Does your teen want to get their lip pierced? Or do they want to sport a series of ear hoops down the edge of the ear? As an adult, you would be concerned that the desire is just a fad and will ruin their appearance. This article will focus on a way to allow your teens to express themselves without actually obtaining a body piercing.
In the world of teenagers, self expression and individuality are key factors to approaching adulthood. Allowing a teen to express themselves in different ways is not encouraging a behavior as much as it becomes a method to help them rule out some forms of behavioral expression. Teenagers are not property. They are people maturing into adults and as such, they need to be taken seriously no matter how outrageous their idea may seem.
When your teenager comes to you wanting to get a lip or body piercing, discuss the idea. You will want to talk about such factors as the permanency of the lip hole, the risk of infection, and the affect this piercing will have on family and friends as well as on the general public. Next, you should expect that your teen will still want to go through with the piercing.
The alternative to a permanent body or lip piercing that may make you and your teen happy is the seamless hoop. Before you say no, consider the option. For less than $20, the store, Hot Topic, sells a ring called a morbid metal seamless hoop. This hoop will come in several different gauges or strengths. The hoop will also come in a variety of colors from silver to pink to black. The hoop works by having an open seam. To wear it on the lip or the ear, the wearer simply pulls the ring apart slightly and places it on the lip or the edge of the ear. The hoop holds quite nicely and allows your teen to appear to have a piercing when they do not.
The advantages of the lip or ear hoop is the ability to move the ring to different places to experiment with appearance and affect, the ability to remove the ring(s) to avoid negative reaction, the lack of an actual piercing or hole, no swelling, and no risk of infection. Morbid metal seamless rings also do not leave scars. The advantages are great considering that a real body piercing is permanent, swells for approximately 2 weeks and a nasty infection can leave scars as well as be medically costly. The lip ring may also help your teenager outgrow the fad before they are old enough to legally obtain the body piercing.
The true objective is to allow your teen self expression and individuality without actually tolerating a lip or body piercing. Another idea is to purchase the lip rings for yourself and wear them for your teen. Be sure to go out into public and allow your teen to see the effect your piercing will have on the world.
 | The impact of the media influence on body image is strong, especially for teen girls and women. However, almost everyone feels pressure from the media to have a specific body type. |
 | The causes of body dysmorphic disorder range from biochemical to societal. Body dysmorphic disorder is characterized by an unnatural obsession with feeling ugly, being ashamed of your personal appearance and imagining you have a deformity without one being present. |
 | A child learns to have a positive body image through love and praise from a supportive family. She is more likely to have a good body image if her parents have confirmed that they are proud of her decisions. |
Some people develop a distorted body image when their self-perception significantly differs from reality. We compare ourselves to others, particularly the media's portrayal of normal, which is, in itself, a distorted vision of a healthy body image. |
Why are people self-conscious? The answer to that question often involves an overactive media, which caters to the rich and famous, who can afford to fix any of the imperfections they're born with. |
