Happy spring, everyone!
So, after three years of waiting to be 18 and then another year of me trying to grow a pair and have a needle stuck through my ear…I got my cartilage pierced! Now, after about two months of having a foreign object in my ear, I thought I would sit down and write about my experience. I looked a lot of places for these articles and couldn’t find one that would straight up tell me what was happening—so here I am.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor. I am simply a first-year college student. Please don’t sue. Thanks! ;)
First off, I know what everyone wants to know: did it hurt?
Okay, yeah. But like…it’s a needle…going through your ear. It’s gonna hurt. But in all honesty, on a scale of 1-10, it was probably like a 5. It burned more than it hurt. Afterward, my ear was just pretty hot and sensitive. Also, I should mention that if you are a nervous person like me, definitely eat before, take Advil, and stay away from huge Venti Starbucks drinks that just give you more anxiety.
So, let’s get on to the cleaning. I cleaned my ear with what my piercer recommended: saline wash (get it from CVS and soak your ear a few times a day with a clean cotton ball AFTER washing your hands). I also would wash my ear after I took a shower, worked out, and before I went to sleep with anti-bacterial NON-SCENTED soap. Just get that Dial bottle of soap that’s orange—the one that smells like the doctor.
A new thing they’re telling you is to not rotate your piercing when cleaning. This is controversial because I’m sure we all remember the Claire’s piercer telling us to twist our piercings when we were 10. So…I guess do what you want with that information? Just remember that a piercing heals from the outside in. So, even if it looks okay from the outside, it is still healing inside. Also, a little crust is normal; just wash it off gently.
The pain lasted for about a week, but it was never really pain (after the first day at least); it just ached. It would only really be painful if I touched it (do not recommend…especially if you haven’t washed your hands).
Another thing I was absolutely ~shook~ about was how to wash my hair. If I leaned one way, the water would hit my ear, and if I leaned the other, soap would sting my ear or my hair would get caught in the jewelry. Now, after two months, showering is totally fine. However, I would recommend just leaning your head to the other side to shampoo and condition for like two weeks afterward. This prevents getting non-sterilized soap in your ear and having water hit it.
Now for the fun part—SLEEPING. Okay, this was tricky. Obviously, you need to lie on the other side; it hurts, and your piercing is still healing. However, there were a few nights where I so desperately just wanted to roll over. What I did was roll up my blanket into a ball and position it on the side of my neck so that I could lay on the piercing side without my ear touching the pillows or blankets. Voila! You can now sleep on this side; just be careful. There were a few nights I was in a deep sleep and rolled over on the piercing in the middle of the night. In the morning, it ached, but thank God I don’t toss and turn that often.
Also, one thing I did a lot was rip off my shirt or sweatshirt when I was changing. Just because your ear doesn’t hurt anymore does NOT mean it won’t hurt if you quickly brush up against it. Speaking of brushing, please for the love of God be careful when brushing your hair. Ow.
Now that my rant is over, I would like to bless you with some hilarious pictures of my ear healing and text messages between my family. PS: Ignore my chipped nails, I’m sorry.
Like 10 minutes after ^^ Me, complaining (who’s surprised), 2 days after
3 days after ^ (A little scabbing and crust—normal)
Now, about a month and a half later: my ear is dry, but she’s almost healed! ALSO—a cartilage piercing doesn’t fully heal until about five months after…I feel like that should be public knowledge, but I had no idea.