Getting a piercing as an adult is a lot cooler than it was in your middle school heyday when you got your lobes done at the mall. Why? Instead of picking between silver or gold studs, going under the needle in 2018 leaves you with a lot more options, both in jewelry and placement. (Unless your parents let you get your cartilage done with an ornate hoop, in which case you probably had a damn cool middle school experience.) But out of all the ear piercing placements out there today — rook, tragus, helix — it's a cluster of several that are attracting celebrities, L.A. natives, and even Riverdale's Betty Cooper. Enter: The constellation piercing.
It's Brian Keith Thompson, owner of Body Electric and piercer to stars like Beyoncé and Jessica Alba, that's one of the forces behind the trends. In fact, he'll tell you that decorating your ear is exactly what they're there for. "They need it. They want it. They were put there to hang jewelry off of," he says.
Thompson reports that the constellation piercing is "a multitude of piercings, sporadic on your ear, with no rhyme or reason why they should be there." In other words, the piercings are kind of random, scattered, can vary in size — and always end up looking rad. The best part? You don't have to only wear studs, or hoops, or make anything match... ever!
And while Thompson is encouraging of accessorizing the hell out of your ear, he urges everyone to take the healing process seriously. Depending on the piercing, each hole could take months to heal fully and it's sometimes "quite painful." He adds that most of the problems he sees from clients getting a piercing is from them touching, rotating, or playing it with them. (All no-no's!) "Less care is the best care," he says. Want to avoid an infected piercing? Keep it clean, and in the meantime, 'gram as much as your heart desires — just keep your hands off.
Check out the video above to see exactly what it's like to get L.A.'s raddest piercing trend.
refinery29.com