The first time I ever saw a daith piercing was on a piercer at Black Hole. He had one in each ear and they looked amazing. I was in there getting another piercing looked at and was itching to get something new done anyway, but I thought I'd go home and do my research before I took the plunge. One thing that was mentioned in most of the stories I'd read on BME was an intense and painful piercing it was. But I just loved the way that it sat right in the ear and I hadn't really seen any in real life, so I decided to just suck it up and go for it.
At A Glance Author Katie Contact Katie@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Josh Studio Black Hole Location Beaverton, OR I decided to wait until my birthday. I thought it would be a nice present to myself (not to mention it was payday). I dragged my boyfriend along just in case I wanted someone to hold my hand, and we headed over to Black Hole. I had always gone to another studio in the area, but after some rude employees and bad customer service, the great service and attentive staff at Black Hole were enough to make me never look back! We walked in and I was asked what I wanted to have done. I told the piercer I wanted my daith, and he said it was his favorite piercing to do and immediately asked me what ear I wanted it in. I already knew I wanted a CBR in my left ear, and he gave me two choices of diameters and had me choose my colored ball.
Josh led us back to the piercing room and had me sit down on the little doctors table. Everything was so clean and organized, and from the very beginning, I could tell he knew (and enjoyed) what he was doing. We decided to go with the larger CBR because it would fill out the ear a little better, and he began to clean the inside of my ear. I was telling him how I had heard how much this piercing hurt, and at this point I was getting really nervous as he was preparing everything. Consequently, I don't really remember what we talked about, but he was really chatty and kept me distracted. He marked up my ear and explained that it might be a pain for me to see them, but I told him I trusted his judgement. Finally, he had me lay on my side and start breathing steadily. I swept my hair off to the side and he opened a brand new needle and bent over me, making sure I was still concentrating on my breathing. I was squeezing my boyfriend's hand at this point, and Josh was talking to me, telling me that he would pierce on one of my exhales and I would feel some pressure. I already had a feeling which exhale he was talking about, so I was semi-prepared. The needle slid through, and all the pain I had psyched myself up for....wasn't even there! I felt a ton of pressure, and a little sting, but then it was all over. It definitely wasn't the slow and painful process that I had expected.
I sat up and Josh took a look at it, letting me know that it was sitting perfectly in my ear and the ring was the perfect size. He assured me that it would swell a little and rise away from my ear a bit, but once that went down it would lie flat. I looked in the little mirror and loved it. Josh told me to come back if I ever had any problems with it and I stood up to go pay. But as soon as I got up, I told my boyfriend I was feeling a little light headed. The nice girl behind the counter had me take a seat under the air conditioning, and Josh came out with a cup of water and a big chewable glucose tablet for me. I was feeling a little hot and shaky, but not gross or anything. Josh also brought me a little cold compress to put on my neck, saying that he didn't think I probably needed it but no one had to see. He was really sweet and made sure I felt fine before I left.
It's been about 2 ½ weeks now, and the healing had been uneventful. I was doing the salt soaks as advised and cleaning the crusties off with a q-tip. But probably sometime last week, I noticed a small bump forming around the bottom hole. I HATE those and was pissed when I saw it forming. I bought some H2Ocean to use during the day at work, but it's just gotten bigger. Not enormous, but still. I'm trying out the Chamomile tea bag compresses I read about on BME and hopefully it will got down, but if that doesn't help, I'll be back to Black Hole for some advice! Wish me luck!
I still love the piercing anyway, and am glad I went through with it. If you're looking for something a little more unique, but not super noticeable, the daith is definitely the piercing for you!