What You Need to Know About Piercings
If it isn’t abundantly clear, my favorite things to discuss on this blog are things that I love. Like Nat King Cole, L-O-V-E, kind of love. So it makes sense that ear piercings get their very own post. I wanna talk about the good, the bad, & the ugly. So read on for some of my tricks, tips, and hacks when it comes to ear piercings or watch my youtube video on the same topic!
I’ve come a long way since my first piercings, which I’m pretty sure were done at a Claire’s with a piercing gun. THE HORROR. Seriously, my first and most essential tip: DO NOT get pierced with a gun. They are hotbeds for nastiness because they can’t be cleaned properly and the force they use is traumatic to the ear, especially the cartilage.
Next up, find a respected piercer. This means reading Yelp reviews and seeing if they are APP certified (Association of Professional Piercers). I’ve also found that if a shop carries high quality jewelry brands like BVLA, Maria Tash, Body Gems, Anatometal, Neometal etc, they tend to have fairly experienced piercers.
Obviously this part is different for everyone, but I don’t think the actual piercing part hurts that bad. To me the worst part is the jewelry insertion and then the healing process–which can be long, especially for any cartilage piercings which can take up to a year to heal. The actually needle-in-your-ear part is so fast and feels like a pinch in the lobe and more like pressure in the cartilage. With piercings that are somewhat hard to reach, like the daith the jewelry insertion can be sort of a bitch. Basically, the piercer is fiddling around with a new wound and trying to finagle a tiny little thing into a hole that is basically hidden. But again this usually takes no longer than a minute, so don’t be nervous about the pain! Just make sure you are hydrated and ate before hand since you don’t pass out (which let’s be real, I have been known to do around needles before). But trust me I have a very low pain tolerance and piercings really aren’t that bad!
As far as buying jewelry online, it can be tricky because a lot of the high end body piercing jewelers only sell whole sale and not directly to consumer. Some online resalers do exist, but it can be difficult to predict exactly what guage and bar length you will need for your particular ear. This is a smart thing to ask the piercer while there, because sometimes they will pierce you with a larger bar length and gauge to help with the healing process and accommodate swelling. As the hole heals, you can size down and switch to a ring/hoop since APP piercers won’t pierce with a hoop.
Speaking of the healing process, as mentioned before cartilage can take up to a year to heal and its not recommendable to mess around or change the jewelry too much before then. Lobes usually heal fully in about 3 months. Using a salt spray and a microbial lotion will help with the healing process.
Most piercers will only pierce give you 3 piercings at any one time so as to not provide too much trauma to the body. But honestly with the price of jewelry you probably aren’t going to be getting 3 at one time anyway, but if you do, or even if you get two I recommend doing them one one ear at a time. If you are a side sleeper, or even like lying on your side while watching TV, you are going to be so annoyed if both ears are healing at the same time. Trust me. However, one trick I like is using a airplane pillow and then putting your ear in the middle circle so you aren’t putting any pressure on the ear if you are laying on that side.
Another thing to be aware of is that some piercings affect headphone usage. I.e. your daith, tragus, conch. Usually I’ll just put one ear bud in while a piercing is healing, but my sister swears she can’t fit a bud in with her tragus piercing. So just something to consider.
My favorite places I have been pierced are both in NYC:
My Ear Jewelry Right Now:
Lobe: Gold Pave Huggie Pair
Lobe: Mini Star Moon Charm Hoops
Lobe: Diamond Star Solitaire Threaded Stud
Flat/Tash Rook: Heart Threaded Stud
Daith: J Colby Smith Yellow Gold Hoop 18 G 7/16 diameter
Rook: J Colby Smith Yellow Gold Hoop 18 G 1/2 diameter
Helix: Anatometal Gold Moon End
curiously yours,
bailey evin
