Cartilage Piercing: One-Year Update

I realized the other day that it has been more than a year since I got my first cartilage piercing. I put a few updates on that post, but just covering the first few weeks; after that I said nothing until I changed the earring six months ago. So I think it is time for an update.

The update is that I hardly ever have to think of it or do anything about it. I don’t have to treat it with saline spray anymore, though I do still rinse it after I finish washing my hair. It almost never looks puffy or pink in the mornings. I still notice it in the mirror and still like it. It is still a hassle when I get a haircut: I put a bandaid over it to protect it from the stylist’s vigorous brush.

The earring is still tipped, and I still care. The angle of the piercing itself is tipped, so there is nothing I can do except learn not to mind. Actually, what I plan to do is find a completely spherical earring, so that the tippage would be unnoticeable. My current earring is a “gold ball”—but it’s actually a tiny domed cylinder, so if it’s tipped you can tell. In the meantime, I tell myself that NO ONE BUT ME WOULD NOTICE OR CARE, and also that maybe the shape of my ear made tipping unavoidable. I don’t like to think that the piercing guy did it wrong, or that I squashed it to a different angle by sleeping on it.

I haven’t changed the earring since the first time. I change my lower-lobe piercing daily and take that earring out at night, but the upper lobe and cartilage earrings (these for both) I just leave in all the time.

A couple of times, usually after getting too worked up about the tippage, I have thought maybe I’ll just take the earring out and never mind about this cartilage piercing idea. Each time, I’ve thought: I lose nothing by leaving it in awhile longer, so why don’t I just leave it in for now. Each time, I’ve been glad.

7 thoughts on “Cartilage Piercing: One-Year Update

  1. Tommie

    I’ll be the first to chime in and say that even though you mentioned the fact that your piercing is ’tilted’ I can’t see it in that picture. I’m sure that even in person, like you said, no one else could notice it.

    I think it looks great and I have piercing envy. I got my cartilage pierced in college but I must not have cared for it well because it never healed well. I kept catching it with my brush and it was constantly sore and red. I finally took the earring out and it was closed in minutes and healed completely a day later.

    Reply
  2. Ruby

    I used to have cartilage piercings on both sides, but they hurt SO BADLY and took so long to heal that I ended up taking them out. I don’t know if the piercing person did it wrong or if I have unusually sensitive cartilage or WHAT, but my ears were not happy.

    Don’t you also have a second cartilage piercing on the other side, or am I remembering wrong?

    Reply
  3. Britni

    I feel like mine “tips” as well and I always kind of thought everyone’s did because of the slight curve of the ear lobe? Maybe I just lied to myself because otherwise it is the type of thing that would bother me lol.

    Reply
  4. BG

    I miss your book reviews! If you’re looking for something to post about, I’d love to hear what you’ve been reading.

    Reply
  5. goingloopy

    I originally got a cartilage piercing in college with a gun at the mall. Eventually, the earring I had in it fell out and I didn’t notice…and the hole closed. FAST. I got it redone 5 years ago by an actual piercing artist, and she was like, “oh, they did it crooked” and fixed the angle.

    Once mine healed completely, I got the absolute shortest post the piercing shop offered (they sell the post and the “head” part separately). It’s completely flush to my ear…there’s no space between the jewelry and my ear. The back is also flat, so no more of the hairbrush catching in it (that. was. the. worst). I don’t even notice mine anymore. But even when I had a longer post, the flat back saved a LOT of hassles with the hairbrush.

    PS – if you want more cartilage pierced in your ears, the tragus doesn’t even hurt. (It’s that triangle-shaped part above your earlobe.) It makes a NOISE when they do it, but it doesn’t hurt (and didn’t take long to heal, either). I’d suggest either little hoops or flat studs, because when you have, say, little stars that kinda stick up, your hair catches and pulls them out and they’re fracking impossible to get back in by yourself.

    PPS – the nostril doesn’t really hurt either. The cartilage in the upper ear hurt worse than either of those.

    Reply

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