Ear piercings are a popular trend, regardless of age or gender. We almost have someone with pierced ears in every family. Earrings represent style and sophistication, adding confidence to those who use them daily.
However, you may not know how to take off and put on earrings safely. Especially when they are stuck, you have sensitive ears or recently pierced ears. Removing them wrongly may lead to bruising and more infection in the affected ear.Â
If you find yourself in this situation, do not worry, we will give you easy steps and tips to follow to remove your earrings safely.
Steps in Taking off Your Earrings for the First Time
Starter earrings and screw-in stud earrings may be challenging to remove because of the new ear piercing. First, ensure that your ears have completely healed before removing the piercing jewelry.Â
Depending on your skin, healing may take approximately 6 to 8 weeks. Removing your earrings too early may lead to infections, or the earring hole may heal and close.
- Wash your hands thoroughly. Use soap and running water to clean your hands before doing anything. Afterward, you can rub disinfectant in your hands and wait until they dry.
- Clean the ear lobes. Using a cleansing solution or rubbing alcohol with a cotton ball, clean your ear around the piercing with the cotton ball dipped in a disinfectant to prevent infections.
- Position your index finger and thumb on one end of the earring and another hand on the lower end of the earring. If you have long hair, you should tie it backward to give an easy grasp.
- Wiggle your earring back and forth. Avoid spinning or twisting your earring when removing them. It may bruise the parts that had started healing. Instead, push it up and down to loosen the studs bond.
- Carefully pull the earring. Do not pull the two pieces simultaneously. You can easily remove your earring after removing the back stopper.
- Put on your new earrings. But, before putting on new earrings, disinfect the ear and the stud with hydrogen peroxide.
If there is bleeding afterward, your ears have not completely healed. Use gauze or a cotton ball to put pressure on your ear and stop bleeding.Â
 A buildup of bacteria cells and oils can cause your ears to smell, too. If you notice that it is smelling, wipe it with glycerin soap and warm water to remove any buildup.
After removing the starter earring, you may notice a red swelling or discharge. It means that your ears have an infection. Apply antibiotic cream, and if it persists, see a doctor.Â
Pain during earring removal means that the ear has not fully healed. Therefore, leave it for a few more weeks while cleaning it with disinfectant and warm water to avoid skin buildup.
How To Take off Earrings When Your Ears Are Sensitive
Earrings are a great way to personalize your look and make you feel more beautiful. But you may react badly to earrings when you have sensitive ears.Â
Even worse, the reaction may cause an allergic or full-blown physical reaction.
Simple Tips To Avoid Allergic Reactions to Earrings
Always remove your earrings every day before bed or any time you feel discomfort.
Other tips include:
- Â Avoid earrings that have nickel. People with Nickel allergy may notice symptoms such as rash breakout after a few minutes of wearing nickel earrings, and constant exposure may increase this allergic reaction.
- Avoid wearing fake gold earrings. Many people may not afford original gold earrings. Therefore, they tend to buy cheaper ones. However, these earrings may react to their sensitive skin, causing a rash reaction. Test your new jewelry if it is original.
- Buy medical-grade plastic earrings. This type of earring will not cause any allergic reaction. They are even suitable for kids.
- Â Invest in titanium earrings. Titanium does not react with the body and is even used in hospitals to make implants. Therefore, a pure titanium earring will not react with your skin.
- Buy jewelry shield or jewelry coatings. These coatings have a clear nail polish look. They help in protecting the ear from direct contact with the earring.
- Invest in Hypoallergenic Earrings. Platinum, sterling silver, high karat gold, stainless steel, and titanium are some jewelry suitable for people with sensitive skin.Â
- Hypoallergic earrings are less likely to cause ear irritation when you wear them.
Always clean and disinfect your earrings when they have buildups and are dirty.
Steps To Remove Earrings From a Sensitive Ear
After learning tips on ensuring that we have the right earrings, we now need to know how to take off earrings from a sensitive ear.
You can only know that your ears are sensitive to a given metal after wearing it. The reaction will start with discomfort, itching, and swelling in your ears.
 Removing the earrings will be torture at this time because of the pain that comes with the reaction.
 Here are a few steps that can ease the process:
- Step 1: Wash your hands with soap and running water. Washing hands will help remove dirt from your hands; you do not want to touch your already reacting ears with dirty hands. If water is unavailable, you can disinfect your hands with any disinfectant.
- Step 2: Wipe your ears with disinfectant or warm water. Wiping with disinfectant will help reduce the chances of infection. The warm water is excellent in reducing the pain.
- Step 3: Have a good grip on the studs with the index finger and thumb of one hand and the other with another thumb and index finger.
- Step 4: Gently unscrew the stopper. Then pull the earring. Do not twist, as this will only increase the contact and reaction on your ears.
Put some lotion on your fingers before trying to remove the earring so that it doesn’t hurt as much when you touch it with your fingers while taking it off.
Avoid dangle earrings and oversized hoop earrings as they may only worsen the allergic reaction.
Cleanse your ears with mild soap and warm water to remove any dirt or wax from jewelry in your ear.Â
What To Do if You Can’t Remove Earrings Off
One of the most painful experiences with ear pierces removing the earrings for the first time. Sometimes all the methods you know of removing your earring may fail you, and you get stuck with a painful ear.Â
When you find yourself in this situation, using rubber gloves or a pair of latex gloves may help in giving enough grip to unscrew the stuck earings.
- Â Wipe your ear lobes with saline solution.
- Â Leave it for a few minutes to ensure the jewelry is dry, then wear gloves.
- Â An extra twist using the rubber gloves can help remove your stuck jewelry.
- Â Use earring removal tweezers to twist the earring and remove it. This should work. However, if it refuses and the ear is too painful, visit a professional ear piercer to help you in removing it.
Should I Use a Tool To Take Off My Earrings?
Earring removal tools come in handy to unscrew studs when stuck; every effort is not helping. One of the tools is earring removal tweezers. Twist it in a clockwise direction to remove the earring.Â
Can I Damage My Ears if I Take Off My Earrings Wrong?
Yes, you can damage your ear lobe skin if you take off your wear earrings wrongly. The damage happens if it is the first time you remove the earrings since piercing or when you have sensitive skin.
During this time, the ear may not have completely healed. Therefore, doing it wrong may bruise the healing area and lead to another wound or infection.
