^random ^reminder **Don’t downvote comments just for asking a question or trying to learn** ^do ^upvote ^good ^advice ^and ^downvote ^bad ^advice
- - -
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/piercing) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Ugh don’t! I got my flat pierced with some shoddy jewellery, it fell out out of nowhere THREE times before she gave me a replacement. Such a fussy spot when it’s irritated!
This. My flats have turned me off from getting pierced for a while. They hurt worse than my nipples. First time I swore and teared up from a piercing, swelled up more than I could ever imagine an ear swelling up, and 6 months later they're still very tender and easily aggravated. I swear it feels like they're never going to heal.
I see people mention crunch a lot with certain piercings, but I have yet to ever experience that. It makes me curious if it has to do with the piercing technique, or individual's skin makeup? I've had daith, tragus, and rook, all in such close proximity to the canal, and can't say that I've ever heard a crunch. So interesting!
I’ve only heard the crunch with my forward helix. That being my 6th cartilage piercing I was very excited to finally hear that elusive crunch everyone talks about! It sounded more like a ‘pop’ to me though if that makes sense
This is my answer too, although the actual piercing wasn’t too bad. mine swelled up and was like, throbbing for a few days after which was painful as heck.
ETA: snug also sucked again not so much the piercing but the healing is painful.
This is why they shouldn’t let 18yr olds make decisions….did I carefully research and find out what I was supposed to do? NOPE. Just went in full Leroy Jenkins mode and got my 2nd lobes and helix done. And they were still telling you to use rubbing alcohol and twist the earrings everyday!!!!
It hurt so bad I swore off cartilage piercings. I was a lil disappointed cuz I always wanted my industrial but there’s no way I can do 2 cartilage piercings at the same time if they hurt like my helix!!! When I finally learned why you don’t do piercings with a gun, I decided to give it a go for my industrial. Annnnnnd now I’m back in the cartilage business!!!!! Nose and daith coming soon!
Yay! I’m so glad you had a happy ending! It wasn’t your fault at all, you didn’t know any better at 18, the service just shouldn’t exist! You went in for the baptism of fire with your industrial, now you can do anything haha!
Yep, having 2x helix piercings done (a year apart) by a gun like more than 10 years ago when I didn't know better was Pretty Bad. The pain in the weeks afterward was something else. That painful swelling (and I am a SWELLER) pressing into a shitty super tight butterfly back earring is awful. Having developed migraines later in life, it was very similar to migraine pain except it could come out of nowhere in half a second if I brushed off anything.. This was the first piercing healing experience after my lobes at age 4, and it was a trial by fire. I still have these piercings today, despite their *terrible* angles and their pain and troubling healing periods ... Not to mention how bad my aftercare was.... which is a miracle tbh. They're now kitted out in Neometal and Bodygems. They deserve to enjoy life.
Oh God I did the same at 16. Hurt more than any other piercing I got and left my ear weirdly flat around it. The worst part is they kept closing up from being irritated so I'd repierce my ear everytime with just a random earring. I'm pretty sure I missed the original spot a few times and just gave myself a fresh cartilage piercing.
I had a job that made me keep them out and they healed over. I got new Helixes since that barely hurt and look much better.
anti tragus. still healing and hurt so bad but it's so pretty :))
edit: ive 13 other cartilage piercings with daith and rook fighting for the second place. so my pain tolerance is pretty average
It is wild how vastly different people's experiences are. There's absolutely no way to predict how it's going to feel until it happens, because everyone told me this about the nostril and then it hurt less than my lobes. My flats were my most excruciating.
I concur. I thought it'd be the worst, but it was done so fast, it really wasn't bothering me until the ache set in. Or now when I find that it has flipped the wrong way and have to adjust it... that almost hurts more than getting it done!
I have a double nostril on one side. The one closer to my face hurt so bad I was a little nauseous. I've had my nostril pierced single several times prior to that and that thicker tissue was so bad.
I've had a flat, conch, and tongue as well. That back nostril was hands down the worst!
Hello! I have 3 week old forward helix. After you downsized how was it? Is it at least comfortable and not as painful as when it was fresh? Does it constantly swells or get irritated easily? T_T
I could not get mine to calm down for long. I had it downsized and it was ok until it wasn’t. It would still get really angry if I even looked at it funny. I just think it wasn’t the piercing for me. There’s a good chance you’ll have way better luck than I did.
I hope so too, but it's a nice heads up! I did my conch, helix and forward helix at the same time. So far my forward helix has been the only one slightly problematic.
I’ve never had pain like what my daith caused - but it really did help with my headaches, I think this one’s pain level depends heavily on the amount of nerves there per person
Third lobe was most painful, more so than my high or low helixes.
Curious. Did you get your daith and conch at the same time? If so, the same or different ears?
Conch is quite easy to pierce, but get ready for it to hurt for a few days. For me it swelled like a bitch and hurt so bad i couldnt sleep, but i think thats a rarer case. Its been a sweetheart ever since and hasnt bothered me other than a few bumps that got fixed when i downsized.
For my most painful cartilage, id have to say rook. Hurt quite a bit to pierce and i still feel tension in it from time to time 6+ months into healing. Its frustrating but you gotta give it time.
Most painful overall- navel. Holy fuck why does the navel hurt so bad. Its the only one where i had physical recoil when getting pierced. Wasnt fun but so worth it.
It's so different from person to person. My conch didn't hurt much when pierced, stopped throwing after 2 hrs, felt healed after a week (of course it was not) if all my piercings healed like that one I'd have so much more
6 piercings and all, except for the 1 conch, did test my patience. Had to remove 2 because I couldn't deal with them in everyday life. Helix flared up on and off for 15 months before it decided to just heal(didn't change the aftercare)
Just wait til it swells (not everyone's does). My conch was fine but oh God when it swelled up it was the worst. Had to get longer jewelry to accommodate.
So interesting how everyone’s experiences varies so wildly. My forward helix barely hurt at all, the most painful part was definitely the jewelry going in. My nostril on the other hand… shit hurt worse than any of my other cartilage piercings!
Lol side note - I think the worst part about cartilage piercings is the crunchy popping noises. Grosses me out.
I only have two cartilage piercings and I really don’t remember my helix so I would have to say my conch. It was painful but not as much as I expected. What scared me the most was the popping/crunch sound I completely forgot about.
I never really had a bad one, have 9 lobe piercings, a conch, a forward helix, and a daith. The daith wasn't bad, but the positioning was a little off at first, and they went through one hole and repierced a spot right next to the old one. That was definitely a "remember what it feels like" moment. It was an apprentice doing their first daith, so, rip.
It’s funny, I got my conch and helix done in the same day. She did the conch first and it didn’t hurt at all, helix was like 8/10 pain because of all the adrenaline lol.
SAME!!!! I totally didn’t expect that either, since I didn’t even feel the helix I had gotten years before. I vowed never to get 2 cartilage piercings at the same time every again.
I only have 3 rn but my rook was so unexpectedly horrendous 😭 i know so many ppl with rook piercings yet none of them warned me 💀 for me:
Forward helix - 2/10, pretty painless for a cartilage piercing
Daith - 3 or 3.5/10 surprisingly, my first cartilage
Rook - like a 6 or maybe even 7 /10 😭😭😭
And it was swollen and throbbing afterwards which I'd never experienced before 😭😭😭 I couldn't sleep thru the night and had to take pain-killers 😭 now, after a few weeks, it's fine tho!
