Last Year's Biggest Piercing Trends Are Getting a Redo in 2021, According to a Pro

Society has come a long way since the free ear piercings we'd get at the mall, and naturally, the piercing trends that followed have evolved just as much. From the jewelry to the placement, these days, this form of body art is getting a lot more fashionable. Last year, pros predicted the biggest trends would be all about asymmetry and clusters, but many parlors were closed across the country for a large chunk of 2020 amid the pandemic. Now, it seems many piercing trends are getting a second wind in 2021 — and people are wasting no time participating in them.

"When I was allowed to open up for a few months, people were really into doing more rather than less," veteran celebrity piercer and Body Electric Tattoo owner Brian Keith Thompson told POPSUGAR. According to Thompson, people have been going all out with their piercings as of late, since they didn't have the chance to last year. "They took the guard rails off and were like, 'You know what, let's just do all the piercings that I wanted to do.'"

Still, where people are getting pierced is shifting slightly, with the emphasis on areas you can see while wearing a face mask. "We're definitely going to see more ear piercings, and less nostril and septum," he said. "Because of health regulations and mask mandates, I myself won't pierce nostrils or septum right now because it's not appropriate and the health department says that it's against regulations."

In case you're in need of some piercing ideas ahead of your next trip to the parlor, we asked Thompson to break down some of the year's ear-piercing trends he predicts will be huge in 2021.