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Of the few things my corner of the internet unanimously agrees on, it’s this: Zayn Malik is probably the hottest man alive. Hotter, since he got a nose piercing—first in 2015, then again earlier this year. “omg thank you zayn, he did this for me,” reads one of many thirsty tweets about the singer. The current poster boy for men with nose piercings follows in the dashing footsteps of Tupac Shakur and Lenny Kravitz, the few male celebrities bold enough to get a nose piercing. But the risk (and pain, described as a sharp pinch) pays off. “Men with no nose piercing, what is stopping you from simply piercing your nose? get to it thanks,” reads another tweet with over 2,000 likes. I tap on the heart button. Luckily for me, India has historically celebrated bejewelled piercings as a form of body modification. “Jewellery was a marker of celebration, identity and status,” notes Bhavya Ramesh, founder of the eponymous jewellery brand. “Kings, warriors and dancers all adorned themselves.” It was only under the influence of the British Empire, she says, that jewellery and piercings began to be seen as feminine. “What we’re seeing now is a revival: people reconnecting with the roots of adornment as self-expression beyond gender.” In 1995, the first strains of this revival came from the unlikeliest of sources: Akshay Kumar, in a magazine photoshoot, pulling off a nose chain. Then Ranveer Singh followed in 2016. Aamir Khan’s 2017 nose stud—in addition to his pierced ears—only adds to what the internet fondly refers to as his ‘divorced lesbian’ look. Now, from social media’s favourite DILF Kanan Gill to director Bijoy Shetty, it feels like every cool guy is lining up to puncture their nostrils and septums. Shetty confesses he got his nose pierced seven years ago, at the age of 20, only because his sisters had too. “They were just badasses and people in my family were scared of them. I wanted to emulate that energy and feel more confident,” he shares. “Women are definitely still a majority but men have also started checking the option, especially post Covid,” says professional piercer and tattoo artist J’son D’Souza, who set up J’vaire Mumbai, a piercing and fine jewellery boutique. My group chat heartily supports this uptick, as do the many women who slide into my DMs when I put up an Instagram story asking to connect with men who have pierced noses. “Send him my way once you’re done with journalistic work,” a friend quips. I ask them: What makes men with nose piercings so irresistible? “It shows comfort in their own masculinity,” one replies on the group chat. “That they’re not afraid to be a little feminine,” another adds. In 2007, research led by psychologist David Perrett at the University of St Andrews proved that women perceive macho-looking men as less faithful, less warm and as potentially poor fathers. Instead, they prefer long-term relationships with men who have more feminine features. It figures that our most passionate crushing is saved for the expressive eyes of Dev Patel, Logan Lerman, Timothee Chalamet and of course, Shah Rukh Khan. Trends over the years have only reinforced this—from the era of the emo boy to the reign of the performative woke male who carries a tote bag, a Sylvia Plath poetry collection and probably (definitely) sports a nose piercing. “A nose piercing means he’s a soft boy? An ally? Would care about your period?” a third friend suggests, “I think it’s hot because it shows the man is capable of standing up to typical masculinity which means perhaps he’ll stand up for women’s rights” On that tweet asking what’s stopping men from getting their noses pierced, a popular response from a man reads, “Because I’m not gay.” Shetty finds that while most people admire his facial piercings, they also make him a target for harassment. “In public transport, I’ve had men approach me, touch me inappropriately, call me names. College was also difficult because random boys would say weirdly homophobic things,” he admits. “My family says I look like a cow because of my septum ring,” confesses 30-year-old Nikhil Poddar, an artist based in Bengaluru, “Sometimes older people in my village ask if I’m a girl because they’re only used to seeing women with septum piercings.” 22-year-old Delhi-based musician Farookh got one to dispute this very perception. “I’d wanted to get a nose piercing since 10th grade but my conservative Catholic school didn’t allow it,” he says. “But also, as someone who makes hip hop music, I wanted to challenge the ingrained idea of hypermasculinity that people often associate with this genre.” Of course, I reckon #notallmen can pull one off. But for some, the humble nose piercing has been life-changing. For sports commentator Pulasta Dhar, it was a nose piercing that sealed the deal with his then-Hinge match, now-wife Sakshi Rawte-Dhar. “She had two piercings on both sides of her nose, so when we matched on Hinge, my first message was something along the lines of ‘Btw, I have a nose piercing, so if this works out, I’m going to steal all your nose jewellery.’ Cut to a few months later and she’s stealing all of my nose jewellery every day.” To the men who are still on the fence: a Hinge photo update might be overdue. When it comes to fashion, men are having all the fun Does androgynous fashion for men sell, or is it only for the optics? Moving beyond basic grooming, the male beauty industry is (finally) on the rise