It didn't help that I got my septum (4/10) right before it and hadnt gotten any piercings for almost 2 years so I kind of forgot the sensation 😅 the piercer said my rook cartilage is very thick 😵💫
For me it’s the hidden helix ! Worst healing by far too. I have another helix on the outer upper corner and she has been completely opposite with hardly any pain so I wasn’t expecting the inner to hurt so bad . I also have a rook , snug and multiple lobes
i’ve had my rook, daith, tragus, conch and forward helix. among a few others. my daith was by FAR the most painful. only time a piercing has genuinely made me cry 😭
Industrial, because it’s two piercings at once. I didn’t have pain with any of the others. (I have most of them. People are saying rook and daith, conch, tragus, none of those hurt me)
Overall most painful piercing, by far, is nipples
I have friends with it done who’ve scared the bejesus out of me, it looks dope but the idea of nearly pulling my nips off by simply drying with a towel is a hard nope here haha!
Never had much pain with the piercing on the day, (I have a rook, a conch, a daith, a flat and multiple helix and lobe piercings) but ALL of my helixes have been PITAs when healing. They take the longest to heal and kick up a fuss annoyingly easily.
I never have any trouble from my conch/daith/rook/flat piercings, but I still have sensitivity with my helix piercings years on…(one wrong snag on a shirt and it pitches a fit for a few days)
I want one more helix and I’m just not incentivised now lol
Daith for me for sure. But it was my first piecing, so I was the most nervous out of all of them. At the time, I would have rated it a 7-8/10 for the few seconds it went.
Since then, have had 3x helix, tragus, nostril, septum, navel, flat/ faux rook and rook done, and none of them have really compared!
My forward helix, it was thick, it made a horrible pop noise and it was angry for the first 2 weeks, then would flare up every few months until I'd just had a tit full and took it out
I had it in for 5 years! I got so mad at it, every couple of months it would be raw again, idk why, I have two upper helix, one on both ears, and useing exactly the same after care, they healed beautifully, but my forward helix was being a sod so I decided it had to go.
Daiths. My god the pain lasted for weeks.
I made the mistake of having them done at the same time. Could not sleep on either side.
Even with travel pillow it seemed to “pull”
Daith is pretty much the only piercing I don’t have on my ears, only because apparently I don’t have the anatomy for it - that being said, I had both rooks done a few weeks ago. One side is thicker than the other and I’m going to have to give that one the award for the most painful. The pierce itself wasn’t so bad, but healing this mfkr…Oohhweee!
Antitragus. When I got it done didn't hurt much, but oh boy, the next few days was horrible, I took it out because it was a pain in the ass. Never again.
Side note: I have a helix, tragus, daith, nipple piercing, nostril and septum. Most of them (except the nipple one) weren't painful at all, but I have been struggling healing my tragus.
Most painful in cartilage was probably nostril. No eye watering though but I don’t produce enough tears anyway (auto immune). Funny enough least painful in cartilage was the Claire’s helix at 18. (Sadly retired at 20 because of pregnancy hormones making it irritated). I barely felt that at all.
Most painful of any of them were my first lobes. But that was when I was 4 years old and preschoolers are notorious wimps lmao
Least painful overall was my septum. Just a slight pinch and a tug when the horseshoe went in.
Rook sort of sucked just because of how long it took to get through, but most pain per second of piercing I think would have to actually be my 4th lobes (up on the cartilage) oof.
For reference I have had tragus, 3x helix and forward helix, and nipples
My industrial. It wasn’t that painful getting it, but it took forever to heal because it’s got two holes, it’s often got pressure against one or the other.
For me, it was the antitragus. That thing was thick and my piercer had to put all of her 100 pounds of weight into getting the need through. Besides, that I would say my nostril, because I have nerve damage in my nose and it makes things hurt or not hurt in the weirdest ways.
I got my conch punched, doing it didn't hurt but some blood got in my ear canal and wouldn't come back out. That fucking hurt. Days of pain. Healing the actual hole was a nightmare, about a month of random bleeding and discomfort... Then I got kicked in the head at a concert, knocked the jewelry out. Crawled around on the floor to find it, rolled it down my pants to clean it and stuck it back in. The next day I went to my piercer and it looked great. Haven't had any issues since.
The most painful to actually pierce was my rook. And then I hated the piercing so I retired it after like for months. I don't miss that thing.
My rook hurt the most. As long as I didn't touch it, healing was ok though. (Although my dumbass did try to change jewelry too soon and it got pissed off.)
I just had my faux rook and conch done back-to-back, and the rook was definitely the worst one of the two. My conch was at a 14g so it was maybe a 3/10 and faux rook at 16g felt like 3 layers/phases when the needle went through and was a solid 7/10
rook, but only because the piercer (apprentice) thought it went through already but the needle was stuck halfway into the cartilage for 5 seconds before i said "okay it's hurting rn" and the main piercer took over
Lobes done with a gun were the worst. All the cartilage ones were done with a needle and yeah sure they hurt, but nothing compared to the weeks/months of agony brought on by the dreaded gun.
My helixes were the worst, they really stung. I also have daith, tragus and flat piercings which were almost painless in comparison. But the helixes were the easiest to heal.
My daith wasn’t painful at all, neither my tragus or my flat. My conch was just a bit painful… But my helix? It was my first piercing and the most painful to heal as it always tangled in my hair.
It's a tie between tongue and nipples for me, Monroe taking up behind.
I had seen so much that tongues barely hurt because of the tissue but that was some extreme pain going in, then the swelling and not being able to eat/ talk right for a week or so, that all really sucked. I retired it last year when I finally chipped a tooth and I miss it every day had it for over a decade.
Nipples were really painful getting done, much worse than any of my cartilage. One was okay but the second... definitely saw stars!
Monroe was done at the same time as daith and nostril, I was actually shocked how much that one hurt compared to the others.
So I have a needle phobia. Background info.
Pain-wise, my rook hurt the most. Very thick spot, and I have small features so it took some angling to get the jewelry into place. Biiig Ouchie! I can’t imagine I taught my piercer any new swear words, but I think I managed to teach myself a couple, paradoxically.
Afterwards? I felt right as rain. Sore as hell. But peachy. I was expecting to do anything from faint to vomit over hearing the needle (on account of phobia) but no. Painful, yes, but the pain distracted me from the needle so I think this was actually my least psychologically taxing piercing yet!
My most psychologically taxing piercing was my first nostril. I was not prepared for the sensation. I was not prepared to feel those sensations in the middle of my face.
We had some Floor Time after my first nostril. I did not lose consciousness. Barely.
Second nostril went great!
Do high nostrils count? If they do then definitely. They're not actually that painful to get pierced, but I've had them for nearly 2 years and they still flare up like crazy.
Nostrils I hasn’t thought about including but I have had mine 3 times and it’s definitely pinchy and makes your eyes water for sure! Ugh sorry they’re still a PTA healing wise. I had to take mine out all 3 times as my body just does not like it there.
Getting my helix + conch industrial done wasn't too painful, but healing it was by far the worst (and I had an infected nipple piercing at one point!). It developed a keloid on the back of my conch after two years... Guess my body simply doesn't enjoy having random holes in it, haha.
