To tell you the truth, this was kind of a random piercing. I'd never thought about getting my daith done before. I'd never even seen one until a few months before I did it, so it was all pretty sporadic, which isn't really my style, but I guess it just proves that it was meant to be. I got my left rook done when I was 15, and my left conch done a few months later. I loved them, but a year and a half later I was feeling somewhat asymmetrical and I got the itch to balance myself out. I started looking at pictures on BME, and was drawn to the daith. It's just such a nice little spot, and the piercing lays so nicely in the cup of the ear. I thought it was the perfect place and perfect size to balance out my other piercings. After visiting the studio a few times and talking to Michelle about how we thought it was simply a really pretty piercing, it was settled.
At A Glance Author anonymous When A year ago Artist michelle Studio koi Location salt lake city We went in on New Years day, after a few days of me asking my mom for this as a Christmas present. By now I felt like a pro, so when she asked if I wanted my mom to come back with me, I thought "Naaah, I'm a big girl and I can handle it." But when I hopped up on the table, after making chit chat while the jewelry was cooking and everything was being set up, she said, "I'm not going to lie to you. This is really, really going to hurt." So I blinked, swallowed, and said "Maybe I want to call my mom in after all."
I positioned myself on my left side on the table while my mom held my hand and Michelle marked the spot with the ink on a toothpick. She positioned the jewelry to see how it would lay, and experimented and readjusted it a few times to see how she liked it the best. This was really comforting, because it was good to know that she was being a perfectionist about it and that she was making sure it looked just right. She told me to take a few deep breaths and then a strong exhale, while I squeezed my mom's hand so hard she thought I would break her fingers, and the needle was pushed through.
Oh my god, the pain. I didn't think anything could outdo my conch, but the daith definitely wins. I was surprised, because while I'm not one of those people who's going to pretend that I'm a badass who feels no pain, I felt fairly confident that I would be able to handle it. I think the reason it hurt so much was a combination of three things:
1. My daith is kind of thick. It's not one of those ones that's a perfectly thin little ridge like a second rook curving around. Mine's more thick and flat, and that's a lot of ear to pierce through. I feel like this made it so that the needle going through felt more heavy and slow. I was used to a quick pinch, straight through and then it's done. But this one just seemed so... slow.
2. I think this could also maybe be attributed to the curved needle. I don't know why I think this made a difference, maybe I just wasn't used to it. But I think the maneuvering of the piercing and the curved needle contributed to the heavy, slow feeling. Just a guess.
3. The daith seems like a tricky spot, it's all tucked away behind other parts of the ear. The pain of the actual piercing wasn't really the bad part, other than it being drawn out a bit longer than I was used to. It was definitely the needle sitting in my ear between the time of the actual piercing and the jewelry being put in that was hard. I can only describe it as extreme pressure, because the needle was being pressed down so hard on my rook, which then caused it to feel like the needle was pulling up on my daith. It was just because the needle was weaved in and out of so many places that it was putting pressure on stuff all over the place. I'm sure it felt like longer than it actually was, but that was definitely the worst part.
But as soon as she slipped the jewelry in, it was fine. Like, instantly. The pain vanished and it felt like nothing had happened. Not even a hot throbbing. Afterwards, when I asked my mom what it was like to watch, she said "I don't know how to explain it, other than it was just really... big." I don't know what this means, especially since I've watched my friend get hers done since then, and I didn't see anything "big."
It felt like the healing process was going beautifully. I sprayed H2Ocean on it a few times a day, which feels really good when it's nice and cold, and every once in a while I would do a saline soak whenever it was feeling pissed off and like it needed a little nurturing. I had it for about a year without any problems other than a few crusties every now and then and some sensitivity in the beginning. But exactly a year later, it started to freak out. It didn't hurt at all, but the few little crusties turned into everyday bloody ones, which would always surprise me whenever I cleaned it with a q-tip and pulled it out to find black hardened blood all over it. I went into the studio to ask them about it, because my conch was a very stubborn healer but even that one was fine after a year. He said that a daith could definitely be harder to heal than a conch, which surprised me because it's tucked so nicely inside my ear, and again, I thought nothing could be harder to heal than my conch was, but the daith wins again.
The crankiness only lasted a month or so, and now it's fine. No more bloody crusties, and it doesn't hurt at all to move around. I thought it was really strange that the hardest part of the healing process was a year into it, but it was quick and not a big deal at all. Whenever people ask me if it hurt, I don't try to hide my wussiness and the fact that it hurt worse than anything else. But I've heard other stories of it being quick and painless, so I really think it's just because of the shape of my daith. I absolutely love it, it's just such a lovely piercing and it fits so nicely with the shape of the ear and it's subtle and pretty. If you're considering it, do it, and don't let my description scare you away, because even if your experience is similar, it's definitely worth it.