The ear might be the most pierced body part and the most common one as well, but you will be surprised to find out that there are more than 20 types of ear piercings! Typically, women get standard lobe ear piercings in both their ears. Some parents take care of this aspect or girls do it when they grow older. Things aren’t the same with men though. The majority opts for one standard lobe piercing. However, they also like diversity, so you’ll see that both men and women create art by piercing their ears.
What’s really convenient about ear piercings is that they can be covered with hair when necessary or even displayed because they aren’t unusual. Compared with other types of piercings, these ones aren’t controversial and most people accept them. Even if you consider piercings normal, not everyone shares your vision. So, if you really want to embellish your body and wear cute rings, it’s safe to pierce your ears. This step is far from not being adventurous, especially if you choose to stretch your ear lobe.
You’re probably curious about the 20+ types of ear piercings that you can get, so here it goes: standard lobe, upper lobe, auricle, conch, helix, industrial, tragus, rook, snug, orbital, anti-tragus, daith, graduate, transverse, forward helix, ear weaving, gauge and combinations between them. Well, that must be overwhelming! Don’t worry if you have no idea how all these types of piercings look like. As it follows, you can browse through more than 65 examples of ear piercings that look playful, sexy and cool!
1. Lobe, upper lobe, cartilage and tragus
This guy stepped up his piercing game by piercing one of his ears no less than 5 times. I think his piercings look badass! (See: this)
2. A snug piercing and a stretched lobe
I think it’s safe to say this chick is part of the alternative nation. She’s not only sporting rad ear piercings, but she’s also wearing them on her face.
3. Graduate lobe piercings and tragus style
A standard lobe piercing looks nice together with an upper lobe piercing, but even better with 2 more jewelry attached further on the ear. The one from the tragus makes this arrangement even more complex.
4. A tragus piercing and heavy gauging
This man’s face inspires friendliness and his piercings are really cool! He likes opposites I think since he got a small tragus piercing and stretched his lobe a lot!
5. A long row of lobe and cartilage piercings
A classical arrangement of ear piercings, these ones reflect manhood more than others. This guy is obviously a modern man with classic tastes. See? Ear piercings fit any style and age!
6. Ear lobe decorated with a silver ring
As mentioned before, some guys opt for one standard lobe piercing and stick with it for the rest of their lives. This particular man chose a thick silver ring to accessorize his ear.
7. Double stretching, cartilage additions and tragus ring
When you want piercings in your ears, you don’t have to settle for a fixed number. This girl, for example, found a combination that suits her really well. She is wearing an industrial and a tragus piercing together with 2 small-gauge flesh tunnels.
8. Standard ear lobe and auricle accessorization
Here we’re dealing with a more romantic and feminine woman. She chose golden earrings that compliment the shape of her ear. Her auricle piercings are especially valuable because they tend to be quite painful.
9. Standard beauty wears standard ear piercings
The lobe is not painful to pierce and it is a very common ear area where women wear earrings.
10. Ear weaving at its best plus other body mods
This girl’s succession of 5 rings on her outer ear rim is called ear weaving. I think it’s suited for wild personalities that like to be organized. She took it up a notch by getting her tragus pierced as well.
11. Put a ring through a flesh tunnel
You might be familiar with people’s tendency to run their fingers through a person’s flesh tunnels. Well, this guy put an end to that problem by placing a ring through his flesh tunnel. Believe me, that hole isn’t too small for my pinky finger!
12. Double lobe piercings becoming one
There is no trick or fake piercings involved here. It’s just an awesome jewelry that connects 2 standard ear lobe piercings.
13. Conch, rook, tragus and many more
I think it would be easier to mention which type of piercing this girl doesn’t have, rather than describing the ones she does have. Isn’t this a little too much? What do you think?
14. An industrial piercing on a casual guy
After seeing so many piercings in just one ear, this guy’s style might seem plain. However, I see him as a casual guy who modified his body just a little in order to fit his personality better.
15. Ear accessorized with golden earrings
I find auricle piercings to be sensual, especially if they are thin and golden. This woman found the perfect fit for her style!
16. Graduate lobe piercings with silver jewelry
Simple ear piercing patterns are always welcome! This is an example of a successful attempt to gradually pierce the earlobe, going up towards the cartilage.
17. The snug and the helix matched up
The helix piercing is the first one starting from the top of her ear and the snug piercing is the one with 2 blue stones. The other 2 are regular types of earlobe piercings.
18. Bloody tragus ring and a rook piercing
A little blood shouldn’t scare you if you want to get pierced. It’s normal for a few drops of blood to leave your body when you stick a needle through it. The bleeding will stop immediately and it won’t occur anymore during the healing process.
19. Graduate lobe piercings with silver jewelry
This graduate lobe pattern is fairly common. The piercings start in the lobe area and stretch over to the cartilage. She only has 9 piercings, so there’s room for plenty more.