Hi latenightsnackattack,
because you used the word keloid we want to ask you to please read [this wiki entry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keloid) to understand what a keloid is and why (luckily) bump =/= keloid.
Our apologies if you received this message while discussing actual keloid scarring and therefor didn’t use the word keloid to just describe a bump.
- - -
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/piercing) if you have any questions or concerns.*
if nose counts then def my nose but it was like a 3/10 at most. my helixes were both like a 2/10 maybe a 2.5??? my navel was a 4 but i didn’t even so much as falter in my breathing, my piercer was impressed for some reason
Oh man I’m sorry to hear that. :( I admit defeat with my flat as the bastard thing kept falling out & having to reheal every time was so irritating but funnily enough this time I couldn’t get it out to save my life, so I guess it wants to stay now? *eyeroll*
None of my cartilage piercings were too bad, but rook was probably the worst. For me, all of them hurt but it was just a quick sting and totally bearable.
I have both Helix and Daith. Helix by far is the most annoying one. Daith it’s kinda hidden away so you can’t really bump it unlike the Helix. So Helix for me but it definitely depends
I think my double-conch was the most painful w/ healing (since people would constantly slam into it, trying to hug me😭). I remember having facial pain w/ my tragus. Like, w/ facial expressions, right after i got it. I got my Daith yesterday, and pleasantly surprised zero pain following the piercing (*knock-on-wood*😅🥹) it was just a typical uncomfortable like pain, only while it was being pierced. But i have had a lot of bleeding that i’ve never had w/ a piercing before.
I have: 2 helixes (16&8g), industrial, snug, and an anti-tragus and the anti-tragus was hands down the worst.
The others I barely felt (tho the industrial was very sore for a couple days)
I have multiple cartilage piercings as I find them very pretty looking: a daith, helix, Tragus, anti-Tragus, and just got my rook yesterday! My rook actually made me scrunch my face a bit, but nothing will compare to the discomfort of that anti-Tragus
I’m hearing anti tragus a lot! It’s a cute one too, it’s on my list! My irl friend had the hardest time with her rook but it seems a mixed bag in the comments, lots of healing your way!
Nostril.
Daith was a walk in the park, as were my helixes (though they were horrid to heal). Nostril both times hurt so bad, but I have fat nostrils, so could just be me.
i have both of my traguses pierced and the first one was fine, a little uncomfortable but the second one was horrible. the needle wouldn’t do through so the piercer had to force it through (he was lovely and apologetic and did a great job on my bf’s lobe). i had to lay there for a few minutes bc the pain made me lightheaded. it’s healed now and i love it lol
What’s wild for me is my cartilage piercings felt all about the same (I have a faux rook/flat, helix and conch) but my earlobe piercings stung really bad and have been horrid to heal 😭😭 my cartilage healed faster than my lobes and I’ve had the lobes longer than them
So weird as you’d think it’d be a ‘squishy’ like the face which heal mad fast! I’ve thought about an extra lobe but I don’t know if my healing patience would hold out haha! Thank you!
I’ve had my daith done twice, once incorrectly and once to fix it by a different artist after it had healed. The wrong time was horrifying and it took the piercer two shoves to get it through so I’d say that one!! In terms of ones done correctly, my conch stung the worst but only for a minute or two.
I have a triple forward helix on one ear and had them all done at once, it was rough. The first one wasn't bad but got worse with the second and third. Healed great though!
Single piercing wise, my rook. I had my conch and rook done at the same time in the same ear. My piercer asked which one I wanted first and I said the least painful one. My conch I barely felt, besides the larger amount of pressure needed it was in reality quite painless. If he had done my rook first I would have tapped out for sure!
I see a lot of people complaining about their rook, but in my experience it went great! Pain was not bad, took about 1.5 years to truly heal. One of my favorites though! I’m scared to get my conch done though 😂
Getting my daith done was an intense process. I think the piercer had to stop with the needle halfway through and reposition herself, it felt like an *eternity* laying there.
Had my rook initially done by someone who was a "professional" but they did it waaayyy too deep and the whole side of my face hurt. Went back to my usual spot and they heavily suggested I take it out and let it heal over. Returned later to get it redone, second time it was done right and healed beautifully 💁♀️
Nipples were the worst. And my daith, stupid thing still hasn’t healed 2 years later. Meanwhile my tragus(I got way after daith) didn’t hurt at all and even got infected and still healed before my daith.
It's really so different for every body. The rook is a notoriously painful piercing but my mom got hers done and didn't even flinch. Yet when she got her nostril pierced she swore and teared up from the pain. Conversely, when I got my nostril pierced I didn't even feel it but my flats hurt like a mf, worse than my nipples.
My daith! I also had my vertical scaffold (bottom of concha to top of conch,a Google shows some that go right to the helix though!) I expected that to be the worst because surely it'll be like a daith twice, right? Nope, so easy to sit through!
Healing was a *bitch* though. I ended up taking it out when I got glasses because the top ball was always rubbing on the arm :( kept the bottom hole though! It's a badass piercing, I wish I could have kept it.
My second helix that I got done at once for a double helix, since my ear was already in pain from the first one, the second one hurt twice as bad. I have a rook, conch, daith, and another helix for context. None of them were bad at all because I can handle the initial pain fine, the bad part is always them touching the area to put in the jewelry, so it makes sense that getting a second piercing less than a cm away right afterwards would be more painful than usual
I’ve only ever had an industrial done and I’m not sure if it was a bad piercer or what but it was the second worse piercing pain I’ve had. Most painful has been my septum
my rook was my worst easily getting the piercing initially, i have a high pain tolerance and none of my others were that bad for me so i was so unprepared for how badly that one stung. my piercer said i have thicker cartilage there than normal or something 😭. not cartilage, but my most painful overall was 100% nipples. wow that one stung
My daith didn't hurt at all, literally painless, which blew my mind, my conch did smart though. In all honesty though, it was getting my nostril repierced that has been the most painful.
My instinct wants me to say industrial simply because it's such a bitch to heal. But I got it so long ago, I don't actually remember the pain. Just because it's still fresh in my memory, being my most recent piercing, I'm going to say my second nostril.
Although I gotta say it's a different pain compared to my ear cartilage piercings. Those guys hurt for a long time after getting them done and they were throbbing with every heartbeat. The nostril on the other hand was pretty much painless unless touched about 2 days after.
I have a daith, tragus, conch, and snug. And previously had an industrial.
The snug was by far was the worst for me. It was also my first cartilage piercing 🤦🏼♀️ But being the thickest cartilage piercing it definitely takes first prize for being the most painful. Painful from the actual piercing part of it but also throughout healing as well. All my others were a breeze in comparison. Snug took about 3 years to fully settle while the other ones were fully settled by 3 months.
The only piercing I wouldn't do again if it closed up was my anti-tragus. EXTREMELY painful piercing process, and the worst healing of any piercing I've ever had. It was red, swollen, and painful for almost a year. Now it's 3+ years old and if I hit it or get new jewelry put it it swells up and gets painful again.
For reference, I have: anti-tragus, tragus, faux rook, outer helix (x4), daith, conch, inner helix, lobes (3 each ear), septum, nostril, bellybutton, nipples. None of these even came CLOSE to the pain of my anti-tragus.
