allergies, even when we switched to platinum studs things were not clearing up. We switched to flat back earrings that put zero pressure on hear ears, and it was like magic. She can wear those, and la pousette backs, and hoops. Platinum is still safest, but she has also been able to wear gold. Still can’t wear tight studs that press on her lobes, or they get sore and the piercings fill up with goo.

 

[hmn002]

Yes I have sensitive ears too! Or like my mom and husband like to say, “expensive ears”.

Because of this, I usually don’t wear earrings. When I do, they’re usually diamond studs with platinum posts. I can’t wear costume jewelry, or even white gold, or my ears will turn bright red within 2 hours.

 

[Hurrem1001]

I know this thread is about sensitive ears, but lately my neck has been so sensitive I am so upset that I can't wear my necklaces. With my ears I would be able to dip earring backs in some bacitracin but Im not having any luck with my itchy neck. Has this happened to anyone?

I have been having a similar problem for the past few years with my gold curb chains. It’s only in the summer when I sweat, thankfully - no problem the rest of the year. I guess my sweat reacts to the alloys in the gold, which in turn irritates my neck. But it gets hot here, like well over 120F. I tend to end up showering four or five times a day, to cool me down.

 

[escamillo]

Second the recommendation to look at threadless piercings for healing. While healing, titanium is one of the best options and super lightweight.

Once healed, if you don’t mind “plain” hoops, I highly recommend 365 Sleepers brand. I prefer tiny baby hoops, and theirs are some of the best. I’ve worn them in titanium, surgical steel, and silver. No issues other than that they’re hard to put on and off (because I bought the tiniest size). But I would wear them for months at a time and forget I had them on. And they’re very inexpensive so I didn’t stress about losing them if I failed to close the hoop properly.

I did get bored with hoops after wearing them for so long. I’ve been wearing small Maria Tash ball studs (internally threaded) for at least a month straight now and I quite like them. They were hard to put on at first but the second and third time were better. They’re white gold yet I’ve had no irritation whatsoever. I’d like to wear these more first before I take the plunge, but definitely have my eye on small diamond studs from Maria Tash. Other than BVLA (which are backordered), I don’t think any other brand offers such comfortable and secure studs featuring good quality diamonds.

 

[tutu_08]

Platinum is the only thing I can wear.
Can’t do surgical steel, nor 24k gold.
Had to go through piercing 3 times, irritations, and closing, until someone recommended platinum and the 3rd time was a charm!
Once you find the metal your ears can tolerate (hopefully!), then for freshly pierced ears, try small hoops to keep the hole exposed and less irritated if that makes sense.
Best of luck!