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Ear piercing guide for first-timers: What you need to know before going under the needle
Aside from tattoos, getting body piercings is one of the ways people express their individuality. Most people start with the ears, but there is more to it than the usual lobe piercings for regular earrings. With plenty of other placements, you can buy set jewelry and mix and match to your heart’s content.
If you’re thinking of getting additional piercings for the first time, or you’ve never had any at all and hope to finally get one, having more knowledge can help you get more comfortable with the process. GMA News Online asked Abril, a body piercer at Shadow Studio in Maginhawa, Quezon City, some frequently asked questions about piercings to help you decide before going under the needle.
Where should you place your piercings?
Lobe piercings are the most common type of piercing. It is placed on the lower part of the ear and it heals in two to three months.
The question of how many you can get, however, depends on the size and shape of your ear. You can get a second or third lobe, even a fourth one, but some people can only have a second lobe. The placement of your first lobe piercing will also affect how many can you get.
For cartilage piercings, meanwhile, you have several placement options. There’s the helix, which is located on the upper part of the ear; the rook and conch in the center; and the tragus and daith near where the ear meets the head. Abril recommends the conch as a good and popular placement for a piercing.
“It is also the middle of our ear, making it the best area to put another bling after getting your earlobes pierced. It will make your ear look more cohesive and aesthetically pleasing, mainly when you use a ring/hoop when the wound is fully healed,” she said.
If you’re feeling more adventurous, you can get an industrial piercing, which uses a long bar that pierces through two holes diagonally. It is usually placed on the upper ear cartilage.
How much does it hurt?
There is no simple answer to this question, as everybody has a different level of pain tolerance. In general, some types of piercings hurt more than others, especially those in the cartilage part of the ear.
If you’re afraid of needles, don’t worry – you are not alone.
“The majority of my clients are afraid of getting piercings!” Abril said. “They would always ask me if it’s painful, how it feel, and if they need a topical.”
“So, to ease their minds of the pain they’re about to feel, I would usually tell them how an ear lobe piercing is just a two on a scale of 10 of the pain and how breathing deep and slow helps a lot,” she added.
According to Abril, most of her clients felt the most pain from helix, rook, and industrial piercings, with the industrial piercing being the most painful of the three.
How many piercings can you get in one session?
If you’re considering getting multiple piercings, you might be thinking to get all of them in one session to get over the pain quickly. Abril, however, said that this may cause more problems in the long run.
“I have a policy of maximum of three piercings,” she said. “Getting more than that would make your ear more sensitive and more prone to complications. In most cases, it makes the healing much longer because multiple implant wounds try to heal simultaneously.”
“It is best to get one at a time, especially if you plan to get a cartilage piercing, which takes six to 12 months to heal,” she added.
Abril also recommends to finish your desired piercings in one ear first, as you cannot sleep on that side while it is still healing.
How do you care for your piercing?After your piercing session, it is best to simply rest at home. Avoid eating food you might be allergic to and drinking alcohol. You also cannot go swimming until your piercing heals.
You will need to clean your piercing every day to prevent infection. Abril recommends using a sodium chloride spray after showering. It’s a simple aftercare routine – one spray in front of the ear and another at back, let it sit for two to five minutes, and rinse with water after. Piercing aftercare sprays are available in drugstores.
It’s normal to experience some discharge a few days after your piercing, and you can clean it by using pointed cotton swabs to gently dab on the area.
What is downsizing?
One thing you may not have known about getting piercings is downsizing. A month or so after your piercing, you need to return to your piercer, who will replace the post of your earring to a shorter one.
During your piercing, a longer post will be used to account for swelling of the ear. Once it is healed enough, you must change it to a shorter post, as a longer one will keep moving through the piercing and may delay healing.
What if I’m still undecided on which piercings to get?
If you have no idea at all on what kind of piercings you want to get, you may consider booking an ear curation session. Your piercer will look at your whole ear and make recommendations on what type of earrings would make it more defined and cohesive.
“Clients who would avail of my ear curation service are always willing to pay the price of getting more piercings to put more earrings or getting more earrings to play more on their ears,” Abril said.
“Some would go to me because they will be attending a wedding, a date, a trip overseas, graduation (my favorite), and many more occasions where they think their outfit won’t be complete if they don’t get their ears stylized. But most of them just found themselves getting their ears done as a form of self-love.”
—JCB, GMA Integrated News