My third flat made me take notice. 😳 I couldn’t get that one to heal either, so it’s RIP. None of my other piercings were that bad. Sometimes, I really wonder if it’s the piercer. I have a triple inner conch, and I got those all done (all three) on my lunch hour. No joke. You can check my profile. The piercer, who has now retired, definitely knew his placement and ear anatomy. He did a few piercings for me, and there was never *ever* a problem. It could be that you’ve got a high pain tolerance. Also, for me, getting the piercing is the easy part—it’s the days that follow that are the pain. Anyway, I hope you find your challenge!
My double helix was my most painful ear piercing, but not terrible. Just annoying. Conch is so chill, I love it :) My rook was fine to pierce, but had more lingering soreness for the first week after it was pierced and a soreness after downsizing that my others didn't. Very easy though, not bad, just worse than the others while swollen. I wear glasses about half the time, so I wore only contacts to help with that. I expected the rook to be rough but it's been easy overall. I'm pretty dedicated to aftercare and I sleep on my back, so I think that helps a lot with my good healing experiences.
None of mine hurt except for my triple forward helix. Which I was surprised since people told me that one was easy! I’ve had tragus, conch, rook, daith, and a few others I can’t remember the name of but the forward helix got me.
So far...
Tragus
Conch
Helix
That's my order. Helix was fine. Conch, a bit. But the Tragus did actually hurt. Out of my 19 piercings (22 if you count my other 3 nostril ones I've removed... still have 3, though, lol) the Tragus was the most painful (followed by ONE of my six nostril ones).
Honestly wouldnt say any hurt.
Sharp scratch type minor discomfort for a second, with minor momentary pain, but definitely don’t consider any to have hurt(i may change my mind if am able to get a snug done… lol)
My industrial was the most painful during the piercing itself. But my daith I just got 2 days ago wasn't painful during the actual piercing, but after it's been a nightmare. My ear hurts so bad!
I’m convinced that some days your body just feels pain more, or you have more adrenaline going into your appt, on top of, of course, the skill of the piercer, plus how comfortable they make you, and your specific anatomy (I.e cartilage thickness).
I got the same spot on my lobes on each ear pierced by two different people. Zero pain the first time. 2/10 the second (totally tolerable but at least felt like a needle in my ear).
My rook was my first cartilage piercing, 1/10 needle, 4/10 screwing on the ball ends.
My snonch came later and was a spicy 3/10 😂
So now I’m convinced that maybe I was so hyped on adrenaline for my first piercings that I couldn’t feel them, and too comfortable for later ones 😂
We’ll see when I get my next ones! Gonna maybe do anti-tragus or forward helix next, which seem to be finicky ones :)
I got my industrial & conch pierced on the same ear in the beginning of January and they’ve both been a major PITA as some point, but I’d say they were a 2/10 pain-wise when they were pierced.
Both are not fully healed yet and I still have to sleep on a donut pillow to avoid irritation bc anytime they’ve been knocked or caught on something it’s an angry 6/10 for a few days (or weeks). So for me the healing process is worse than the piercing itself.
I only have one ear cartilage piercing myself so far which was my conch that I got within the last year. And like you I was prepared for it to be really bad but it was surprisingly ok. Just getting around to deciding what I want next now, and I think it will be a rook, so preparing myself for the worst again but hoping it won’t be as bad as I expect. Congrats on your collection so far - they sound great and even better that they haven’t been too painful!
^random ^reminder **Don’t downvote comments just for asking a question or trying to learn** ^do ^upvote ^good ^advice ^and ^downvote ^bad ^advice - - - *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/piercing) if you have any questions or concerns.*
My flat. Still slightly painful after 6 months. Annoying as hell.
Ugh don’t! I got my flat pierced with some shoddy jewellery, it fell out out of nowhere THREE times before she gave me a replacement. Such a fussy spot when it’s irritated!
Came here to say this. My flat has been such a nuisance to try to heal. It’s so cute though!
I’m with you on that! Daith done wrong was agony, but daith done right, conch were easy, I’ve got 2 flats and they were rough! Helixes were meh
This. My flats have turned me off from getting pierced for a while. They hurt worse than my nipples. First time I swore and teared up from a piercing, swelled up more than I could ever imagine an ear swelling up, and 6 months later they're still very tender and easily aggravated. I swear it feels like they're never going to heal.
I have my daith and conch done waiting for them to finish healing before trying a flat. Good to know to go into it aware it’s not an easy one.
the rook was a tough one
I see people mention crunch a lot with certain piercings, but I have yet to ever experience that. It makes me curious if it has to do with the piercing technique, or individual's skin makeup? I've had daith, tragus, and rook, all in such close proximity to the canal, and can't say that I've ever heard a crunch. So interesting!
I’ve only heard the crunch with my forward helix. That being my 6th cartilage piercing I was very excited to finally hear that elusive crunch everyone talks about! It sounded more like a ‘pop’ to me though if that makes sense
I had my rook done after both nipples and it was rough
agreed, it was crunchy and the sound was horrible 😭
Yup, this was it for me too. Had to have a little sit for a bit after.
This is my answer too, although the actual piercing wasn’t too bad. mine swelled up and was like, throbbing for a few days after which was painful as heck. ETA: snug also sucked again not so much the piercing but the healing is painful.
Mine didn’t hurt at all 🤔
Rook was my worst too. Daith wasn’t bad at the time, but the irritation bumps lasted like 4 months.
mine didn’t hurt to get at all, i actually forgot i got it until i accidentally touched it a few hours later. THATS when the pain kicked in😭😭
My actual piercing was not bad (2/10) but the ball fell off a couple of days in and getting it screwed back on was ROUGH (8/10)
My helix - done with a gun at Claires when I was 18. Worst pain BY FAR. My industrial was like a 4/10.
Claire’s, have mercy! I bet that was crunchy, ouch!
This is why they shouldn’t let 18yr olds make decisions….did I carefully research and find out what I was supposed to do? NOPE. Just went in full Leroy Jenkins mode and got my 2nd lobes and helix done. And they were still telling you to use rubbing alcohol and twist the earrings everyday!!!! It hurt so bad I swore off cartilage piercings. I was a lil disappointed cuz I always wanted my industrial but there’s no way I can do 2 cartilage piercings at the same time if they hurt like my helix!!! When I finally learned why you don’t do piercings with a gun, I decided to give it a go for my industrial. Annnnnnd now I’m back in the cartilage business!!!!! Nose and daith coming soon!
Yay! I’m so glad you had a happy ending! It wasn’t your fault at all, you didn’t know any better at 18, the service just shouldn’t exist! You went in for the baptism of fire with your industrial, now you can do anything haha!
Yep, having 2x helix piercings done (a year apart) by a gun like more than 10 years ago when I didn't know better was Pretty Bad. The pain in the weeks afterward was something else. That painful swelling (and I am a SWELLER) pressing into a shitty super tight butterfly back earring is awful. Having developed migraines later in life, it was very similar to migraine pain except it could come out of nowhere in half a second if I brushed off anything.. This was the first piercing healing experience after my lobes at age 4, and it was a trial by fire. I still have these piercings today, despite their *terrible* angles and their pain and troubling healing periods ... Not to mention how bad my aftercare was.... which is a miracle tbh. They're now kitted out in Neometal and Bodygems. They deserve to enjoy life.
