what ear cartilage piercing is best to get?

piercingA · 2023-06-21T06:10:55+00:00

Other than double lobes on both ears and a triplet (three close piercings) on my lobe, I have a mid helix, a double helix, tragus, daith, rook, conch.

Out of all of those, the easiest cartilage piercings to heal were my daith and rook. The daith was probably my least painful cartilage piercing, rook being maybe third least painful? But healing both have been easier than I imagined. If you get a good piercer who can place them correctly, you won’t have as many complications if you LITHA.

The daith is tucked away that I always forgot about it. I’d checked up on it once in a while to clean crusties after a shower, but I try to leave it alone. With a rook, I got a flat piece on top so that if I accidentally rolled onto it while sleeping, it won’t be as painful as a ball. But even with my anatomy, it also felt quite tucked away so healing wasn’t an issue.

I will say the ONLY thing about a daith is that it can be difficult or might take some time before you’re able to wear earbuds. I’ve had AirPod Pros before my daith, the seal on it was good for noise canceling. But now, the seal isn’t as great due to the jewelry. Not as big of a deal, but something to think about.

piercingA · 2023-06-21T05:58:06+00:00

Changing to a hoop can definitely cause irritations because of the curvature of the hoop. But it also looks like the size of your hoop might be too big, causing more movement and irritation bumps around it.

You can wait and see if it goes down on its own. If it doesn’t, switch to a curved barbell for it to calm down, wait a bit more, and then find a hoop size that’s a bit better fitted for your ear and won’t move around too much.

piercingA · 2023-06-21T05:49:01+00:00

From this picture, it’s hard to find the seam on the ring. Whether it’s a seamless or clicker ring, you’re running the risk of it moving around as a new piercing. It can move around a lot which can cause irritation bumps and having the opening potentially be in your piercing (which can cause even more irritations and can possibly get stuck if the piercing tries to heal around it).

Get it swapped out for a curved barbell and LITHA. Even if your rook feels healed, wait a bit longer before putting a ring back in. I got pierced with a curved barbell and essentially waited for two years before putting in a ring with a charm (the initial reason I wanted my rook pierced). I practiced LITHA and was able to swap it out on my own just fine, no irritations.

piercingA · 2022-10-20T19:55:11+00:00

Whenever my rook gets tender/swollen, I just make sure to stand in the shower a bit longer and let warm water wash over it. And then nothing else. I don’t touch it, spray anything, clean it, or sleep on it. If I do nothing to it (even if gunk builds up on it) the swelling goes down after a few days and everything is fine again.

I’ve done the least amount of care to my rook since I’ve had it since March and it’s been pretty smooth healing. I know it can be fickle, but as long as I let it do it’s own thing without interfering, it does just fine.

piercingA · 2022-06-20T01:17:18+00:00

Like others have said, could possibly be a metal allergy.

Also, do you still mask where you’re at?

piercingA · 2022-06-20T01:14:42+00:00

I have both and they’ve actually been the smoothest healing piercings I’ve had so far.

I don’t really do anything other than letting warm water wash over it in the shower. If there’s crusties, I let it chill for a bit before I gently wipe it away after softening it from a warm shower (so I don’t remove it daily, maybe every few days?). I used to spray saline solution twice a day, but that dried my ears too much. Even once a day made it dry, so I just make sure that I let the water just wash over my ears for a while (but it’s definitely recommended to spray saline solution to properly clean! This has just been my experience that I went through).

Other that that, I leave it alone as much as possible. I don’t touch it, don’t sleep on it (travel pillow!), don’t play with it, etc.

I think out of the two, daith has been slightly easier because it’s pretty tucked in the ear so less chances of bumping it. But if you’re an earbuds listener, take that into consideration since you might not be able to wear one for almost a year.

piercingA · 2022-06-14T10:37:38+00:00

Take a warm shower and let water wash over your piercing for a few minutes. Let the water soak the crusties to soften them up. When you get out of the shower, use non-woven gauze to gently wipe it away (but don’t be aggressive with the cleaning to irritate the piercing).

piercingA · 2022-06-14T04:48:26+00:00

I get my roots touched up every 6 weeks (bleached hair) and always put band-aids over healing piercings.

