About a year ago now, I decided to pierce my ear with a not-so-typical piercing known as the rook piercing. This piercing is very minimalist, but also stylish, and helpful as I tell my story about my piercing. After all this time with it in, I’ve encountered many questions about it and my experience; to which I can now confidently give my answers to them. Here are a couple of the most common questions I got asked about my rook piercing:
-
Did it hurt?
Not to be blunt… yeah, no shit it did. Now was it excruciatingly painful? Of course not. As with any sort of piercing, there will be some pain. Everyone’s pain tolerance is different. For myself who can handle quite a bit of pain, the pain was fast and sharp. Your piercer should do their best to make you feel as comfortable as possible and I highly recommend laying down. Most piercers will want you to lay down as they don’t want you to pass out. My best advice is to expect pain, but just remember that it’s only temporary so just breathe.
2. How long does it take to heal?
My piercer told me about six months to a year which is very common for piercings. If you are unsure or curious about when you can change out the jewelry, always ask your piercer first to make sure it’s completely healed. Otherwise, you run the risk of infection. When cleaning my rook piercing, I always took a shot glass (make sure it’s clean) put some hot water and some non-iodized sea salt in and swirled it around until the salt was completely dissolved. Then, I took a q-tip and soaked both ends and gently swirled it around the piercing. Please note, this process should be done only twice a day (typically morning and night) and must be done gently, especially if it’s a brand new piercing. Though many piercers will agree with this method, make sure to ask your piercer which method you should use.
3. Why did you get that particular piercing?
Funny enough, this wasn’t the piercing I was originally going to get. I was originally interested in the Daith piercing, but after the piercer said he was done and I looked in the mirror, this is what I got. I could have told him that it was the wrong one, but I actually didn’t mind how it looked. The reason I wanted to get an ear piercing to begin with, was because of constant headaches, and anyone who has constant or frequent headaches knows the struggle and will do just about anything for relief. After some research, I came across ear piercings that were known to act like acupuncture treatments, where the piercing is in a very specific spot to pinpoint, pun intended, and help alleviate the pain from the headache. So instead of going in for acupuncture treatments, this piercing was supposed to be a more permanent treatment. During my original research, I found stories about the Daith piercing and how they were believed to help with migraine relief.
4. Did the piercing help your headaches?
It was hard to tell at first as my ear was throbbing from a big needle being shoved through it, but I went into my appointment with a mild headache. I left my appointment with that same mild headache nearly gone. I wouldn’t say the piercing immediately took away my headaches completely, but it definitely alleviate some of the pain. Even though I didn’t get the piercing I wanted, I never went back to tell him he messed up because I still found that my headaches were happening less frequently or at the very least they were a lot less painful.
5. What is your advice on getting this piercing?
My advice on getting a rook piercing is going to a licensed and trusted piercer. Tell the piercer what you want, bring pictures, and be extremely clear. This piercing is one of the more painful piercings as it’s in a very difficult spot to insert. It can be difficult to clean at first, but remember that it is temporary and the pain will subside after a couple weeks. Try sleeping on the opposite side to make it more comfortable for the piercing and take ibuprofen for pain if needed. Like any piercing, the healing process can and will seem like forever. Just hang in there; because once it’s healed, you can switch the jewelry out. Be aware, not all metals work for everyone. I’ve bought piercings online before and they aren’t always the true 100 percent metal they claim. I suggest buying your jewelry from a licensed piercer. Though it will cost you more, it will be well worth the price. Don’t take the chance of using metals that your body doesn’t accept, because it will become infected and irritated. I know this from personal experience, so please learn from my mistakes and do it the right way. If you know your body rejects certain kinds of metal, tell your piercer before getting the piercing to avoid complications later.
Now, don’t let my story of my piercer make you not want to get any piercings. It was a simple mistake (hopefully) and the guy who did it was actually a fantastic tattoo artist as well. I got my piercing and tattoo from that same guy while I was in Hawaii and I would still recommend him to anyone. I personally believe that this was the piercing I was supposed to get. Sometimes in life, you just need to roll with the punches. Hopefully, this information was informative to you on rook piercings and what to expect. Even if you don’t have horrible migraines like I did, this piercing still looks badass. If that isn’t enough, I don’t know what is.