What are huggie earrings and why are they nice?

Huggie earrings save time, are comfortable and can be slept in. Basically this is the blog post. But I’m a talkative girl and I have more to say.

No more earring problems

Hair can get caught on the back of your earring.

Do you have long hair? Has your hair ever been wrapped around the post of your earring? Knotted around the back of your ear? This is a nightmare that I’ve been telling you about for years. This is especially problematic if you have fine hair. It defies gravity and locks onto your earring back and post and can result in a little hair pulling before taking your earrings off.

Huggies don’t use the back of earring

The original Huggie earrings hugged the earlobe, hence the name

Some wonderful jewelry designers who knew how much women love hoop earrings came up with brilliant ideas. They made a hoop ring with a hinge on the bottom. The post of the hoop is locked to the back of the hoop and closes the circle when the earring is clicked shut. Since no straps are required and the earring itself clings to the post, a one-of-a-kind earring was born.

The original huggie earrings were quite small and literally hugged the earlobe. These earrings were so popular that the next step was to make bigger ones.

Huggies look more seamless on your ear than most hoop earrings

Normal tires on the left, hinge on top. Huggies on the right, hinge down

Most hoops have a visible hinge in the front where your ear hole is located, which can detract from a hoop’s pretty and clean look. With smaller hoop earrings in particular, the way the earring connects to your earlobe affects the beauty of the entire look.

Since the hinge area is at the bottom, a huggie provides a clean line from the earring to the lobes.

Huggies offer more chic looks

Etruscan style huggie earrings with emeralds. I loved doing these.

Realizing how comfortable Huggies were, I started wearing my mail earrings less. The jewelers who make Huggies got the message and got very creative. They realized that we really wanted the hinge and didn’t want to play around with the straps. But we still wanted decisions and luckily we made them.

Phone friendly huggies

Don’t let your earrings prick you when you are on the phone

Do you wear post-back earrings? Have you ever let yourself be stabbed in the neck by your contribution? I bled, and once did, when I got a very big hug at a wedding. I think it was about drinking. I now always wear my huggie earrings to weddings.

Grabbing your phone and leaning it against your shoulder while multitasking won’t hurt wearing your huggies. Your chiropractor will still be your best friend if you do, but at least you won’t get stuck in the business.

Read about other phone-friendly earring styles.

Sleep in huggies

I always recommend not wearing earrings in bed. But let’s be real Some of us do. Mmm, maybe I’ll do it. Huggies will never bump you. So if you catch me sleeping in earrings, it’s always in my hugs.

Customize Your Huggie Posts

You may sometimes find that one or the other of your hugs doesn’t close properly. If you are in a rush and may be pressing the back of the huggies down too hard on the post, it could result in it being out of alignment. You should be able to feel or hear the click when your huggie snaps onto the post. I feel for it when I put them on. If you don’t feel like it is closing up, don’t wear them until you’ve adjusted them.

I received calls to customize Huggies and thought it would be a good idea to share how to customize them at home. Here is my video on how to customize your huggie earrings.

Steps to Customize Your Huggie Posts

1) Pull out needle-nose pliers.

2) Note where your huggie post is notched. Learn which way it snaps into the back of the earring.

3) Slowly close your hug in front of you and see if the notch is too low to make contact with the back of the earring.

4) Grasp the post with your needle-nose pliers. If you want to avoid leaving tiny marks on the pliers, place a small strip of fabric on the post.

5) Grasp the front of your Huggie between your fingers.

6) Grasp the post with your needle-nose pliers.

7) Slowly and carefully lift the post a little.

8) Test the latch to see if it clicks now.

9) Repeat the process until the notch snaps properly into the back of the huggie earring.

It may take a few tries before the setting is just right.

Always use slow and gentle movements so as not to break the post.

Fancy and bespoke huggies

Made to measure huggies

I just wanted an excuse to show you another great pair of earrings. My client wanted blue diamonds and loves hand engraving. Oh yes, she loves huggies. I loved making these so it was difficult to deliver!

Your personal jeweler,
Calla