#30dayglowup - Day 17
Looking to learn more about the pain, healing and experience of different ear piercings? Keep reading...
I love piercings.
In fact, I would say my ear piercings are a pretty defining personality trait
for me, and without them I feel a bit lost. Whenever I’ve had to take them out for
sport it’s been very inconvenient because of the amount I have, but also very
strange to see my bare ears. I’ve spent much more money than I want to think
about on piercings and jewelry, I’ve taken some out and rearranged how I want
the placement on my ears and it’s been a project of mine for around 8 years
now. So needless to say, I have had quite a few piercing experiences of many
different piercings and I do know my fair share about them.
In this
article I’m doing to be discussing my experiences of all of my various piercings
as well as giving some advice for healing and general piercing info. So if you’re
interested in hearing more or if you’re considering a type of piercing that I have,
just keep reading.
Advice
If you take
away anything from this article, please get your piercings done professionally
and never use a piercing gun! Don’t go to Claire’s or pierce yourself, go to
a qualified piercer usually as part of a tattoo shop so you can get it done
safely and in a sterile environment. Piercing guns use the back of the piercing
to shove through your ear and can shatter cartilage. Nearly all of my
cartilage piercings were done with a needle and healed with titanium jewelry;
make sure you educate yourself and know the risks when you get a piercing! If
you neglect them at best you may get a bump or dry skin but at worst an
infection which needs treating, so please do your research.
Also, this
should be pretty obvious but don’t be an idiot like me and have a freshly
healing piercing and go on a round of Accutane. Take that fella out, it will
not heal properly and will give you a lot of aggravation. No I’m not bitter
that I had to get my rook repierced through scar tissue, wasting money and
going through more pain in the process, why would you think that?
The other,
perhaps less serious, piece of advice I would offer is to plan ahead with your
piercings. I’ve wasted a lot of pain and money on piercings that I’ve eventually
taken out because I didn’t like how they worked with my other piercings. Look
at the jewelry placement you’d like and think about which ear it would look
best on. Believe me from experience, you’ll save yourself a lot of anguish this
way.
Also, when I
get piercings, I get an adrenaline spike and a blood sugar drop which can make
me feel faint afterwards. Make sure you eat before and you have something
sugary to hand for afterwards, and always try and go when you can have someone
else with you.
My piercings
Disclaimer:
piercings do hurt. They feel very hot and sharp, and then it hurts a lot when
the piercer then puts the jewelry in. However, some did hurt more than others
and some were very annoying to heal, so below I’m going to be rating the pain
and healing experience of each of my piercings, with 10 being absolutely awful
would never do ever again. I’m also going to talk about my experience and give
an advice for that specific piercing, so if you’re interested in getting any of
these then keep reading.
Lobes
- Pain 2/10
- Healing 1/10
I mean
everyone gets their lobes done right so I’m not exactly going to be providing
some crazy valuable insight into the experience. I got my firsts done at Claire’s
when I was about 11, which I really wouldn’t recommend. The pain for any of my
lobe piercings wasn’t bad at all at the time, it does just feel like a pinch
and then it’s done with. They’ve all healed absolutely fine and needed the
least care and attention of all my piercings; in fact, they’re the only ones I would
say would never heal over if I permanently took them out. All in all, I’d
highly recommend anyone getting lobe piercings if you’re interested and they’re
the perfect beginner piercing to maybe get you as hooked as I am.
The only
piece of advice I would give with your lobes is really think about the
placement of the piercings even with your first one. For example, if you know
you may want to get seconds or thirds done later on then think about how big
your lobe is and how you’re going to be able to fit them all on. I know a lot
of my friends with piercings would say they regret where their first holes are
placed as it stops them from getting any more, so just something to consider
when getting your piercings.
Cartilage
- Pain 6/10
- Healing 8/10
Cartilage
piercings are usually the next step up for people branching out into different
kinds of ear piercings, and with that comes quite a bit more responsibility and
effort involved with healing it. They don’t heal very nicely at all and because
of their placement on the edge of the ear they frequently get knocked about, which
is very painful. Make sure you clean them regularly and don’t change the
jewelry before your piercing is fully healed.
