Cartilage piercings rose sky high in popularity in the mid-90s, and the world never quite recovered. Cartilage piercings are edgy, sexy, and almost painless at the point of piercing, so they remain a favorite choice. Though healing can take quite a while because of the slow regenerative properties of cartilage, the lack of nerve endings mean that it’s a great piercing for people sensitive to needles.
The helix is the narrow little rim of cartilage that makes up the outermost cartilage of your ear. It’s a piercing you can style any way you like, and works with a ton of different jewelry styles. Pain during the piercing itself is pretty minimal, but expect your ear to be sore for a few weeks, particularly when you go to sleep on that side of your head.
The conch is the part of your ear that forms a bit of a bowl shape on the backside – the deepest, most hollow part of your outer ear. The conch has become an ADORABLE place to stick a cartilage piercing, and people are coming up with some crazy unique ways to wear jewelry with it.
Some report that this particular cartilage piercing is especially painful, but of course, this varies from person to person. Just always remember that the pain only lasts a few minutes, and with a great aftercare routine, it’ll heal quickly.
Daith piercings started rising in popularity a couple of years ago with the claim that they were actually an acupunctural trick for migraine prevention. While plenty of people have found relief, the jury’s still out on how true that is. Regardless of the therapeutic qualities of the daith piercing though, we total dig the look.
Industrial piercings are essentially just double helix piercings, extending from one side of the top of your ear to the other, with two holes for an extra large straight barbell to go across to connect the two. Though this look soared in popularity in the mid 2000’s, it remains and edgy favorite.
The snug is a cartilage piercing that lies just within the inner edge of the helix, about opposite of your daith. It’s a relatively new piercing style that’s seen some ups and downs, but it’s subtle enough to make it under the radar at work, so we dig it.
The tragus is that tiny little “flap” of cartilage, just under your daith outside of your ear canal. It’s extra thick, so it might be a tad more painful than other cartilage piercings, but is SUPER cute!
The rook piercing goes on the top curve of the conch of your ear, just to the upper right of the daith. It’s not a terribly painful cartilage piercing to get, and is really subtle, due to its location.
One Reply to “Types of Cartilage Piercings”
Jessica L Gravenstreter, 13 Jun 2017
I love the descriptions of the Types of Cartilage piercings but it would be super nice to actually have a photo to portray where the particular piercings are supposed to go. 🙂