20. A common piercing place and a funny accessory
Once you have a hole in your earlobe, you can hang any type of accessory you want to. In this case, a tiny pot with a mushroom is nicely hanging from a girl’s ear. You can choose virtually anything that appeals to you and wear it!
21. Three rings and a tiny stone
When you alternate big earrings with small ones, you create a nice effect and avoid the “too much” factor. Mixing stones with golden earrings looks like a good combination to me.
22. Nicely decorated earlobe and cartilage
Here is another example of piercings succession. This chick picked silver earrings of different sizes and styles. Do you like this simple piercing style or are you looking for a more daring combination?
23. Daith with hearts and shiny pearls
Besides the pearly piercings, this girl is sporting a daith piercing. It is blue and it’s got purple hearts at its ends. Not the most painful ear piercing you can get, the daith piercing is actually easier to maintain than the tragus. It doesn’t even hurt as much as it might look, so if you like it, go for it!
24. Feminine piercings arrangement
Tiny and thin accessories are considered feminine. This doesn’t mean that the feminine look cannot be obtained in other ways as well. However, you can’t go wrong with a bunch of silvery jewelry in your ears.
25. Close-up of an industrial piercing
The industrial piercing is also called the Scaffold piercing. It consists in 2 regular holes in the cartilage that are connected by a long jewel. It is recommended for both holes to be done in the same piercing session.
26. The bling bling jewelry
This type of piercing was trendy a few years ago and it is still appreciated by many. Men usually get a standard lobe piercing and wear a blink bling jewel.
27. Meet the fake plug
This guy is wearing a fake plug. How do I know this? If his ear was really stretched, the cone wouldn’t look like it’s placed on his earlobe. It would actually go through his earlobe. Anyway, it looks good and him and the commitment factor is low.
28. Neat looking ear piercings
A guy in a suit should be careful about how his piercings look since he must maintain a certain image. The one in the picture found a neat arrangement that isn’t really office or corporate, but it’s acceptable.
29. Daith and cartilage additions to an older woman’s ear
Piercings are for everybody. I don’t think that age is a factor when it comes to wearing jewelry anywhere you want. This lady is obviously older, but her daith piercing is really pretty and why not, inspiring! Everything about her piercings is stylish and tasteful!
30. Flowers, dots and a cross for a hippie spirit
As soon as the holes in your ears are healed, you can change the jewelry as often as you please! This girl’s style is hippie, summer-ish and somewhat feminine.
31. Moon, pearl, cross and ring
Symbols are part of our lives and they can be found in any shape and size. If accessorizing is your passion, then you’ll find all sorts of symbols as earrings. The only challenge you’ll face will be about how to combine them in order to look cool.
32. The master and its minions
Due to the shape of the earlobe, you can wear large jewels on it. As you can see in the picture above, you can go for a round accessory and keep the thinner rings for narrower parts.
33. Industrial and daith looking beautifully together
If you properly take care of your piercings, they will look like this! The skin will not be inflamed or red. I envy her creativity and choice in accessories! She could’ve worn more rings, but she left the most common ones out.
34. Double daith and a stretched lobe
If you are tired of common types of piercings, you can follow this example. A woman got double daith piercings and she stretched her lobe a lot as well! Her look is original and she is probably really satisfied with the result.
35. Fake spiral as part of a graduate design
Those accessories shaped like spirals are actually meant for stretching the earlobe. However, since the request was high, manufacturers came up with a design that only required a normal hole in the lobe to wear. I think they’re okay to wear for diversity.
36. Transverse lobe piercings
This girl got not one, but 2 transverse lobe piercings. She opted for 2 barbells with shiny, golden ends scattered with stones. I admire her courage since transverse lobe piercings don’t heal very fast and they must be washed twice per day until they are completely healed.
37. Small gauge flesh tunnel and black tragus accessory
Guys tend to have less ear piercings than girls. However, when they do, they look masculine thanks to size, shape and color. This dude went for black accessories to obtain a rugged look.
38. Ear studs matching a Seahorse
The Seahorse you see behind her ear is glued there. What’s interesting is how she matched her ear studs with it.
39. Conch piercing on an alternative dude
This dude’s conch piercing is really cool! He didn’t choose a normal jewel for this type of piercing, but a black triangle. I think it’s a great choice for his overall style and that is original enough to be taken as an example. However, I’m sure he waited for his hole to heal before he wore the triangle. The aftercare stage is very important.
40. Masculine conch and earlobe piercings
Men tend to pick thick jewelry when they decorate their bodies. This guy chose 2 types of piercings; one more uncommon than the other. I like the end result because I think it suits him.
41. Bling in both ears
The “bling bling” types of ear studs look good in both ears as well, not only in one, although that was the initial trend. He can always alternate between accessories, so I think he made a good choice.