Also, if
you’re going to be getting a double cartilage piercing done please do it by a
very experienced piercer. One of mine fits 6 mm ear hoops and the other 10 mm
due to them being pierced at very different angles which took me a while to get
suitable jewelry for, so just be careful how you go about it.
Nose
- Pain 3/10
- Healing 7/10
I was very
surprised about how little my nose piercing hurt to get done; I find it more
comparable to lobe piercings than cartilage because it was more of a pinch. However,
the healing process for me was not fun at all. My nose ached for a very long
time after getting it done, and for a while I couldn’t get used to the
sensation of the jewelry in my nose. Even when it was safe to change it was
still painful to swap in and out. But by far the worst thing about healing my
nose was the bump that I had to put up with for about a month after getting it
pierced. Even though I was so careful to look after it properly as this was
something I wanted to avoid, the irritation caused a noticeable, red bump which
made me very self-conscious of my nose for a while. Just be aware that this
could be a potential impact if you’re wanting to get it done.
Conch
- Pain 7/10
- Healing 2/10
Ah, my
beloved conch piercing that I’ve had for many years now. By far my favorite ear
piercing, my conch has treated me very well over the years. It was painful
initially because the conch is a very thick layer of cartilage and like any
other piercing it ached for a while after, however it healed beautifully, and I’ve
never had any issues or bumps with it. I think because of its positioning in
your ear being more tucked away, it doesn’t get as aggravated as cartilage
piercings and overall had a much easier healing experience for me. I’m very
biased because I don’t feel myself without a conch ring in, but I would recommend
them for even newbies to piercings because of how easy it was to heal for me.
Tragus
- Pain 5/10
- Healing 4/10
I’ve had
both of my tragus piercings done in the past as I didn’t like how much first
one worked with my other piercings on that ear and took it out, so I do know my
fair share about healing them. For me the pain wasn’t too bad possibly because my
traguses (Tragi?) are quite squidgy, and for neither of them I heard the ‘pop’
that everyone worries about when you get them done. The healing also wasn’t
awful, pretty comparable to normal cartilage piercings in duration, but they
don’t get quite as beaten up.
One thing
with tragus piercings is I’d always recommend getting the jewelry changed by a
piercer as it’s so awkward to get the back on a stud once it’s in your ear. Also,
when you’re healing them, be sure to cover them in some way when you apply
makeup, especially bronzer or blush. It’s so easy to just dust some into the
piercing which could really irritate it, so just cover your ear with your hand
or some paper to protect it.
Daith + Rook
- Pain (First time) 7/10
- Pain (Through scar tissue) 9/10
- Healing 6/10
These two I’ve
lumped together because they’re pretty similar in terms of placement, cartilage
thickness, pain and healing. I’ve gotten both of them done twice in the same
spot: my rook, as I mentioned before, had to be taken out as it wasn’t healing
properly while I was on Accutane, and my daith unfortunately had the jewelry
fall out while I was abroad with no replacement so it healed over.
These two
really freaking hurt to get, especially the second time being through scar
tissue, and they’re both very awkward. For my daith I had to lie on the bed so
that the piercer could really get into my ear in the correct position, and the
rook can be very fiddley to get the jewelry on. The healing process for both of
them isn’t too bad however, especially the daith because it’s so tucked away in
your ear it’s harder to aggravate.
I would say
for both of these be careful with earphones and if you do use them, make sure
they’re clean. Since my daith is still healing I tend to go for over-ear
headphones because whilst these are slightly more uncomfortable on my cartilage
and conch piercings, they don’t irritate my more vulnerable ones that are still
healing.
I would
still recommend these two piercings because I do love them, but just be aware that
they were, for me anyway, on the more painful side of my piercings and both of
them put me off getting more for a while due to the pain. I still see it as
worth it though, so if you want to get them don’t let me stop you.
Rating my favourite piercings from best to meh
- Nose
- Conch
- Tragus
- Double cartilage
- Lobe
- Rook
- Daith
In conclusion
So, that
rounds up all of my piercing experiences so far, I hope it’s been helpful to
you in some way. If you have any questions, feel free to message me or comment
below and I’ll get back to you. My piercings are so important to me that I knew
I had to include them in my glow up journeys and I know I’ll be getting more in
future. Thank you for reading and I hope your piercings heal without any fuss or
getting any bumps and you love bedazzling your ears as much as I do.
Add your comment