Ear + Ring = Earring?

August 27, 2007 10:41 AM

Does anyone wear jewelry in this part of the ear?

This weekend I bought a silver tubular ring that only fits on my pinkie finger. Just liked the way it felt in my hand, I guess. Today I was fooling around with it absently while working, and absentmindedly pressed it against my ear. To my surprise, it tucked itself in and fit there perfectly, held in snugly behind the tragus and rim of the antihelix. I've left it in all morning, fascinated by the fit, to the point where I forgot all about it for a while. Weird, I know.

Is this an area where people wear jewelry? I know everything's been done before, but I've never seen anyone wear a ring there, so I don't know where to look. I promise I won't stick anything else in my ear.

Also, is there a term for that particular ring shape? It's like a tube or cylinder seamlessly connected.

posted by hermitosis to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (19 answers total)

a torus.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:48 AM on August 27, 2007

Is that a term a jeweller or salesperson would recognize?
posted by hermitosis at 10:50 AM on August 27, 2007

I haven't seen it done before but if you like the way it looks, why not go for it? The only problem I can think of is that some people might see it as "posing," like you want the look of a big ol' piercing, but lack the level of commitment required to actually have a hole punched in you. If you want to impress those people, don't wear it.

You should post a pic. How can you tell it's a tube or cylinder if it's enclosed? Just by the weight, or does it have cutouts of some sort?
posted by contraption at 10:54 AM on August 27, 2007

I actually can't tell. But it's just the shape that's important-- the convex inner surface makes far better suited for this than any band would be.

I'd love to post a picture, but won't have my hands on a camera until this evening. I'll put one up later.

I'm not too worried about looking like a piercing-wannabe. People wear all sorts of funny looking things on their ears nowadays. At least it doesn't have a bluetooth chip in it.

yet.
posted by hermitosis at 11:04 AM on August 27, 2007

Is that a term a jeweller or salesperson would recognize?

Donut.
posted by LionIndex at 11:09 AM on August 27, 2007

Sounds almost like an ear-cuff.
posted by idiotfactory at 12:04 PM on August 27, 2007

Is this an area where people wear jewelry?

Jewellery can be worn anywhere - check out the piercing section on BME (might not be SFW for some), for ideas and if you do decide to get it pierced, then please go to a professional piercer.
posted by Nugget at 12:10 PM on August 27, 2007

Haha. Okay, this is clearly not going to work without a picture.

It's not even remotely a piercing, or related to one. Nor is it like a cuff worn on the outer ridge of the ear. This is a solid ring that fits perfectly into the grooves of my ear, almost exactly surrounding the actual entrance to my inner ear. It lays flat, so from a head-on view you can just see a glint of silver, but from the side, oh yeah, there's a ring embedded there.

Surely somewhere there is some sort of cultural precedent for fitting things into the ear (other than hearing aids) and for purely decorative purposes.
posted by hermitosis at 12:34 PM on August 27, 2007

It's like a monocle for your ear, just without the glass, right? I've never seen anything like that before, but since it seems that the grooving in everyone's ear is pretty different it would be hard to standardize something like that.
posted by LionIndex at 1:50 PM on August 27, 2007

It's just nestled there in the ear-hole, right? Nope, never saw that before. Now you get out there and go start a trend!
posted by nanojath at 2:01 PM on August 27, 2007

Here's a picture!

It is really quite firmly in there, no degree of flicking or ear-waggling dislodges it.

I'm not saying it looks super great (although it's growing on me pretty quickly), but I really was curious if this is done.
posted by hermitosis at 2:46 PM on August 27, 2007

Now that you've posted a picture, I think it looks cool (it makes me think "wow, that's unusual, let me take another glance at that")... I've never seen it done before, but you could certainly start a trend.
posted by amyms at 5:14 PM on August 27, 2007

Daith Piercing

You could get a huge hole punched in your ear to fit a giant ring in, or you could just stick with one of the little ones in these pictures. Or just keep on wearing your ear-donut as long as you please.
posted by nursegracer at 5:34 PM on August 27, 2007

Here's a better shot, you can really see how it fits and what it looks like in this one.
posted by hermitosis at 5:44 PM on August 27, 2007

What I REALLY want to know is, how many of you took off your ring and stuck it in your ear after reading this post?
posted by hermitosis at 5:59 PM on August 27, 2007

Not me. I don't have any smooth donut-style rings. But if I did, I would totally be putting it in my ear right now.
posted by amyms at 7:52 PM on August 27, 2007

i want to put my ring in my ear so badly...but i fear the repercussions of it potentially getting stuck or falling out in a crack....
posted by citystalk at 9:49 PM on August 27, 2007

i think it looks pretty sweet. why not wear it if you feel like it?

having seen the picture though, i'm not sure that you could get a piercing or piercings to replicate the same look.

the only thing i can think of is a vertical tragus piercing, let it heal, then put a large diameter ring in there....
posted by misanthropicsarah at 8:56 AM on August 28, 2007

i like it. i say go for it.
posted by twistofrhyme at 7:28 PM on October 1, 2007