New Yorkers are dropping thousands to style their ears: ‘I want each ear to have a different feel’
They got their ears pierced — and pierced holes in their pockets, too.
New Yorkers are dropping thousands on ear stylists to hole up their lobes and bedazzle their auditory areas with baubles specifically curated to complement the curvatures of their ears.
“I’ve probably spent around $4,500 on piercings. My most expensive piece was around $800,” J’nelle Agee, of Edgewater, NJ, told The Post. “I want each ear to have a different feel.”
Agee, 36, has three lower lobe piercings, plus one each in an upper lobe, a conch (the ear’s inner cup) and a daith (upper cartilage) — and said she’s only halfway to where she wants to be.
That’s why she sought out an ear stylist, pros who help trendsetters create the perfect “ear story” by arranging fine gems to match the wearer’s fashion sense, personality and ear anatomy.
“You can really design your ear how you want it,” Agee explained. “Each ear is unique.”
All ears
Ear piercing dates back to ancient times, but popular piercings in recent decades have gone beyond the lobes, including the tragus (pointed cartilage in front of the ear), daith, conch, helix (upper curve), forward helix (front section of upper curve) and rook (uppermost ridge of inner ear).
In the ear styling world, there isn’t an exact method for determining which type of ear suits a certain piercing better, though size, length and curves matter.
Ear stylists analyze each person’s auricle shape to select the ideal piercings, depending on one’s “ear-scape,” or its layout and size.
Since no two lobes are the same, nor does everyone have all structural ear features, that limits what jewelry they can wear, V Pellegrin, an ear stylist and piercer at Soho store Wildlike told The Post.
“It’s about the anatomy of your ear,” Pellegrin, 21, explained. “It’s not even like how big your ear is. Somebody could have an ear that is the same top-to-bottom length as yours and is going to have the anatomy for this piece, whereas your conch just curves a different way.”
At Wildlike, jewelry starts at $25 and can reach $1,695 for more elaborate designs, but that doesn’t include the price of piercing and styling, which runs between $50 and $150.
Although ear stylists want to ensure customers leave with a well-styled lobe, they aren’t afraid to reject requests.
During one of Danielle Meyers’ many visits to Wildlike, she wanted to pierce her helix, but ear stylists didn’t give her the green light.
“I have really tiny ears and [staffers] were like, ‘No, we can’t do that,'” Meyers, 29, told The Post. “But then they helped me pick out a really cool yin-yang earring to go in, like, my inner ear piercing to give me the same vibe that I was looking for.”
“This is a great alternative,” Meyers added. “I was so happy with the result.”
“We try to fit pieces to where they would work best on their ear, or find pieces that would match that vibe and would also work well with whatever piercings they already have,” Pellegrin said.
Stylists at Wildlike — “Wicked” actress Cynthia Erivo and Broadway star Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer have had their ears styled by specialists at the glam studio — are versed in minimalist looks with one piercing or maximalist with over twenty gold hoops.
For the more complex arrangements, stylists use marking mechanisms and calipers to measure the distance between piercings to prevent pierced holes from merging into one — and to see how it will “sit in your ear.”
“If you already have three lobe piercings and we want to make sure that fourth one is perfect… we’re going to make sure that whatever jewelry you put in there fits,” Pellegrin noted.
Of course, piercings are forever, so stylists give a rough idea of the final product by holding up earrings against the ear frame with a tweezer during style sessions.
And comfort is key, too. There could be safety issues if jewelry presses against the skin, which can cause “pressure and irritation.”
No playing by ear
Pellegrin said ear styling is “really just picking out the perfect jewelry,” but also “setting for future ear projects.”
“People can bring in that inspirational photo and already have piercings that they want,” Pellegrin said. “Or it’s planning out for that next piercing.”
Agee often comes into the storefront curious about how her ears can be restyled next.
“I’ll always go into the store and be, like, ‘You know, what about this? Or can I do this? Or what will this, what will this look like?'” she added. “The options of having this really beautiful jewelry and really being able to show off your individuality is what I love.”
Sure, anyone can go get a piercing or add a new bauble on a whim, but Jamie Nayor, founder and CEO of “The Ear Stylist by Jo Nayor,” said it takes a seasoned pro to create the best ear story.
“What’s most important to me is the flow of the ear,” the self-proclaimed Chief Ear Officer told The Post. “It really depends on the shape of someone’s ear [and] spacing between their current piercings. We look at if someone’s looking to add a new hole or whether they have enough space or if it will be crowded.”
Nayor views ears as a “blank canvas where people can express themselves and their personal styles through their earrings.”
“I play with texture and I like a little bit of contrast,” she explained. “I always love something hanging toward the top of my second-to-last piercing. I like to create some length with the earrings. And I always have on an ear cuff. That’s sort of my signature.”
Aside from matching piercings with one’s personality, stylists also offer ways to coordinate jewelry with your wardrobe.
“Somebody came in for their wedding recently and they had pearls in their veil, so they wanted to have pearls on their ears as well,” Shawna Athy, 41, Wildlike’s director of stores, told The Post.
“It’s been fun to go and actually use the styling services to make it match really well and just look nicer,” said Meyers, who has 11 piercings.
“I’ve probably spent, in total, $2,500 over the years on ear styling, and the most I’ve spent on jewelry would be $500,” the Brooklynite confessed.
“It was a new concept to me,” Agee added. “The experience from the first time that I was there kind of got me hooked.”