42. Ornamental piercings all over the ear
Okay, maybe she didn’t pierce all the possible spots of her ear, but she did scattered the rings nicely. Each earring is beautifully decorated, fact which highlights her personality and femininity too.
43. A simple earring in the tragus
Simplicity is also loveable and this picture is the proof of that. A simple earring in the tragus looks exceptionally good and not plain at all. She doesn’t have any other piercings, so she must’ve really wanted this one.
44. Tragus stud and other cute studs
This is an ear studs enthusiast! I don’t find ear studs to be the most comfortable types of accessories. However, I must admit they look good on her and she has tastefully chosen each one of them.
45. Carefully chosen jewelry looks pompous
When you look at this woman’s ear, you might get the impression that she has lots of holes that are made in unusual places. However, she just did a wonderful job in choosing the jewelry and has, in fact, only normal piercings.
46. Fake or not fake?
This auricle piercing looks fake to me. It looks attached to the ear. I might be wrong, but it really doesn’t matter. The standard lobe piercing is real, though.
47. Ornate the ear with armor
Without wanting to be mean, this girl’s ear accessories look like some sort of armor. That could be really cool if that’s the effect she was going for. Her accessories are way too big and that’s why they look like they’re shielding the ear. Is this a look you’d try?
48. An oversized safety pin
Earrings under the shape of safety pins aren’t new. I’m sure you’ve seen these before or even own one. When they are oversized, the impact on the viewer is stronger even though she put it through a normal earlobe hole.
49. Double golden helix piercings
The helix piercing first appeared in the ’90s. Those teenagers who were attracted to piercings have tried it immediately. It was a mark of rebellion and not everyone could have one. It’s said this type of piercing hurts a bunch and it takes about a year to heal.
50. A triangular flesh tunnel
After you finish looking at his face piercings, you’ll notice that he has a triangular flesh tunnel in his right ear. He is also sporting a standard piercing in his other ear. He looks pretty awesome, doesn’t he?
51. Create an optical illusion
When you wear such jewel, no one can tell how many holes you really have in your ear. It might be one or there might be more. I think this is like an ear stud, but with a long side.
52. Stretched lobe and other tiny holes
This girl is enthusiastic about huge accessories. Look at her ring and at her stretched lobe! Oversized accessories aren’t only meant to attract attention or make a statement. They can simply be preferred over the small ones.
53. Triangles and more triangles
It seems that this piercing style is trendy right now! Do you remember the black triangle we saw before? It was placed in the same ear spot. A conch piercing, it looks kind of rad on this guy!
54. Helix or forward helix in the shape of a heart
I have always wondered how you open and close those heart shaped earrings. I still have no idea, but at least now I know how great it looks as a forward helix piercing! It is called a forward helix piercing because it is placed on the opposite side of the ear compared with the simple helix piercing.
55. A classical daith piercing
If you want a piercing like this, all you have to do is find a reputable piercing shop and ask for a daith piercing. They will be impressed you know how it’s called and they’ll befriend you immediately. Friends get discounts, so this should help you out!
56. A daring frog
What this woman has on her ear cartilage is not a piercing. The frog is a piece of jewelry that is meant to stick to the ear without going through a hole. You can wear one alike if you are afraid of the pain.
57. Pac Man doing its thing as ear stud
This is what it means to be a piecing lover and have a sense of humor. This chick created an ear studs row that looks like Pac Man in action. Loveable!
58. Fresh snug and tragus piercings
For you not to be scared of how your ear will look right after getting pierced, you should take a look at the picture above. It shows inflamed, bloody and reddened portions that are the same for everyone.
59. A mighty black axe
By now you should be used with every type of piercing, so the only new thing about this picture would be the axe. If you look hard enough, you’ll find earrings in any shape and size.
60. Helix with a hanging leaf
Besides the gradual piercings, the helix with the hanging leaf completes the image of a romantic-looking lady.
61. The conch with a star
I guess triangles are not the only ones that look great as conch piercings. This medium sized star is cool too!
62. Equally stretched ear lobes
Symmetry is not something you see often when it comes to ear piercings. However, this guy has stretched his ear lobes equally and now he is enjoying the results! He wears black jewelry, probably made of plastic due to weight concerns.
Since pricing might be among your concerns, you should expect to pay a minimum of $15 for a standard lobe piercing at reputable piercings parlors. If you want something fancier, prices go just a little up for a cartilage piercing and even higher for styles like helix, rook, snug and daith. Those would cost you around $25 without jewelry. Industrial and orbital piercings cost around $40. The aftercare isn’t complicated at all, but it might require a long time in case of cartilage piercings, up to 1 year. Antibacterial soap, water and hydrogen peroxide are all you need for piercing care.
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