Everything You Need To Know About Ear Piercing

Multiple piercing used to be for punks and rebels, but now decorating your ears has reached high-fashion status, with everyone from Kylie Jenner and Sienna Miller to the catwalks of Givenchy and Dior trying out the trend. However, with more names than you dreamed possible for different piercings of the ear, here’s our guide to what’s what.

Earlobe

This part of the ear is the most common for piercing. The lobe is nice and fleshy, so piercing is relatively painless.

Upper Lobe

This is simply a little higher up the earlobe, and depending on the size of your lobes, you can fit three or more piercings here.

Cartilage

The rest of your ear is mostly made up of cartilage, a type of firm tissue that is tougher to pierce and can take longer to heal. Your piercer will use a needle to carry out the piercing. This part of the ear doesn’t have a very strong blood supply, so expect to find these piercings tender for about six weeks afterwards, and cleanse with saline solution for the same amount of time. Also, never get both sides done at the same time, otherwise it will be uncomfortable to lay your head on a pillow at night!

Here are the most popular types of cartilage piercings:

Helix: the outer rim of your upper ear.

Industrial: this is two piercings in your upper ear rim joined together by a single piece of jewellery.

 Tragus: the flap over the ear canal closest to your face,

 Conch: the inside of the ear.

 Rook: middle ridge of the ear.

 Daith: The innermost cartilage fold.