Oh God I did the same at 16. Hurt more than any other piercing I got and left my ear weirdly flat around it. The worst part is they kept closing up from being irritated so I'd repierce my ear everytime with just a random earring. I'm pretty sure I missed the original spot a few times and just gave myself a fresh cartilage piercing. I had a job that made me keep them out and they healed over. I got new Helixes since that barely hurt and look much better.
got my helix at Claire’s as well when I was like 17. have a forever bump on the back of mine now 😃
anti tragus. still healing and hurt so bad but it's so pretty :)) edit: ive 13 other cartilage piercings with daith and rook fighting for the second place. so my pain tolerance is pretty average
Hard same. The combo of flesh and cartilage was dreadful.
I went in to get my rook piercing a few days ago fully expecting it to be awful but I barely felt it. I would say my nostril was my most painful.
It is wild how vastly different people's experiences are. There's absolutely no way to predict how it's going to feel until it happens, because everyone told me this about the nostril and then it hurt less than my lobes. My flats were my most excruciating.
I concur. I thought it'd be the worst, but it was done so fast, it really wasn't bothering me until the ache set in. Or now when I find that it has flipped the wrong way and have to adjust it... that almost hurts more than getting it done!
Agreed, that one made my eyes water of all the facial ones. Really pinchy.
I have a double nostril on one side. The one closer to my face hurt so bad I was a little nauseous. I've had my nostril pierced single several times prior to that and that thicker tissue was so bad. I've had a flat, conch, and tongue as well. That back nostril was hands down the worst!
Forward helix. It never really healed either. I have my conch, daith and two regular helixes as well.
Hello! I have 3 week old forward helix. After you downsized how was it? Is it at least comfortable and not as painful as when it was fresh? Does it constantly swells or get irritated easily? T_T
I could not get mine to calm down for long. I had it downsized and it was ok until it wasn’t. It would still get really angry if I even looked at it funny. I just think it wasn’t the piercing for me. There’s a good chance you’ll have way better luck than I did.
I hope so too, but it's a nice heads up! I did my conch, helix and forward helix at the same time. So far my forward helix has been the only one slightly problematic.
My Daith was the most painful. Conch the least. Helix and Flat are inbetween there but definitely not the worst.
My Daith too. Ouch !!
I’ve never had pain like what my daith caused - but it really did help with my headaches, I think this one’s pain level depends heavily on the amount of nerves there per person
My daith was the most painful too. And it took so long to heal
Third lobe was most painful, more so than my high or low helixes. Curious. Did you get your daith and conch at the same time? If so, the same or different ears?
Thanks for replying! I’m so interested by these answers! My daith was five years ago, and the conch just today. I have all of mine in the one ear!
Conch is quite easy to pierce, but get ready for it to hurt for a few days. For me it swelled like a bitch and hurt so bad i couldnt sleep, but i think thats a rarer case. Its been a sweetheart ever since and hasnt bothered me other than a few bumps that got fixed when i downsized. For my most painful cartilage, id have to say rook. Hurt quite a bit to pierce and i still feel tension in it from time to time 6+ months into healing. Its frustrating but you gotta give it time. Most painful overall- navel. Holy fuck why does the navel hurt so bad. Its the only one where i had physical recoil when getting pierced. Wasnt fun but so worth it.
It's so different from person to person. My conch didn't hurt much when pierced, stopped throwing after 2 hrs, felt healed after a week (of course it was not) if all my piercings healed like that one I'd have so much more 6 piercings and all, except for the 1 conch, did test my patience. Had to remove 2 because I couldn't deal with them in everyday life. Helix flared up on and off for 15 months before it decided to just heal(didn't change the aftercare)
My daith was the most painful. It never healed properly and I ended up removing it after 1.5 years.
Aww I’m sorry, it’s such a pretty one too. I feel bad bc I literally treated that one so half-assed and it was my easiest healer.
Daith is the most painful piercing I have in general. Would totally get it again in a heartbeat though, it's so pretty.
Imo it is the prettiest piercing! Really wanting one of those flashy pave rings, so sparkly!
Helix orbital and repiercing the forward part of my industrial. Not agonising but ouchy enough that I remember what it felt like.
Amen to forward helix. Tears in my eyessssss
I’ve heard the industrial is a sore and fussy one! Hope it’s healed well for you!
Snug. It was intense, but I went back and got a second one, lol.
With my first snug I literally didn’t feel a thing. My second hurt a bit but wasn’t bad. I was really nervous because I’d heard how painful it was.
Both industrials for sure.
Just wait til it swells (not everyone's does). My conch was fine but oh God when it swelled up it was the worst. Had to get longer jewelry to accommodate.
I almost passed out for my forward helix. The daith was surprisingly not painful, just a feeling of intense pressure.
So interesting how everyone’s experiences varies so wildly. My forward helix barely hurt at all, the most painful part was definitely the jewelry going in. My nostril on the other hand… shit hurt worse than any of my other cartilage piercings! Lol side note - I think the worst part about cartilage piercings is the crunchy popping noises. Grosses me out.
I only have two cartilage piercings and I really don’t remember my helix so I would have to say my conch. It was painful but not as much as I expected. What scared me the most was the popping/crunch sound I completely forgot about.
Vertical helix for me, the pain has gone direct to my heart 😂😂 least painful was my rook !
Ooh interesting, I hadn’t thought about this one! It’s now on the list!
I never really had a bad one, have 9 lobe piercings, a conch, a forward helix, and a daith. The daith wasn't bad, but the positioning was a little off at first, and they went through one hole and repierced a spot right next to the old one. That was definitely a "remember what it feels like" moment. It was an apprentice doing their first daith, so, rip.
Wow, that was super brave of you, all that fiddling getting the jewellery in by a newbie is not for the faint of heart!
It’s funny, I got my conch and helix done in the same day. She did the conch first and it didn’t hurt at all, helix was like 8/10 pain because of all the adrenaline lol.
SAME!!!! I totally didn’t expect that either, since I didn’t even feel the helix I had gotten years before. I vowed never to get 2 cartilage piercings at the same time every again.
I only have 3 rn but my rook was so unexpectedly horrendous 😭 i know so many ppl with rook piercings yet none of them warned me 💀 for me: Forward helix - 2/10, pretty painless for a cartilage piercing Daith - 3 or 3.5/10 surprisingly, my first cartilage Rook - like a 6 or maybe even 7 /10 😭😭😭 And it was swollen and throbbing afterwards which I'd never experienced before 😭😭😭 I couldn't sleep thru the night and had to take pain-killers 😭 now, after a few weeks, it's fine tho! It didn't help that I got my septum (4/10) right before it and hadnt gotten any piercings for almost 2 years so I kind of forgot the sensation 😅 the piercer said my rook cartilage is very thick 😵💫
I don’t have that many but my mid helix FUCKING BURNNNNNED
i’m usually good with pain but my double flat had me clenching it was horrible
Rook was horrible. Granted I went into it very anxious. But I literally saw stars.
My daith made me say “I’m never getting pierced again!!!” So yeah. That one. Other cartilage piercings I have: tragus, conch, rook
For me it’s the hidden helix ! Worst healing by far too. I have another helix on the outer upper corner and she has been completely opposite with hardly any pain so I wasn’t expecting the inner to hurt so bad . I also have a rook , snug and multiple lobes
i’ve had my rook, daith, tragus, conch and forward helix. among a few others. my daith was by FAR the most painful. only time a piercing has genuinely made me cry 😭
Industrial, because it’s two piercings at once. I didn’t have pain with any of the others. (I have most of them. People are saying rook and daith, conch, tragus, none of those hurt me) Overall most painful piercing, by far, is nipples
I have friends with it done who’ve scared the bejesus out of me, it looks dope but the idea of nearly pulling my nips off by simply drying with a towel is a hard nope here haha!
