There are a wide range of piercings available to choose from, especially on your ears - however the cartilage piercing remains one of the most popular spots to have pierced, and has a truly wide range of jewellery available to wear in a cartilage piercing.
A cartilage piercing, is typically a helix piercing located on the outer rim of the ear. This type of piercing can typically take a little longer to heal but will offer you a wider choice of locations for the piercing. If you're looking for a little piercing inspiration then places like Instagram and Pinterest can be excellent sources of cartilage piercing imagery.
As we have mentioned previously, cartilage piercings can take a while to heal - typically six to twelves to fully heal. This is due to this area of the ear having lower blood flow, compared to lobes for instance - which will typically heal in three to six months. Healing time can also be influenced by how well the piercing is looked after - remember to keep it clean!
We really do recommend investing in some piercing aftercare - we recommend cleaning the area twice daily with a saline solution, which you can usually find at a pharmacy (or your piercer may give you some when you have your piercing done).
Don't rush out to change your cartilage jewellery - we know it can be tempting to get something a bit more extravagant however we always advise keeping the original stud in until your piercing has fully healed. Cartilage piercings are slow to heal, and by changing the jewellery before it has fully healed you may run the risk of it not healing correctly, an infection, or the piercing rejecting the new jewellery entirely.
If you are a side sleeper then you may find sleeping with a new cartilage piercing a little tricky initially. You may have seen the memes about sleeping on a fresh piercing online - however the struggle is real. Try to avoid sleeping on a healing piercing as it may end up causing irritation, or even an infection.
You can have multiple cartilage piercings at once, if that's your style. This will allow you to build that perfect earring stack - however we recommend only having one ear pierced at a time (think back to the side sleeping issue).
Now for the fun part - choosing the jewellery. Well, you're in luck here as the cartilage piercing is a versatile one, which will suit pretty much anything you want to put in it. We have a wide range of flat back studs, threaded studs, chain linked studs, captive rings, bendable hoops and even barbells that will work with a cartilage piercing - let your imagination run wild!