Whats up with all the ear guards?

[AndyK5]

Why are ear guards so popular among 10p guys? If it was one or two people I would understand but almost everybody that comes to our gym that trained in 10p or the people in 10p videos, all have ear guards. Outside 10p, ear guards are pretty rare, from what I have seen.

What is the reasoning?
a) 10p system is naturally hard on your or your partners ears due to the placement of elbows and holds.
b) It is overall good protection to have for any kind of grappling.
c) It all started with Eddie and people mimicked his style.
d) One of the most important aspects of 10p jiujitsu is looking suave and avoid cauliflower ears at all costs.
e) all of the above

[Gary Burton]

Its D for me... all about looking suave. haha.
Plus I work in a school so I dont want to scare the kids with mangled ears!

[DarbyBarby]

A combination I think, most people wouldn't want to get cauliflower ears but some are too embarrassed to wear the ear guards at my old gym someone wore ear guards but everyone made fun of him so he stopped but if someone high ranking wore them ( such as Eddie) people are more likely to follow the example.

[Josh Passini]

The pain associated with cauliflower ear maybe. Not getting mangled ears. Making aure the mangled ears dont get worse. Looking sauve or good protection anyways. I dont rock them, but I see the advantages and I can tell you that even laying on a pillow right now hurts. Mine arent bad but they are getting worse. I dont think 10p system is any harder on the ears than other system.

[Jason Phelps]

Only wear them when the ears hurt. Plus it's in the pre-nup.

[AJ Camacho]

10th Planet is in Hollywood, I'm sure some of the dudes also do acting gigs on the side or maybe TV appearances. So rolling in LA, in general, tends to have more people using ear protectors. Then, once you see a bunch of dudes, that you respect, in ear protectors it sort of dissolves that stigma that they are for wusses or that cauliflower ear is cool... allowing you to make a free choice about your own ears.

[Enrique "Kiko"]

I got some nasty cauli just a month into training since it seems new guys LOVE the guillotine, which I won't tap to unless it's in tight so there's a lot of rubbing there against the ear. I had to get it lanced 3 times and it still is puffy. I just have to decide which earguards to get. I'm leaning towards Brute Quad III since I can't find the Brute Ultra Maxx in adult size anywhere.

[rock d]

If my ears start to hurt, I stop training for 10 days. I come back feeling refreshed and my skills are better too...