Wonder how it’s possible for athletes to keep their earrings on for all the hours they are on track without falling off or getting in the way?
If you are an athlete or have a child who is an athlete but loves their earrings and not sure about what you could do to stop the earrings from getting lost or causing harm, you may have to make tape your friend.
The earrings will be on only during soccer training but not during competitive games, though.
To ensure that the training goes on smoothly, we’ll share some tips on how to tape the earrings for sports in the safest way possible.
So, let’s get into it.
5 Actionable Tips For Taping Earrings For Sports
These are important tips that will guide you when it comes to competitive and non-competitive games. For the non-competitive games, you’d have to tape the earrings using a small piece of the plastic band; and for the competitive games, you’d have to put the earrings away in the locker room.
Here are important steps to follow when taping the earrings for sports
1Step 1- Getting the waterproof plastic band-aid
To tape the earrings for sports, the most important thing you need to get is a bandaid made of actual plastic because it is waterproof.
This is the ideal solution when playing soccer, football, or basketball because there is a lot of sweating in these sports.
The good news is that the best of these plastic band-aids will stay on for a long time, even when you sweat. The best part is that these plastic band-aids are affordable, and they will last long.
Step 2 – Cut the tape in the right size.
Now that you know what Bandaid to use and have ordered one, use the right-sized scissors to ensure that the tape for the earrings is the right size, especially when playing. The band-aid should cover +/- 0.5m of the ear.
You should also know that you will never come across a tape for the ears that would cover the entire ear, and also, getting the right size of the tape will ensure that the earrings stay on securely. You only need to make sure that the size of the earrings covers the earrings from the back and the front.
Step 3 – Taping the earring using the band-aid.
This is a simpler step, and you only need to gently and simply tape the ear/ earring using the band-aid. This band-aid should cover at least 0.5cm of your ear from either side. And you have to make sure that you do it correctly.
When folding the band-aid over the piercing, you’d want to make sure that the tape makes contact with the surrounding skin by just a few millimeters, but there should be no sticky parts that stick on the actual piercing because the tape would make it impossible or just too painful and dangerous to remove the tape later. So, while the tape sticks to the surrounding skin, it shouldn’t be on the piercing itself.
Now, go out and have fun!
Step 4 – Remove/ Put down the Band-aid
After the game, you should remove the plastic band-aid from your ears gently. Despite the glue, the removal process is very simple, especially if you sweat a lot because the earrings will have gotten wet, and the band-aid is easily removed.
Even so, you shouldn’t remove the band-aid too aggressively or pull it off too fast because the ear lobe is very delicate, and you can easily damage the ear or rip it apart if you pull off the band-aid too fast. This is especially true because the band-aid is very sticky, and it can stick to your earring easily.
Step 5 – Use alcohol to clean your earrings.
This is an important step, especially if you haven’t been wearing earrings for a long time. New ear piercings, even the ones that look healed, are at high risk of inflammation and a breeding ground with bacteria.
To prevent inflammation and to kill any bacteria that may have accumulated in the ear over time, you’d want to clean the earrings thoroughly using rubbing alcohol. In the absence of alcohol, you may use prep alcohol pads.
And if the alcohol you have is in spray form, use cotton swabs to spray alcohol on them, then use the swabs to clean the earrings. You should also use the pad or cotton with alcohol to gently rub on or clean the ear around the piercing area.
Other important tips and tricks on taping earrings for sports
- Let the piercing heal properly
If you are planning to get the earrings taped on, we recommend letting the piercing heal very well. Don’t tape over the piercing before it heals. So, follow the recommended care tips.
The initial 6 weeks for healing works well for most ear lobe piercings, but in some cases, healing takes months. Just make sure that the piercing is healed properly before you tape it.
- Best earring cover options
Besides the plastic band-aid or athletic tape, you could also use small adhesive bandages, as long as the adhesive material is safe and proven to work.
Avoid any tape with a very strong hold because it may be too hard to remove, and also, you don’t want to have to yank it out. In other words, you should find the most flexible band-aids.
- If taping the earrings isn’t an option
Some coaches are against taping the earrings, and when this happens, especially with piercings that aren’t properly healed, it’s likely that you may end up with more damage.
And since you wouldn’t want that to happen, you should consider seeking help from the pediatrician for other options that would work better and safer.
- Are earrings allowed when playing soccer competitively?
The rules of competitive soccer are against wearing earrings or any other kinds of jewelry that would down the player, even the tape.
At the end of the day, wearing earrings in soccer or other kinds of training and competitive matches is considered a safety hazard, and not wearing the earrings is an important precautionary measure. So, in most cases, earrings and most other kinds of jewelry are banned in sports.
But when it comes to training and casual games, you could tape the earrings. Just use the recommended tape. You also need to avoid any contact that would result in or inflict serious injury.
- Wearing earring covers
In some sports, the coaches allow the athletes to wear their earring covers on the piercings, keeping them safe from getting caught and on their uniform while also eliminating the risk of harm, especially in contact sports. Covering also eliminates the distractions that the earrings may create.
Conclusion
If you are looking for simple remedies to ensure that your little soccer pro enjoys practice with their earrings on, we recommend investing in the best kind of tape for the earrings.
The plastic band-aids work great, they are flexible, and you will always have the right size earrings tape to secure the jewelry.
Just remember to be careful when removing the earring tape or covers because you don’t want to yank out the earrings or hurt the piercing area.
Also, clean the earrings and piercing hole thoroughly when you’re done.
Read more useful tips here or here!
Stephanie is a jewelry lover when she was a teenager. Her major was fashion design when she was in college. She is a jewelry designer at SOQ Jewelry and other design companies. Now she is also a writer for our website. She writes a lot of designs&brands posts with very actionable tips.