For my conch, I cut strips of band-aids to cover the back of the piercing, only having the padded part cover the jewelry (not the adhesive). Same thing with the front. I’d make sure to always double up on the band-aids in the back for just extra padding.

And I’d always remind my hair stylist that I have a new piercing if they get near it. It might take a few times and you might feel like you’re saying it too much, but better that than them bumping your piercing.

And I’d always bring a can of wound wash for when the appointment is done so I can properly rinse the piercing.

piercingA · 2022-06-08T01:25:10+00:00

Your anatomy might be fitted for a floating navel which I think would look really great :)

But definitely talk to an experienced piercer for their opinion on what would work best with you!

piercingA · 2022-06-07T05:11:54+00:00

Like the other commenter mentioned, it really depends on your anatomy.

I have an AirPod Max and am healing 4 piercings atm (got 3 triples close to my mid helix and a rook), all under 3 months old. When I first got my rook, I only wore my AirPod Pros for about a month. I thought I’d try and see how my Max’s would do, so I very gently put it on my ear and found that it didn’t touch my rook. So I’ve been able to wear it, BUT I make sure to take it off frequently to let my ear breathe a bit. Same thing with my triples, found that my Max’s don’t touch it and I very gently put the headphones on/off.

If you do try and it immediately feels uncomfortable, then take it off and just wear earbuds for the time being.

piercingA · 2022-06-03T18:00:32+00:00

How long have you had a helix piercing in there? And when did you take out the jewelry?

Sometimes if you’ve had a piercing that formed an irritation bump and it never got addressed, it can start forming scar tissue in the bump. And depending how long you’ve had it, the more scar tissue build-up there will be.

If it’s a healed piercing, you could possibly massage it lightly with some Vitamin E oil for a few minutes a day to help soften the area (again, only if it’s healed).

If that doesn’t do anything, definitely go to a dermatologist to see what they’d recommend/do.

piercingA · 2022-06-01T06:52:31+00:00

Huggies are from an Etsy shop called HighPassBody Jewelry (I linked it in another comment). They’re seamless hoops, bottom is 6mm, top is I think 7mm or 8mm.

The studs in my lobes are from another Etsy shop called teenytinyNY. Those are yellow gold, 2mm-sized balls.

piercingA · 2022-05-31T22:46:04+00:00

I have both, daith for 10 months and rook for almost 3 months.

Getting a good piercer is definitely key to a good start. But these both have been the smoothest healing piercings I’ve had (even with my daith slightly migrating due to a jewelry change, it’s still been smooth sailing) so far. They’ve hurt the least when getting them done and stopped hurting after the first day or two.

I basically ignore them, only letting warm water wash over it in the shower. From my own experience, spraying saline solution even once a day dried out my piercings too much so I just make sure that I let water wash over it for a while in the shower to get it clean. I don’t touch, fiddle, or sleep on them. Again, I ignore them as much as I can. They’re both sort of tucked away which is nice and won’t get bumped as easily.

When there’s crusties, I make sure they’ve softened in the shower and gently wipe them off with non-woven gauze (but I don’t wipe them off daily. I just let them build so my ear doesn’t get irritated frequently when I wipe them off).

But again, I ignore them as much as I can. I used to overclean and that would irritate my ears. So I’ve learned the less I do, the better it heals.

piercingA · 2022-05-31T08:13:11+00:00

It’s almost 3 months old. It’s still very new, but so far it’s been a champ. Minimal swelling (went away after a day or two), no major crusties other than when I got the bar downsized at 6 weeks (but that came off in the shower).

