Body Piercing: the New Trend in Fashion

 In our fashion world today, many people, especially the youth tend to go out of the ordinary just to get that fashionable look. Looking at pictures, videos and even reading about the “good old days” types of fashion, it is quite on a different note from what we refer to as fashion these days. Piercing today has taken different forms ranging from nose, tongue, ears, eyes and any part of the body that one feels comfortable with. In all these, I wonder if piercing the body other than the ear is actually fashionable.

Ranging from clothes, shoes, hairdo and ear piercing, the African old ways are totally different to that of the present day. Ear piercing for earrings has always been part of the traditional adornment of women in Africa and other parts of the world. But the new trend in fashion has seen men take over ear piercing.

Even though it is not in the tradition of Africans for men to pierce their ears, these days it is very common to find among a lot of men on the streets with pierced ears, all in the name of fashion.

Usually the procedure of ear piercing or any kind is minimal and very painful for tongue and other parts of the body, therefore some people prefer being given anaesthesia.   

The Risk Factor of ear Piercing:   We all know that at any point where the skin is open or broken, there tends to be a risk of infection. This is because once the skin is open; it is vulnerable to bacterial or other kinds of infection. Therefore, sterile techniques are mostly used to prevent this from happening. After piercing a part of the body, allergies can occur; so medical grade materials are always required to prevent allergies. It is also always advised to clean your ears, or the part of the body to be pierced, with an antiseptic in order to prevent it from getting infected.

 

Piercing is quite fashionable, at least to an extent, but when it is wrongly done, or when it is not properly taken care of  complications can set in.

 In our society today a lot of people prefer piercing several parts of their body in the name of fashion. Personally, I would prefer just piercing only my ears. I can’t quite stand the idea of having holes in all parts of my body. I think that pierced ear lobes for earrings are enough fashion for me!  

By Rifkatu Yusuf