Now ear this: Earring-backing photo sparks debate on Twitter
Should you wear earrings with or without the disc? Without, says @Chelsea_Smithh. With, say experts
One seemingly innocuous photo whipped the Twitterverse into a frenzy this week, leaving earpierced people everywhere asking: “Am I wearing my earrings wrong?”
The offending tweet, posted online Saturday by user @Chelsea_Smithh, showed two photos side-by-side. In the first, Smith holds an earring backing consisting of a clear plastic disk surrounding a small gold-col- oured metal piece. It is intact and ready for use with the studded earring. In the second, the disk is removed, popped off from its secure centre.
“After my nineteen years of living i (sic) have now realized that you are supposed to take the plastic part off,” Smith wrote, blowing the minds of earring-wearers worldwide.
Responses online varied from shock and awe to (presumably mock) vitriol. “OMG I DIDNT KNOW,” wrote one Twitter user.
“Chelsea you have ruined so many ear- rings with one tweet,” wrote another.
“Almost 40 thousand people will have saggy earlobes now Chelsea,” wrote a third.
By Thursday, the post had received more than 45,000 retweets.
But some Toronto jewelry retailers are confused over the debate — sure you can remove the plastic backing, but why would you? It serves a purpose, they say.
“Generally, those are used to help a heavier earring sit properly on the ear (to give it) a little support,” said Amelia Rebelo, a salesperson at Made You Look jew- elry store in Parkdale. “You’re supposed to leave those on.” Rebelo said the plastic disk helps stop earlobes from flopping inward when users sport bigger button-style earrings. It can also help keep the earring intact for people who have stretched holes in their ears, she said.
While the backing might look unsightly on small earlobes, a wearer who wants the plastic gone should just switch it for another backing, she said.
“It’s more work to try to remove that than to swap it,” Rebelo said.
Brittany Hopkins, owner of Anice Jewellery in Kensington Market and on Ossington Ave. said the plastic disk is typically used for larger earrings, like those popular in the ’80s — but that it’s not necessary for smaller studs, like the one pictured in Smith’s photo. “Who knows why they put that backing on there. There’s no sense to it,” Hopkins said.
While Anice previously sold earrings with the disk-style backing, they now use rubber backings, which are less likely to fall off the earring post, she said.
Hopkins said she was initially amused by the Twitter post, which she heard about when a Star reporter called, but she now “totally” gets why people are freaking out over it.
“It’s like, well, if I didn’t need to have this big plastic thing on all these years, why the heck do they have it on?” she said.
“This just shows you what the industry can do to you. That there’s a product out there that everyone uses and you don’t question it. You just wear it.”