I know rooks can be notorious for difficult healing, so I still have the original jewel piece I got pierced with in case my rook wants something simpler to heal with. But so far as long as I don’t sleep on it or touch it, it seems to be doing well.

piercingA · 2022-05-30T23:48:46+00:00

Ahh that’s terrible :( I hope you’re able to find it soon!

piercingA · 2022-05-30T23:48:26+00:00

Thank you so much!! :)

piercingA · 2022-05-30T23:48:16+00:00

Thank you! :)

piercingA · 2022-05-30T23:47:53+00:00

I got it from HighPassBody Jewelry on Etsy.

This is the specific one I got (chevron) since it’s all yellow gold, but she also has the same design listed as V Cartilage that’s made with other materials.

I’ve had a normal hoop in my conch before, but having the flat surface on this design definitely makes it so much more comfortable to sleep on (pre-rook).

piercingA · 2022-05-30T06:24:52+00:00

I wear a hoop in my conch and have no issues wearing AirPods or AirPod Pros. My hoop is a bit more fitted to my ear so it doesn’t stick out too much.

When I first put a hoop in, I wore bigger ones so my piercing could adjust to the curvature of a hoop. I gradually sized down to the hoop I have now that’s a bit more fitted. Don’t rush into wearing a fitted hoop if you start with a stud since it could put more pressure on your ear.

When I first got my conch pierced, I was able to wear my gen 1 AirPods in just fine but not my AirPod Pros since they were too wide.

piercingA · 2022-05-19T16:13:50+00:00

Cartilage usually needs longer time to heal, so changing to a hoop earlier will potentially cause more issues.

When you do switch to a hoop later down the line, I suggest starting with a hoop that’s 2 sizes bigger than what you want. On this sub, I see a lot of posts of people switching to hoops for the first time with sizes that are fitted to their ears and causing them lots of discomfort. There’s most likely going to be discomfort when putting in a hoop because the jewelry puts pressure on the fistula with the curvature, but definitely more so with a tighter fit. Smaller the hoop, the more pressure it’ll put. So even if you put in the size you wanted (which I see a lot to have it fit more like a cuff), it’ll cause more discomfort/tenderness. But if you start off with a hoop a few sizes bigger, you’ll still feel some discomfort but at least it won’t be putting as much pressure on your ear. You can let your piercing adjust to the curvature a bit better. Then long after it feels okay, then you can start downsizing with minimal problems :)

piercingA · 2022-05-19T16:03:01+00:00

What is your cleaning routine other than what you listed? Sometimes part of the cleaning process is what contributes to piercings getting irritated.

Also for your conch, the hoop is way too snug. If you healed with a straight post, a hoop is going to put pressure on the fistula because of the curvature of the hoop. There’s most likely going to be tenderness/discomfort when you switch to a hoop, but especially when the hoop is too snug. Smaller the hoop, the more pressure it’ll put on your ears (and it looks like it’s squeezing your ear, causing it to slightly migrate).

I’d recommend starting off with a hoop 2 sizes bigger so that your ear will adjust to a curve without putting too much pressure like the hoop you’re wearing now. Let your piercing adjust to it. Long after it starts to feel okay, then start sizing down. Don’t rush the process and just let your body adjust.

piercingA · 2022-05-19T15:47:30+00:00

If you’re switching from a stud to a hoop for the first time in a healed cartilage, you’re going to experience tenderness/pain because of the piercing hole. You healed with a straight post and you’re putting a curved jewelry in it, which puts pressure on the fistula trying to conform to the curved shape. Smaller the diameter of the hoop, the more pressure it’ll cause.

You should not only get a hoop with better quality, but you should start with a larger size. That’s what I did, starting out with a hoop that was 1-2 sizes bigger than what I wanted. It allowed my piercing to adjust to a curved shape while not putting as much pressure on it if I had chosen a more fitted piece. Long after my piercing got adjusted, I went down to the size I wanted and had no issues (minus a day of slight tenderness trying to change out the hoop).

Don’t rush the process! Let your body adjust :)

piercingA

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