OK so this is the story of my daith piercing...
At A Glance Author Kate When Three months ago Artist Emily Studio World of Tattoos Location Ruislip, UK Having spent the last 6 or so years with just one gunned (yeah, I now realise that's not good...) hole in each ear, I began to develop an interest in piercings. After putting the idea of getting my lip done on hold due to the fact I'm still trapped in a school that doesn't really allow piercings, I started looking around on BME and came across a daith piercing, one which I hadn't actually seen before but which I though looked really good and was more interesting than the generic piercings you see around. After a few weeks of deliberation, I was finally set on the idea.
I ended up with a couple of days off mid-week so, feeling the urge to spend some of my wages, I decided that this would be a good time to go and get pierced. The night before, I mentioned to my mum in passing that I was going to get my ear pierced the next day. Strangely she didn't seem to mind but said something like 'Just be aware that it's going to hurt', perhaps in a vain attempt to put me off the idea, despite her obvious realisation that I'd most likely go anyway. So off I went on the train with my mate the next day after ringing up World of Tattoos to make sure they'd actually be open when we went. Travelling in it was horrible and drizzly but this didn't seem to dampen my mood and, rather than being nervous, I was just excited about finally getting my new piercing.
Arriving at the shop I told them what I wanted and filled out the papers, going through almost straight away as, being the middle of the day on a Tuesday, it was pretty quiet. I was kind of disappointed that I couldn't get it pierced with a curved barbell like I'd wanted as they said they only do it with a CBR due to the awkward nature of the piercing but I trusted their judgement as they obviously know more about these things than me. So we went through to the piercing room and my mate was able to go in too which was good as, by this point, I was starting to feel a little bit nervous. I smelt the smell that everyone always says about on here and that, combined with the clean look of the room, assured me, even though I'd already been told good stuff by people I knew who'd been pierced there before. After Emily had marked out the position she asked me to check it over in the mirror and, although it was in quite a hard to see place, I was happy with where it was. So on with the piercing...
All the equipment and the jewellery was set out in its little packets but, after being told to lie down on the bench, because it was my left ear I was getting pierced, I ended up facing the wall so that was pretty much all I saw. Although she talked me through the procedure as she was doing it, we ended up talking about random stuff for most of the time which put my mind at ease as, apart from the odd prompt, my mind wasn't focused entirely on the fact that I was about to get a needle pushed through my ear. So after cleaning up my ear, and clamping it to check for any veins, I was told that now it was time for the piercing itself. I breathed in and on the exhale it went through. This being my first cartilage piercing, I hadn't really known what to expect, but it didn't hurt as much as I was imagining. Although this is what is always said, I would have to agree that it just felt like a lot of pressure, but I didn't hear any crunching sound.
The insertion of the jewellery was only slightly worse than the piercing itself but even that was just a bit of discomfort and not really pain as such, although it seemed to take a little while to get the ring in because of the fiddly position. My friend told me that it had only bleed enough for both ends of a cotton swab which was funny as I'd been completely oblivious to any of this happening! After this my ear was cleaned with something that made a weird fizzing sound in my ear and then I sat up and looked at my shiny new metal in the mirror. I loved it! The position was just where I'd wanted it and it looked interesting but kind of subtle at the same time.
We went through all the aftercare instructions and I was given a sheet with all the information on it. Although I didn't feel faint at all, I had that adrenaline rush and it was suggested I go and buy chocolate... a recommendation which I was happy to follow. Then we went out the front and I paid, being told to return in about 8 weeks for my jewellery change. I thanked Emily and then off we went to get that chocolate bar. On the journey home my ear was throbbing slightly but it was nothing unbearable. The miserable November weather probably helped it at this point as it soothed any burning sensation that came and went and luckily I had no problems with sleeping as I don't sleep on that side anyway.
The next day I realised that I'd forgotten to leave a tip, being all caught up in whatever else I'd been doing, so I went back to the shop that day and left the tip I'd forgotten about the day before. After that I didn't have any major problems so I didn't have to return until after the 8 week period. I did notice a bit of hypertrophic scarring developing but I bought some tea tree oil which I began to add a drop of to my usually salt soaks and this eventually started to get better.
When I went back to get my jewellery changed, despite the fact that I'd grown to like my little CBR, I asked to get it changed to a curved barbell but, after much fiddling around in my ear, it was realised that this apparently wasn't going to happen so I chose a smaller, dark blue CBR instead, which looks really awesome.
People who've seen it often look confused at how they can get a ring in that little space and assume it must have been really painful but everyone says it looks really good, which is always nice to hear, whilst I always have to explain that, in fact, the pain wasn't at all bad. I think it's safe to say I've now caught the piercing bug and hopefully, I'll be getting my left anti-tragus done in a few weeks then, after that, I might finally get that lip piercing. Anyone who is considering this piercing really should get it done as, although everyone is different, it's not as painful as you might expect and you end up with an amazing piercing.