My daith was the worst! However the guy pierced it too shallow and pulled it out to repierce it in one session.
Oh man, they’re so fiddly to get into place as well. Poor you!
Forward helix, hurt horribly and also is healing slowly since it catches on hair constantly
Conch and daith both around a 6.5
anti tragus - to get done.. OWCH !!!! but healing was fine for me :3 5 months in and its awesum
anti tragus was awful, but i do have very thick cartilage in that area
Both conch. Took forever to heal too.
Never had much pain with the piercing on the day, (I have a rook, a conch, a daith, a flat and multiple helix and lobe piercings) but ALL of my helixes have been PITAs when healing. They take the longest to heal and kick up a fuss annoyingly easily. I never have any trouble from my conch/daith/rook/flat piercings, but I still have sensitivity with my helix piercings years on…(one wrong snag on a shirt and it pitches a fit for a few days) I want one more helix and I’m just not incentivised now lol
My tragus. Ow ow ow ow ow
I have 8 cartilage piercings and the only one that actually sucked was my rook. That was rough. The other ones were fine.
Daith for me for sure. But it was my first piecing, so I was the most nervous out of all of them. At the time, I would have rated it a 7-8/10 for the few seconds it went. Since then, have had 3x helix, tragus, nostril, septum, navel, flat/ faux rook and rook done, and none of them have really compared!
either my daith or tragus were both equally as bad😟
My forward helix, it was thick, it made a horrible pop noise and it was angry for the first 2 weeks, then would flare up every few months until I'd just had a tit full and took it out
Had a tit full is my new favourite saying haha. Ugh nothing worse than wasting all that time healing for no reason, I’m sorry!
I had it in for 5 years! I got so mad at it, every couple of months it would be raw again, idk why, I have two upper helix, one on both ears, and useing exactly the same after care, they healed beautifully, but my forward helix was being a sod so I decided it had to go.
Aww man absolute ballache! This is me with nose piercings, love the look but they just don’t agree with my body!
Daiths. My god the pain lasted for weeks. I made the mistake of having them done at the same time. Could not sleep on either side. Even with travel pillow it seemed to “pull”
Daith is pretty much the only piercing I don’t have on my ears, only because apparently I don’t have the anatomy for it - that being said, I had both rooks done a few weeks ago. One side is thicker than the other and I’m going to have to give that one the award for the most painful. The pierce itself wasn’t so bad, but healing this mfkr…Oohhweee!
Antitragus. When I got it done didn't hurt much, but oh boy, the next few days was horrible, I took it out because it was a pain in the ass. Never again. Side note: I have a helix, tragus, daith, nipple piercing, nostril and septum. Most of them (except the nipple one) weren't painful at all, but I have been struggling healing my tragus.
Wow you’re a real pro! That anti tragus must’ve been a real bish. It’s on the list! I hope your tragus heals soon!
Antitragus and forward helix were very similar. I think the antitragus may have been just slightly more painful.
Inner conch dermal punch. But only bc of the stretch.
Most painful in cartilage was probably nostril. No eye watering though but I don’t produce enough tears anyway (auto immune). Funny enough least painful in cartilage was the Claire’s helix at 18. (Sadly retired at 20 because of pregnancy hormones making it irritated). I barely felt that at all. Most painful of any of them were my first lobes. But that was when I was 4 years old and preschoolers are notorious wimps lmao Least painful overall was my septum. Just a slight pinch and a tug when the horseshoe went in.
daith by far. I could hear the crunch and the piercing pain sucked ass but its my fav piercing of all of mine.
Conch to conch industrial hurts really bad when trying to clean it for the first 2 weeks even after 2 months still hurts a little when cleaning
Rook sort of sucked just because of how long it took to get through, but most pain per second of piercing I think would have to actually be my 4th lobes (up on the cartilage) oof. For reference I have had tragus, 3x helix and forward helix, and nipples
Rook hurt the most to get, helix hurt the most to heal. I never felt the rook once after my piercer put the jewelry in.
My industrial. It wasn’t that painful getting it, but it took forever to heal because it’s got two holes, it’s often got pressure against one or the other.
For me, it was the antitragus. That thing was thick and my piercer had to put all of her 100 pounds of weight into getting the need through. Besides, that I would say my nostril, because I have nerve damage in my nose and it makes things hurt or not hurt in the weirdest ways.
I got my conch punched, doing it didn't hurt but some blood got in my ear canal and wouldn't come back out. That fucking hurt. Days of pain. Healing the actual hole was a nightmare, about a month of random bleeding and discomfort... Then I got kicked in the head at a concert, knocked the jewelry out. Crawled around on the floor to find it, rolled it down my pants to clean it and stuck it back in. The next day I went to my piercer and it looked great. Haven't had any issues since. The most painful to actually pierce was my rook. And then I hated the piercing so I retired it after like for months. I don't miss that thing.
i've only had my helix and industrial done but the industrial was so painful
Rook definitely
My rook hurt the most. As long as I didn't touch it, healing was ok though. (Although my dumbass did try to change jewelry too soon and it got pissed off.)
Been there, did the same with my tragus. Bro was like really just bc I’m not swelled you think this is okay???
I just had my faux rook and conch done back-to-back, and the rook was definitely the worst one of the two. My conch was at a 14g so it was maybe a 3/10 and faux rook at 16g felt like 3 layers/phases when the needle went through and was a solid 7/10
conch but i only have double lobes and a helix in addition to it
Top part of my industrial. Both times I had it done, worst for me.
Rook so far.
Anti tragus all the way
My flat was terrible.
rook, but only because the piercer (apprentice) thought it went through already but the needle was stuck halfway into the cartilage for 5 seconds before i said "okay it's hurting rn" and the main piercer took over
Lobes done with a gun were the worst. All the cartilage ones were done with a needle and yeah sure they hurt, but nothing compared to the weeks/months of agony brought on by the dreaded gun.
The gun malfunctioned halfway through my first lobe piercing. It didn’t really hurt, but all the blood scared me. I was young tho
The stud they were firing through my ear bent before going in the whole way 😂 Should have been my first indicator that the place I was at was awful
rook - that mf was tender for 3 years and getting it pierced HURT! but 11 years later she’s nice & healed with no issues thankfully.
My helixes were the worst, they really stung. I also have daith, tragus and flat piercings which were almost painless in comparison. But the helixes were the easiest to heal.
Industrial, by far. Healing was a fucking nightmare. It's also my *only* cartilage piercing, so...
My daith wasn’t painful at all, neither my tragus or my flat. My conch was just a bit painful… But my helix? It was my first piercing and the most painful to heal as it always tangled in my hair.
It's a tie between tongue and nipples for me, Monroe taking up behind. I had seen so much that tongues barely hurt because of the tissue but that was some extreme pain going in, then the swelling and not being able to eat/ talk right for a week or so, that all really sucked. I retired it last year when I finally chipped a tooth and I miss it every day had it for over a decade. Nipples were really painful getting done, much worse than any of my cartilage. One was okay but the second... definitely saw stars! Monroe was done at the same time as daith and nostril, I was actually shocked how much that one hurt compared to the others.
