I have always been a fan of ear piercings in general, especially cartilage piercings. I have had my industrial, snug, rook, and helix pierced in the past. However, the first time I got my rook and snug pierced, I had to retire them because my father did not approve...but after a lot of convincing, he finally agreed to let me get them re-done. The same day, my friend and I hopped on a train to go to a spot in New York City we've had good experiences with in the past when she got her hips pierced and I got my rook and snug done the first time. When we got to the place, the piercer who had worked on us the first time wasn't there, but we still decided to go through with it and get pierced there. My friend went first, because she was afraid she would lose her nerve if I went first. She got an industrial bar through her right ear, but I noticed that the piercer hadn't bothered to mark her beforehand and the bar was at an unusual angle. However she was happy with it, so I sat down to get some metal put into my own ears.
At A Glance Author Julie Contact Julie@bme.anon When It just happened Location New York My first sign that the piercer didn't have a clue what he was doing was the fact that I had to show him the parts of my ear I wanted pierced when I asked for a rook and a snug. He seemed unsure of what he was doing, which made me nervous, but from what I can tell did a decent job on my snug. It's not too shallow, and the placement looks good, so I'm pleased with it. Then it was time for my rook. He put the
clamp on my ear and took it off again a couple times, before claiming that my rook was too small to pierce. While I know for a fact that this is not true, having had my rook pierced beforehand and having it heal very nicely until I had to take it out, I was really disappointed. However, I decided not to take my chances and end up with a piercing that was too shallow from a piercer who apparently had no idea what he was doing. So, I opted to get a simple helix instead. He clamped my ear, and after a second of pressure and a tiny bit of sharp pain, I had some shiny new metal in my ear. I tend to close my eyes when I get piercings, so I didn't realize that he was going to put the curved barbell he already had out for my rook into my helix until after it was done. I've never heard of anyone putting this kind of jewelery into a helix piercing, so I plan on switching it out to a captive bead ring as soon as the swelling goes down. After the piercing itself, I stood up and admired my new piercings in the mirror. The first thing I noticed was the placement. I'm very disappointed with the placement of the piercing, it's very high up on my ear, nearly on the top of it. I do plan on getting two more helixes on that ear though, so I'm hoping they'll help to balance out the placement.
The piercer gave me no aftercare instructions at all, but I've been taking the same steps I did with my industrial- washing it with Dial soap in the shower, spraying it with H2Ocean every so often, and mostly just LITHA. I'm trying not to touch it and to avoid putting product into my hair that could get into the piercing and cause infection. Out of all the cartilage piercings I've had, this has been by far the most sore. It makes me tear up if I so much as touch it, but since it's only a day old right now I'm hoping this will improve as it heals. It's also still really swollen, but that's to be expected because every other cartilage piercing I've had has taken at least a week for the swelling to go down completely.
To anyone looking to get their helix piercing, I'd definitely say go for it! Just don't make the same mistake I did and make sure you go to an experienced piercer. I was very worried about the cleanliness of the place I went to as well. The piercer did not once change his gloves through the whole procedure, and I'm afraid the metal the bar is made out of is not very good quality. It's a really fun and beautiful piercing, but be prepared for it to be extremely sore and swollen for a little while afterward. I love cartilage piercings, and I plan to get my rook redone in the future, along with two more helixes, my tragus, and my anti-tragus.