Pierce Your Ear with a Safety Pin

Using safety pins to pierce your ears has no logical benefits beyond being totes punk. If you can get the hole straight and be responsible with disinfecting your pin and after care - using this method is probably more likely to result in infection then using a stud gun.

Steps

  1. Disinfect your safety pin by boiling in water for a few minutes. Remember whatever you put your pin down on will contaminate it, as will your fingers, so be careful.
  2. Numb the part of your ear you wish to pierce with ice cubes. This will be the most painful part of the the piercing process. Hold the ice to your ear for as long as you can stand, or at least say, 3-5 minutes.
  3. Fold your towel over a few times, then 'brace' the part of your ear you are piercing with this so you won't stab yourself.
  4. Pat your ear and pin down with your disinfectant or salted water.
  5. Push the safety pin through your ear and close. The hardest thing here is keeping the pin straight so you get a straight hole. It's easy to end up with a piercing at an angle - so be careful. If you are piercing your upper ear or through cartilage, be prepared for a weird crunching sound as you break through. Wonky piercings are the most common problem from DIY jobs - so really - be careful! If you don't have the stomach to do it properly, take it out and get a professional to do it for you. You don't want weird sideways holes through your ears. Note in the picture the model has holes that slant upwards. Also you will want the closure of the pin to be at the front of the ear since this will the the easiest part of the pin for bacteria to collect and you will want to keep an eye on it.
  6. Dab again with your disinfectant or salted water. Remember not to double dip if using a container!
  7. Leave to heal for at least a week, treating it as you would any new piercing. Leave it alone, only twisting it once or twice a day and disinfecting it. Don't touch it with your grotty fingers all the time.
  8. When you remove the pin the hole will be of a similar gauge to most earring posts, as safety pins are thicker than needles. This means if you put a stud or sleeper in straight away or after it has healed, it will be a lot less painful then if you DIY pierce with a needle.

Tips

  • You can put an earring in straight after the piercing, and it will be less painful the if you had done the initial piercing with a needle - but it will still hurt and increase the chances of infection. Safety pins are surprisingly good as earrings in that they have the benefits of sleepers without the difficulties of the round shape and thickness - so unless you need respectable earrings for work, leave them initially.

Warnings

  • Do not use this method on other parts of your body unless you know where nerves/major veins are.
  • If not done properly you could give yourself an infection.

Things You'll Need

  • Safety pin
  • Ice cubes
  • A clean tea towel/hand towel
  • Boiling water
  • Boiled water with salt or a disinfectant such as Dettol. Don't use a cream.

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