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Confused about ear piercings? Looking for your next ear adornment?
Here we unravel popular queries on modern ear piercings, cuffs, climbers and jewellery positions.
Ear jewellery can be great fun to experiment with, whether you choose cuff jewellery, fake piercings, clip-on ear adornments, or commit to a more permanent piercing. They are a great way to express your style and can be relatively inexpensive. So load up with a few different sizes and have fun experimenting.
Simple minimalist hoops can be fairly inexpensive to buys, so it’s great to stock up in a selection of different sizes and patterns. Sterling silver, Gold (including 14K Gold filled) Rose Gold and Platinum are amongst the most popular precious metals to choose from. They are highly popular and worth the investment as with a little care and occasional cleaning they can give you years, if not a lifetime of wear.
DAITH PIERCING
Here we have the folded area just above the tragus pierced. It’s popularity increased due to some believing it helps with migraines or headaches. Either way, it can make for an attractive piercing. Particularly for small textured hoops, due to restricted room.
(Model wears size 7mm hoop).
Frequently Asked Questions
CONCH PIERCING
A Conch hoop is either a cuff (open hoop) that wraps around your ear, or a piercing (pierced hole) just inside your ear.
Conch hoops are typically around 12mm outer diameter (outside edge to outside edge), but pierced conches can require a bigger hoop depending on your ear size and how high up or across the piercing is. For example, 15mm is not uncommon for an average-sized hoop in a higher position.
Don’t presume each ear will be the same size either if buying a pair.
Conch Cuffs
Cuffs can be more flexible as they come as an open hoop which can usually be adjusted by gently pulling open or squeezing slightly to tighten.
Frequently Asked Questions
Don’t forget to measure the pierced hole from the front to the back hole of your ear too, to get a good idea of the size.
Alternatively, a piercer or jeweller can measure the area professionally. Or if you have a piercing use the original hoop you got with the piercing as a template for measuring across. From there choose a bigger or smaller mm hoop as preferred.
Q: When can I change my Conch jewellery?
HELIX PIERCING
Also called a cartilage piercing. This is located at the upper edge of your ear (see photo opposite). Smaller than the conch hoop this cuff or piercing sits high up on the ear. This area is popular for tiny diamond and ball studs as well as dainty hoops. It’s a relatively large area, so also suited to multiple piercings. Typically 2 (double helix), or 3 (triple helix) piercings.
There are many varieties of decorated and plain hoops to choose from for this area.
(Model wears 7mm outer diameter hoop).
TRAGUS PIERCING
This refers to the middle inner section of the ear. Hoops in this area are usually of similar size to the Helix above (7mm outer diameter, 6mm inner diameter in photo).
Frequently Asked Questions
LOBE PIERCING / Standard Earring Positions
This fleshy area is the standard position of piercings on the bottom part of the ear, or the lobe. There are three primary positions for this (as demonstrated by the 9mm, 8mm and 7mm size hoops in the photo). These can also be called lower, middle, and upper lobe piercings. Cuffs tend not to sit quite as well here due to less grip. Instead, if there is not already a piercing in the desired location, a screw-back or clip-on earring is often preferred and more secure. Especially where precious metals or gemstones are included in the ear adornment.
Depending on your ear size multi piercings look good here and can be worn as graduated hoops or studs (eg small, med and large).
Frequently Asked Questions
Above you can see the most common types of piercings and cuffs available. There are of course many other ear piercings possible and ways to wear ear cuffs. Its all down to personal preference and talking to either a piercer or experimenting with a few cuffs to see what look you prefer.
Its a great idea to have a selection of different ear cuffs in various sizes and spend a few minutes fitting them to different areas of your ear to see what you like the look of. You might even find you want to go ahead and get a piercing in that area. Cuffs are a great way to experiment with ideas first before committing to pierced ears.
You can find a selection of earrings for Pierced Ears and Ear Cuffs for non-pierced areas in our online shop.
