For the past 5 years since I got my first piercing (my navel), I found myself incredibly drawn to the idea of getting more and more holes stuck through various body parts. I loved the excitement and anticipation leading up to the piercing and I loved the adrenaline and instant infatuation I felt for my new piercings right after. For this reason, it is no surprise that for my recent 18th birthday, I decided I had earned the right to buy myself a shiny new piercing, one that I didn't have to plead with my rents to take me for. So I began my search on BMEzine about 3 months ago, perusing for a piercing that would not interfere with my job yet was not so hidden that it was impossible to notice. One of the main factors in my decision, as it has always been, is how common the piercing is. I tend to gravitate towards piercings that I've never seen on a person and that I feel are at least a bit more uncommon. It was during this search that I ran across the daith piercing, and it was love at first sight. The piercing fit so nicely inside the ear and was so unique looking, yet at the same time rather discreet and easily hidden. It was the perfect piercing for my birthday.
At A Glance Author Alex When A month ago Artist Lou Studio Pleasurable Piercings Location Hawthorne, New Jersey Fast forward 3 months to my actual birthday, and I could not wait to get down to the shop and get my new piercing. As soon as I was free of all my other obligations in the morning, I jumped into my car and made my way to Pleasurable Piercings in Hawthorne, New Jersey, which is in my opinion the best place I could possibly imagine to be pierced. The place is clean as a whistle, everything is sterile and opened in front of you (of course), the staff is all very friendly and really knowledgeable, and every piercing that I've ever had done there has turned out awesome. Anyhow, I walked in on a Friday afternoon around lunch time so the place was pretty quiet. I spoke briefly to the guy behind the counter who asked all the usual questions, whatta you want pierced, what ear, ID, yadda yadda. I filled out all the paperwork, paid for the piercing, earring (I went with a CBR instead of a barbell), and a saline wash for afterwards, then had a seat and waited to be called back to be pier ced. 2 minutes later my piercer, Lou I believe was his name, called me in and said he was ready for me. I made my way back to the purple room and plopped myself down on the dentist's chair. Lou checked out my ear to make sure it was suitable for piercing, then decided that the CBR that the guy in the front had originally chosen was too large, so he went and grabbed a smaller ring from the autoclave, still sealed of course. So he marks my ear and has me check the placement, which really was difficult because the marks were kinda hidden within my cartilage. I could sort of see them, but I trusted that he knew what he was doing and approved the markings. Then he lowered the dentist's chair so I was flat on my back, checking out the tiles on the ceiling. He positioned himself and re-positioned himself a few times to make sure he could get the best angle for the piercing, then asked if I was ready. I gave a quick yup then felt a pretty serious amount of pressure on my daith. It f elt like he had to push pretty hard to get the needle through and I did feel a little bit of a stinging pain for a few seconds. However, the pain was not near as bad as I had expected. After fiddling around for a few seconds trying to get the CBR through the new hole, Lou succeeded and handed me a mirror to check it out. I LOVED my piercing, it looked awesome and the placement was perfect, I was so glad now that he had chosen to switch to a smaller ring. Lou then asked me how I felt and I told him it wasn't pleasant but it wasn't really that horribly painful. He seemed surprised, he told me most people find daith piercings to be pretty brutal. I must admit, upon hearing this I was rather pleased that I had proven to be one of his tougher customers. So, with my newly swollen ego and my freshly pierced ear I made my way home, where I proceeded to show off my shiny new addition to anyone who was willing to look.
I've now had my daith pierced for about 3 weeks and I must say, it is the most comfortable piercing that I've had to heal. Unlike industrials or other outer-cartilage piercings, the daith is nicely hidden inside the ear so sleeping, talking on the phone, brushing my hair, etc. can all be done without catching the piercing. The only problem I seem to have had is that after swimming in a public pool more times then I probably should while healing a piercing (I'm a lifeguard, its unavoidable really), I developed a small bump beneath the piercing about a week ago. I tried saline soaks which didn't really help, but have since switched to using warm chamomile tea bags as hot compresses and applying a bit of diluted tea tree oil (I've found this stuff to be a miracle worker when you're trying to heal a tricky piercing) and it seems to be healing up nicely now. To anyone thinking of getting the piercing, I would recommend it 100%. It's very unique and people are always telling me how nice it looks and how different it is. It's a very attractive piercing, not very painful to get (although I should note I have a pretty high pain tolerance, this will obviously vary among people), and has so far been a breeze to heal. Definitely one of, if not my absolute favorite piercings I've gotten and a kickass birthday present to myself!