I love dangly earrings. I don't have pierced ears. What do?

June 30, 2023 12:44 PM

I love dangly earrings, but I don't have pierced ears. I don't intend to pierce my ears (I got them pierced when I was 13 and hated it). I also hate the feeling of clip on earrings. There's probably no particularly good reason to do something other than occasionally pine after nifty looking dangly earrings, but I want to think about it anyway. Let's get creative. How can I use dangly earrings to decorate my person without piercing my ears? (this is free-form. go nuts.)

I'm a very visibly queer person who wears funky glasses every day and has pink hair. Don't worry if your suggestion is weird.

posted by ocherdraco to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (18 answers total)

Get a kilt pin, affix a series of dangly earrings and use the result like a brooch.
posted by quacks like a duck at 12:51 PM on June 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

Ear cuffs are a thing, and can be dangly.
posted by LizardBreath at 12:51 PM on June 30, 2023 [12 favorites]

glue them onto hair clips?
posted by daisystomper at 12:52 PM on June 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

Ear cuff with dangles?
example
example
example
on preview, already mentioned... but examples :)
posted by Glinn at 12:53 PM on June 30, 2023 [3 favorites]

I know you don't like the feel of clip ons, but have you tried magnetic options?
posted by Mchelly at 1:01 PM on June 30, 2023 [4 favorites]

Why are people not hanging dangly things from the sides of their glasses? I see neck chains hanging from there, but why not something like a pair of dangly earrings?

Also: It seems like you could hang stuff from a well-designed headband, too.
posted by amtho at 1:02 PM on June 30, 2023 [3 favorites]

Many people seem to have ears that somehow "grasp" earbuds/airpods securely. If you have the kind of ear that firmly holds an airpod style gadget in place, maybe you could fashion something shaped like an earbud, but decorative on it's own or to serve as an anchor for dangly things.

Also seconding amtho's suggestion of attaching things to your glasses, since you already have those.

Finally, my ears do not hold earbuds well, so I use earbuds that have a wire "hook" that wraps around my ear to hold them in place, like this (amazon link to example ear hook style ear buds) Maybe a hook like that could work for hanging things, though it's not always comfy to have both glasses on and the ear hooks.
posted by mrgoldenbrown at 1:17 PM on June 30, 2023

You can hang all kinds of charms from Catbird's solid gold safety pin.
posted by praemunire at 1:27 PM on June 30, 2023

My daughter wanted to test out what some piercings would look like, so she bought some little metal balls and she has been using this lash adhesive to stick them on her face, for instance on both sides of her nose to simulate a bridge piercing. It seems to work well and it lasts all day. I imagine you could use lash adhesive to glue things to your earlobes.
posted by Redstart at 1:29 PM on June 30, 2023

You can hang dangly earrings on ear wraps! Unlike ear cuffs that attach to the cartilage, they fit behind your ear, kind of like the stems of eyeglasses.

Now that I think about it, I should get a pair—my ears definitely get tired from wearing piercings all day.
posted by homodachi at 1:43 PM on June 30, 2023 [8 favorites]

Also came in to mention the existence of ear wraps, like homodachi mentioned.

You can buy these already full of dangles of various kinds, often thematic. Look at places like Hot Topic, Etsy, Renaissance faires, etc. (and also pretty much any massive retailer that sells jewelry, so like Amazon/Temu/AliExpress/etc). Here's an example.
posted by verbminx at 2:04 PM on June 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

Unusual earrings on etsy has some cool and interesting options too.
posted by CleverClover at 2:27 PM on June 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

It sounds like you don't want anything hanging directly from your lobes regardless, but just as an FYI, it is possible that your old piercings are still functional. I have an ear lobe piercing from when I was 14 that I haven't used in probably 25 years, but it is still "open" and as long as I am gentle, I can put an earring in there.
posted by Dip Flash at 4:13 PM on June 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

The ear cuff options look really fun.

Also if you are open to a different type of clip on than the standard metal that has a spring and pinches, these “invisible clip on” earrings are more comfortable (not really a clip, they are plastic and held on via tension without a spring). I have only purchased the invisible back studs, but looks like they also have fun dangle options too.

https://prettysmartearrings.com/collections/dangle-earrings
posted by subwaytiles at 7:28 PM on June 30, 2023

I was going to suggest Unusual Earrings but CleverClover beat me to it. I have a few pairs from them and they are really fun!
posted by erst at 7:48 PM on June 30, 2023

My girlfriend has a “piercing” with an earring through it in one of her hats. It’s more of a barbell/captive bead ring style but dangly might work too.
posted by needs more cowbell at 7:26 AM on July 1, 2023

Do you have braidable hair? Earrings hooked into braids are fun.
posted by BlueNorther at 1:30 PM on July 5, 2023

Response by poster: What I ended up doing: acquiring a girlfriend who does have pierced ears and (with her permission) giving her earrings I like.
posted by ocherdraco at 3:16 PM on October 13, 2023 [2 favorites]