You Can Now Get A Hand Piercing Instead Of A Wedding Ring

Loved-up couples are now getting hand piercings to celebrate their love (and marriage) rather than go down the traditional wedding ring format.

Many couples are now eschewing the old-ring-on-the-finger vibe for something a little more invasive, which involves piercing the skin. It's basically like an earring, but for some reason we don't find putting metal through our ears disgusting in the same way. Go figure.

The process is fairly painless (unless you like that kind of thing) but because we use our hands so much in day-to-day life, it takes a full year for it to heal.

As the video shows, there are a number of different varieties, including a basic 'diamond' stud, a finger-hugging ring and little dots that look a bit like ellipses.

Cultura Colectiva

Though body piercings as a replacement might be a relatively new concept, humans have been poking holes into their bodies since time immemorial, for all sorts of reasons.

Lads from the Gupta Empire of Ancient India used to pierce their foreskin (ouch) to enhance sexual pleasure (lovely), whereas Dayak tribesmen of Bornoe passed a shard of bone through their glans (the bellend, to use more scientific terminology) to diminish sexual activity. 'Ouch' to both and 'not lovely' to the power of infinity.

Body piercing artists noted a massive spike in business in the aftermath of Janet Jackson's famous wardrobe malfunction in 2004, when her nipple was exposed after Justin Timberlake didn't know how to not expose her nipple somehow.

Cultura Colectiva

So, if you're planning your nuptials any time soon and worried about wearing a band of gold or silver metal around one of your fingers (the ring finger, presumably), you have a ready-made alternative there for you.

As long as you're willing to wait a year for your skin to heal, that is.

I know what you're thinking: It's wrong, it's wrong, it's wrong. But what do we know? Initially, I thought it was very strange (I still do, actually) but then I thought: "This is what it was probably like when people saw Elvis shaking his hips in the '50s." Which hasn't helped much, but there we go.

In any case, as a couple, it's something you can enjoy together: wedding, honeymoon/mini-moon if you're from London, first months of marital bliss, prolonged period of waiting for itchy, reddish skin to heal and return to relative normality.

Romantic.

Topics: WTF, Love, Interesting, marriage

Ronan O'Shea

Ronan J O'Shea is a freelance journalist from London who has written for titles including LADbible, Headspace, The Independent, National Geographic Traveller and New York Post. Contact him at [email protected].