How to Reopen a Partially Closed Ear Piercing Hole

Earrings can be an important part of your style, especially since they express your personality. However, they're not always easy to deal with, especially when you're trying to jam one in through a partially closed hole. Fortunately, this article will teach you the steps to properly insert your earring through a partially closed hole.

Steps

Thoroughly wash your hands with soap and water. Make sure you completely rinse off all the suds. Dry your hands on a clean towel to prevent getting bacteria on your skin.
Using your fingers, rub your earlobes to give them more friction. Stretch them a little to cause the piercing holes to open up. To avoid sore lobes, refrain from rubbing too harshly.
Feel the back of your earlobe. You should feel a small knot where the piercing hole should be. It is nothing but a dead layer of skin clogging up the piercing hole. This means the ear is trying to heal and close up the hole.
- Note that the size of the knot will depend on how long you have gone without wearing earrings.
Grab a pair of earrings that have thin posts. Using rubbing alcohol and Q-tips, disinfect the earrings to eliminate any bacteria.
- Thick earring posts will not be able to fit through a slightly closed ear piercing hole.
Coat the earring post with a layer of Vaseline. This will help the earring slide more easily through the hole, resulting in little or no pain. Make sure you avoid getting Vaseline onto the front of the earring, where you'll be gripping it. Otherwise, it will be hard to get a firm grasp on the earring.
- Make sure you aren't allergic to Vaseline. Otherwise, this may result in an allergic reaction.
While looking in a mirror, slowly insert the earring through the front with one hand. Use your free hand to grip your earlobe. Lightly press your thumb against the back of the piercing hole, where the knot of dead skin cells is.
Wiggle your earring around in the piercing hole. You should be able to tell where the ear piercing hole once was; the area of skin will feel a little thinner than the rest of the lobe. Your thumb will also feel the tip of the earring post poking it through the thin layer of dead skin.
Once you've found the piercing hole, slowly twist the earring through. Since the piercing hole is partially open, the earring post should easily slide through the open part of the piercing. It may help to push your thumb a little harder against the back so that you will be able to tell when the piercing has popped through. Gently wiggle the post around if necessary.
- If you feel pain, stop and slowly insert the earring from a different angle. You may have hit the wrong area of skin.
Push the earring in all the way through once you've found the hole. Twist the earring around in the hole for a bit to help reopen it. Keep the earring in for a longer period of time to prevent the hole from closing again.