My first piercing experience was nothing special. I walked into a children’s hair salon in suburban Virginia at seven years old with an emotional support stuffed animal and a dream. I walked out with two pink “diamond” studs and the beginnings of an infection from the industrial-grade piercing gun.
By the time I booked an appointment for two more diamonds (real, this time) 20 years later, the piercing experience and jewelry I remembered had more than a glow-up—and as many adults as kids and tweens were sitting in the piercer’s chair. Mall kiosks and tattoo parlors were still destinations for a first or second piercing, but so were all-out luxury boutiques and jewelry startups backed by major investor funding. Piercing jewelry branched out from simple quartz posts to playfully shaped studs and decadent fine gems. The places where cool, stacked piercings showed up also seemed to shift: semi-corporate offices and celebrity red carpets became a stage to display triple, quadruple, and quintuple-pierced ears. At least in fashion circles, an ear with only one earring almost looked naked.
