Do you love wearing clip-on earrings but hate how they always seem to hurt your ears?
Well, we have some good news for you!
There are a few simple tricks that you can use to make them more comfortable.
You may admire the outlandish styles of earrings that your mom or grandma wore in years gone by. Most of them were either screw on or clip-on.
Those earrings had some pretty good weight to them whether they were made of real gold or made of other composite costume jewelry materials.
Chances are that they had a lot of sparkly synthetic gemstones, crystals and other agate stones which made them even heavier.
In this post, we’ll share how to make clip-on earrings not hurt your ears.
We’ll also provide some tips on how to determine if you should take your earrings into a jewelry store for a better look at the problem.
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What Causes Clip-On Earrings To Hurt?
When force meets with weight, you can be certain that there will be consequences.
Clip-on earrings were made for ears that either never were pierced, ears that cannot tolerate metals of any kind in the holes, or ears that had piercings that simply closed over years due to infections or lack of use.
Rather than run out and get new piercings and go through months of healing and/or infections, some women will look for a way that will enable them to wear fashionable earrings instead.
While clip on earrings seem to be the solution, these can really start to hurt within just an hour if they are not a proper fit.
Here are some of the issues that cause a pair of clip-on earrings to hurt:
Earlobes Are Thick
Sometimes a woman has super thick earlobes and the tension of standard earring clips are simply too tightly set.
When wearing earrings that are too tight, you are cutting into your blood circulation with metal that is concentrated in one area of the earlobe, and it is causing a high degree of pressure.
Something has got to give in order to remedy this situation.
Earlobes Are Too Thin
It stands to reason that if your earlobes are too thin, that the standard clip on earrings would fall off right?
Especially if they are heavy. But this may not be the case.
It may be that the earring hinges are set tight enough to stay on, but because your earlobes are so thin, the pressure of the metal against your thin lobes causes them to lose circulation and throb.
There is not enough natural flesh mixed with fat to pad the effect of the metal clip.
Could this be a reason to eat more cake?! We sure hope so!
Sharp Metal/Bad Angle
So lets say that you have the perfect earlobe…not too thick, not too thin, and also plenty of room for earring clips.
If a pair of clip-on earrings were designed with an angle that digs into the lobe rather than exerting pressure at a well distributed angle, it will hurt within 30 minutes.
Add to that if the earrings were made with rather thin or sharp edges where they meet the flesh of the lobe and you have a problem.
Earlobes Are Too Small
If you have earlobes that hardly have any flesh and yet are trying to wear clip-on earrings, what are the earrings going to use to hold on to?
You need a certain amount of flesh for wearing this style of pierce-less earrings, otherwise, you may want to try screw-ons instead, which have a smaller “footprint”.
Small earlobes fall into the “special needs” category because the typical clips that are attached to clip-on earrings would be longer and larger than the entire earlobe, and would end up covering the entry to the ear canal.
Earlobes that are sparse are usually quite thin too, so a different way for attaching would be more in order.
Clips Are Defective or Worn Out
Sometimes in the case of vintage or antique earrings, the clip hinge becomes worn out and fails on one or both of the earrings.
To compensate for this, people will often try to bend or tighten the entire structure of the clip rather than just to take it to a jewelry store for adjusting the hinge.
Mechanisms made of metal do get worn out and can begin to fail and will start loosening and falling off.
A trip to your jewelry store can determine the problem as well as the best solution.
How To Make Clip-On Earrings Not Hurt
Here we have some suggestions for fixing the reasons that your clip-on earrings are causing you pain.
In addition to that, you will find that these suggestions will also alleviate the problem of earrings that have a tendency for falling off:
Make Adjustments
Check to see if both earrings are causing the problem.
Sometimes one earring has a hinge that is set too tight and can be taken to the nearest jewelry store to be tweaked.
Usually, they will be happy to whip out their tools and make adjustments right on the spot for you.
Use Clip-on Sleeves
Check to see if the earring clips have sharp metal and also if they are positioned at an unnatural angle that causes them to dig into your ear lobes rather than cling to them.
If you notice that they are, take a pair of pliers and gently bend them a little to straighten up that unnatural angle so the earrings can be dispersed more flat and evenly on your earlobes rather than poking holes in them.
If the problem is not so much the angle, but the sharp metal, go online and find clip-on earring sleeves. There are many different kinds of pads online that can deal with everything from sharp metal, to earrings that slip off.
Not only do they have pads for keeping the earrings from slipping off or hurting, they have “sleeves” that slip over the metal clips.
The types of sleeves available are:
- Silicone rubber. When it comes to finding a way to make clip-on earrings less likely to hurt or fall off, silicone rubber sleeves are a great option. They are soft, pliable, and fit snugly over the metal clips of the earrings, preventing them from digging into your skin or slipping off.
- Foam. Foam sleeves are another good option for making clip-on earrings more comfortable to wear. They are soft and cushiony, and will help to prevent the earrings from digging into your skin.
- Plastic. If you are looking for a more durable option, plastic sleeves may be the way to go. They will not compress or flatten like foam or silicone rubber, so they will provide a more firm grip on the earrings. However, they may not be as comfortable to wear for long periods of time.
- Acrylic. Acrylic sleeves are a good middle ground between plastic and foam. They are soft and pliable, but will still provide a firm grip on the earrings.
Replace With Screw-On
Consider having the clips traded out for screw ons.
If you have some gold, silver or platinum earrings that have clips that cannot be adjusted to make them hold their place on your earlobes while not putting an inordinate amount of pressure and causing pain, consider a different type of attachment.
Screw-on earrings allow you to adjust the amount of pressure that is just right rather than allowing the hinge to have its way.
You can also see if your earrings may be a candidate for having them attached with a magnet instead!
Sometimes the clips can be removed and magnets can be soldered onto the earring back, and then you would use another magnet to keep it in place.
While this may not be the optimal solution for thick earlobes, it usually works great for thin to normal ones.
Final Thoughts
There is no reason why your clip-on earrings should sit in your jewelry box unworn or removed after only a few hours due to pain or falling off.
You can have it both ways.
You can adjust the back or have a jewelry store do it, or you can buy the appropriate pads to make them so much more comfortable and also more secure. Failing those things, you can change them out for a different attachment altogether.
Go ahead and browse to see what is out there online.
No need to run around town, you can shop online and find what you effectively need for a very reasonable price.