There are many articles dealing with the subject of aging, and aging well vs. aging ‘badly’ (which I mostly take to mean as ‘griping about it’.) I’ve written a few myself, because it’s just hard to pass through your 50’s and 60’s without bemoaning just a little bit about all the changes that are foisted on you when you really weren’t ready (because in our minds, of course, we’re still rockin’ our 40’s!) Things like hot flashes, sagging knees, random hair that appears out of nowhere, underarms that used to be totally toned and now don’t respond so well to exercise, sales clerks that call you ‘sweetie’… see what I mean! I don’t mean to veer into a rant, so I’ll back off…a little.
However, there is an area that’s affected me in the aging process that I really don’t see many articles on, so I thought I’d touch on it just in case you’ve experienced it as well. It’s the Earlobe Situation, specifically the elongated earlobe situation. To be fair, this started happening to me in my late 40’s, due primarily to having a telephone receiver virtually attached to my ear during my working hours as a pharmaceutical marketer in the ’90’s. This phone exerted its pressure day after day on my earlobe (with pierced earring in place.) It would probably have not happened had I been born 30 years earlier because I would have been wearing clip-on earrings and would have taken off that earring before answering the phone.
The result of this daily pressure was an elongated earlobe, specifically an elongated pierced ear hole. It got so bad that I actually had the hole stitched shut; when it finally healed fully (about 6 months later), I had it re-pierced. From that point onward, I selected my earrings selectively, only wearing those that were very lightweight. As time as progressed however, I have found that the hole again wants to lengthen. So if you can even remotely relate to this (if you’re still reading I’m guessing that you can), here are my recommendations:
- Wear only studs. They won’t have any downward drag on your ear piercing or the lobe itself. Besides…studs!
- Use round, flat earring backs. They’re very cheap (I found these on Amazon) and they hold the earring firmly in place against your earlobe, so the earring won’t pull forward so badly.
- Wear your hair longer and don’t worry about earrings.
- Wear clip-ons. They aren’t as uncomfortable as they used to be (i.e. not that painful, blood-stopping grip on your lobes they used to have.)
Of course, in the grand scheme of things, the issues of aging and, specifically, the earlobe situation, aren’t that big of a deal. But just in case it’s been bothering you a teensy bit, I hope these tips will be of help.
Thanks for reading,
Adena