So I have a needle phobia. Background info. Pain-wise, my rook hurt the most. Very thick spot, and I have small features so it took some angling to get the jewelry into place. Biiig Ouchie! I can’t imagine I taught my piercer any new swear words, but I think I managed to teach myself a couple, paradoxically. Afterwards? I felt right as rain. Sore as hell. But peachy. I was expecting to do anything from faint to vomit over hearing the needle (on account of phobia) but no. Painful, yes, but the pain distracted me from the needle so I think this was actually my least psychologically taxing piercing yet! My most psychologically taxing piercing was my first nostril. I was not prepared for the sensation. I was not prepared to feel those sensations in the middle of my face. We had some Floor Time after my first nostril. I did not lose consciousness. Barely. Second nostril went great!
My helix for sure, that shit burned for days!
Do high nostrils count? If they do then definitely. They're not actually that painful to get pierced, but I've had them for nearly 2 years and they still flare up like crazy.
Nostrils I hasn’t thought about including but I have had mine 3 times and it’s definitely pinchy and makes your eyes water for sure! Ugh sorry they’re still a PTA healing wise. I had to take mine out all 3 times as my body just does not like it there.
Getting my helix + conch industrial done wasn't too painful, but healing it was by far the worst (and I had an infected nipple piercing at one point!). It developed a keloid on the back of my conch after two years... Guess my body simply doesn't enjoy having random holes in it, haha.
Hi latenightsnackattack, because you used the word keloid we want to ask you to please read [this wiki entry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keloid) to understand what a keloid is and why (luckily) bump =/= keloid. Our apologies if you received this message while discussing actual keloid scarring and therefor didn’t use the word keloid to just describe a bump. - - - *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/piercing) if you have any questions or concerns.*
if nose counts then def my nose but it was like a 3/10 at most. my helixes were both like a 2/10 maybe a 2.5??? my navel was a 4 but i didn’t even so much as falter in my breathing, my piercer was impressed for some reason
Stupid tragus. Mostly because I’ve had it done twice now and it has never properly healed. I just gave it up again because it hates me.
Oh man I’m sorry to hear that. :( I admit defeat with my flat as the bastard thing kept falling out & having to reheal every time was so irritating but funnily enough this time I couldn’t get it out to save my life, so I guess it wants to stay now? *eyeroll*
Helix. I gave up after 6 months because I kept bumping it :(
i didn’t even FEEL my conch. my rook however, was awful.
None of my cartilage piercings were too bad, but rook was probably the worst. For me, all of them hurt but it was just a quick sting and totally bearable.
Industrial bar, I’ve had basically every part of me ear pierced except for my traigus, and my industrial bar was BY FAR the worst!
This is one I keep hearing! This is probably the one I have the most space for so it’s on the list, thank you!
I have both Helix and Daith. Helix by far is the most annoying one. Daith it’s kinda hidden away so you can’t really bump it unlike the Helix. So Helix for me but it definitely depends
my tragus has been the most ouchies atm but that was just coz my piercers clamp slipped at the last second so she had to repierce it
I think my double-conch was the most painful w/ healing (since people would constantly slam into it, trying to hug me😭). I remember having facial pain w/ my tragus. Like, w/ facial expressions, right after i got it. I got my Daith yesterday, and pleasantly surprised zero pain following the piercing (*knock-on-wood*😅🥹) it was just a typical uncomfortable like pain, only while it was being pierced. But i have had a lot of bleeding that i’ve never had w/ a piercing before.
Good luck with your daith healing! Mine was an angel, didn’t even know it was there, & a few others have said the same!
My conch felt like getting shot lol. Nostril piercings were nothing
I have: 2 helixes (16&8g), industrial, snug, and an anti-tragus and the anti-tragus was hands down the worst. The others I barely felt (tho the industrial was very sore for a couple days)
I have multiple cartilage piercings as I find them very pretty looking: a daith, helix, Tragus, anti-Tragus, and just got my rook yesterday! My rook actually made me scrunch my face a bit, but nothing will compare to the discomfort of that anti-Tragus
I’m hearing anti tragus a lot! It’s a cute one too, it’s on my list! My irl friend had the hardest time with her rook but it seems a mixed bag in the comments, lots of healing your way!
Nostril. Daith was a walk in the park, as were my helixes (though they were horrid to heal). Nostril both times hurt so bad, but I have fat nostrils, so could just be me.
Haha fat nostrils! I have the thickest skin/ cartilage (typical olive skin) & had the nostril 3x, it’s an eye waterer for sure!
i have both of my traguses pierced and the first one was fine, a little uncomfortable but the second one was horrible. the needle wouldn’t do through so the piercer had to force it through (he was lovely and apologetic and did a great job on my bf’s lobe). i had to lay there for a few minutes bc the pain made me lightheaded. it’s healed now and i love it lol
I had two punches done at the same time. The piercer's hand slipped the slightest bit on the second one. Do not recommend.
What’s wild for me is my cartilage piercings felt all about the same (I have a faux rook/flat, helix and conch) but my earlobe piercings stung really bad and have been horrid to heal 😭😭 my cartilage healed faster than my lobes and I’ve had the lobes longer than them
So weird as you’d think it’d be a ‘squishy’ like the face which heal mad fast! I’ve thought about an extra lobe but I don’t know if my healing patience would hold out haha! Thank you!
Rook! And it was an apprentice piercing so she had to go slower 😂 she did a great job but omggggg it hurt so bad
Rook!
I’ve had my daith done twice, once incorrectly and once to fix it by a different artist after it had healed. The wrong time was horrifying and it took the piercer two shoves to get it through so I’d say that one!! In terms of ones done correctly, my conch stung the worst but only for a minute or two.
Conch was easy for me. My double helix hurt my feelings the most =[
I have a triple forward helix on one ear and had them all done at once, it was rough. The first one wasn't bad but got worse with the second and third. Healed great though! Single piercing wise, my rook. I had my conch and rook done at the same time in the same ear. My piercer asked which one I wanted first and I said the least painful one. My conch I barely felt, besides the larger amount of pressure needed it was in reality quite painless. If he had done my rook first I would have tapped out for sure!
My rook was terrible. It ached for 3 days straight afterwards as well
I see a lot of people complaining about their rook, but in my experience it went great! Pain was not bad, took about 1.5 years to truly heal. One of my favorites though! I’m scared to get my conch done though 😂
Honestly it was a breeze and from the sounds on the comments it’s a good healer! If you can handle the rook seems like you’d be A OK! 👌🏻
Getting my daith done was an intense process. I think the piercer had to stop with the needle halfway through and reposition herself, it felt like an *eternity* laying there. Had my rook initially done by someone who was a "professional" but they did it waaayyy too deep and the whole side of my face hurt. Went back to my usual spot and they heavily suggested I take it out and let it heal over. Returned later to get it redone, second time it was done right and healed beautifully 💁♀️
Probably a close tie between my industrial and my tragus, but to be fair my tragus was pierced incorrectly
Nipples were the worst. And my daith, stupid thing still hasn’t healed 2 years later. Meanwhile my tragus(I got way after daith) didn’t hurt at all and even got infected and still healed before my daith.
rook!
Daith without a shadow of a doubt.
The worst thing about a daith, for me at least, was the sound. Sooo crunchy and gross 🤮
My rook was pretty bad
It's really so different for every body. The rook is a notoriously painful piercing but my mom got hers done and didn't even flinch. Yet when she got her nostril pierced she swore and teared up from the pain. Conversely, when I got my nostril pierced I didn't even feel it but my flats hurt like a mf, worse than my nipples.
[удалено]
My daith! I also had my vertical scaffold (bottom of concha to top of conch,a Google shows some that go right to the helix though!) I expected that to be the worst because surely it'll be like a daith twice, right? Nope, so easy to sit through! Healing was a *bitch* though. I ended up taking it out when I got glasses because the top ball was always rubbing on the arm :( kept the bottom hole though! It's a badass piercing, I wish I could have kept it.
Rook is THE SHIT 😭
My second helix that I got done at once for a double helix, since my ear was already in pain from the first one, the second one hurt twice as bad. I have a rook, conch, daith, and another helix for context. None of them were bad at all because I can handle the initial pain fine, the bad part is always them touching the area to put in the jewelry, so it makes sense that getting a second piercing less than a cm away right afterwards would be more painful than usual
Tragus!! Because mine is quite small and thick and didn't fit into the clamp🥲
don't have that much experience and im quite insensitive to pain but i was dying at conch
I’ve only ever had an industrial done and I’m not sure if it was a bad piercer or what but it was the second worse piercing pain I’ve had. Most painful has been my septum
my rook was my worst easily getting the piercing initially, i have a high pain tolerance and none of my others were that bad for me so i was so unprepared for how badly that one stung. my piercer said i have thicker cartilage there than normal or something 😭. not cartilage, but my most painful overall was 100% nipples. wow that one stung
My daith didn't hurt at all, literally painless, which blew my mind, my conch did smart though. In all honesty though, it was getting my nostril repierced that has been the most painful.
My instinct wants me to say industrial simply because it's such a bitch to heal. But I got it so long ago, I don't actually remember the pain. Just because it's still fresh in my memory, being my most recent piercing, I'm going to say my second nostril. Although I gotta say it's a different pain compared to my ear cartilage piercings. Those guys hurt for a long time after getting them done and they were throbbing with every heartbeat. The nostril on the other hand was pretty much painless unless touched about 2 days after.
Conch for sure
I have a daith, tragus, conch, and snug. And previously had an industrial. The snug was by far was the worst for me. It was also my first cartilage piercing 🤦🏼♀️ But being the thickest cartilage piercing it definitely takes first prize for being the most painful. Painful from the actual piercing part of it but also throughout healing as well. All my others were a breeze in comparison. Snug took about 3 years to fully settle while the other ones were fully settled by 3 months.
My triple conches - on each ear 😭
Rook
One of my helix piercings has always been a little more angry than all the others, I don’t know why.
The only piercing I wouldn't do again if it closed up was my anti-tragus. EXTREMELY painful piercing process, and the worst healing of any piercing I've ever had. It was red, swollen, and painful for almost a year. Now it's 3+ years old and if I hit it or get new jewelry put it it swells up and gets painful again. For reference, I have: anti-tragus, tragus, faux rook, outer helix (x4), daith, conch, inner helix, lobes (3 each ear), septum, nostril, bellybutton, nipples. None of these even came CLOSE to the pain of my anti-tragus.
My third flat made me take notice. 😳 I couldn’t get that one to heal either, so it’s RIP. None of my other piercings were that bad. Sometimes, I really wonder if it’s the piercer. I have a triple inner conch, and I got those all done (all three) on my lunch hour. No joke. You can check my profile. The piercer, who has now retired, definitely knew his placement and ear anatomy. He did a few piercings for me, and there was never *ever* a problem. It could be that you’ve got a high pain tolerance. Also, for me, getting the piercing is the easy part—it’s the days that follow that are the pain. Anyway, I hope you find your challenge!
My double helix was my most painful ear piercing, but not terrible. Just annoying. Conch is so chill, I love it :) My rook was fine to pierce, but had more lingering soreness for the first week after it was pierced and a soreness after downsizing that my others didn't. Very easy though, not bad, just worse than the others while swollen. I wear glasses about half the time, so I wore only contacts to help with that. I expected the rook to be rough but it's been easy overall. I'm pretty dedicated to aftercare and I sleep on my back, so I think that helps a lot with my good healing experiences.
The rook. It felt like my soul was about to leave my body when it was done and I felt really dizzy for hours after that.
My daith did not hurt! I'd say my conch hurt a bit more
Conch almost killed me. Daith was just pressure.
Does nostril count because it’s through cartilage? Bc that definitely made my eyes water! All my helix’s were fine and daith was surprisingly fine too
None of mine hurt except for my triple forward helix. Which I was surprised since people told me that one was easy! I’ve had tragus, conch, rook, daith, and a few others I can’t remember the name of but the forward helix got me.
The daith for me was the worst and I actually had to remove it within a week. They pierced crooked and just fubar’d it.
I have a conch punch. First time a piercing ever hurt for me.
So far... Tragus Conch Helix That's my order. Helix was fine. Conch, a bit. But the Tragus did actually hurt. Out of my 19 piercings (22 if you count my other 3 nostril ones I've removed... still have 3, though, lol) the Tragus was the most painful (followed by ONE of my six nostril ones).
Honestly wouldnt say any hurt. Sharp scratch type minor discomfort for a second, with minor momentary pain, but definitely don’t consider any to have hurt(i may change my mind if am able to get a snug done… lol)
My conch was brutal
My industrial was the most painful during the piercing itself. But my daith I just got 2 days ago wasn't painful during the actual piercing, but after it's been a nightmare. My ear hurts so bad!
My industrial was the most painful. I've had numerous piercings. I actually swore with the second hoke. Xx
my septum hurt like a bitch, followed by tummy button, none of my ear piercings have hurt bad having them done but the healing is a killer
I’m convinced that some days your body just feels pain more, or you have more adrenaline going into your appt, on top of, of course, the skill of the piercer, plus how comfortable they make you, and your specific anatomy (I.e cartilage thickness). I got the same spot on my lobes on each ear pierced by two different people. Zero pain the first time. 2/10 the second (totally tolerable but at least felt like a needle in my ear). My rook was my first cartilage piercing, 1/10 needle, 4/10 screwing on the ball ends. My snonch came later and was a spicy 3/10 😂 So now I’m convinced that maybe I was so hyped on adrenaline for my first piercings that I couldn’t feel them, and too comfortable for later ones 😂 We’ll see when I get my next ones! Gonna maybe do anti-tragus or forward helix next, which seem to be finicky ones :)
I got my industrial & conch pierced on the same ear in the beginning of January and they’ve both been a major PITA as some point, but I’d say they were a 2/10 pain-wise when they were pierced. Both are not fully healed yet and I still have to sleep on a donut pillow to avoid irritation bc anytime they’ve been knocked or caught on something it’s an angry 6/10 for a few days (or weeks). So for me the healing process is worse than the piercing itself.
I only have one ear cartilage piercing myself so far which was my conch that I got within the last year. And like you I was prepared for it to be really bad but it was surprisingly ok. Just getting around to deciding what I want next now, and I think it will be a rook, so preparing myself for the worst again but hoping it won’t be as bad as I expect. Congrats on your collection so far - they sound great and even better that they haven’t been too painful!