My Curated Ear

A Curated Ear: a trend for multiple ear piercings that have been carefully planned out of mixed tiny studs and hoops that turns your ear(s) into its own gallery of charms and jewels. For some time now I've been loving this curated ear trend. I would spend hours on Pinterest living vicariously through the woman who had the most beautiful combination of ear piercings planning out how I would like to begin my very own collection. I was a bit hesitant since in the past I have had the worst luck with healing piercings. At the moment, I have a total of ten ear piercings. I purposely focused on adding the majority of jewelry on my left ear since I normally sleep on my right ear. This would be best for me with the healing. Towards the end of Spring, I was determined to begin building the dream of my very own curated ear but I wanted to start off small and slow. I got in touch with one of my friends, Sonia, that's a professional piercer and we started off with getting the second hole on my earlobes re-done.

After my friend pierced my lobes, weeks went by and I never had any issues with the healing. Ear lobes usually take about 6-8 weeks to heal. I waited about 10-12 weeks before changing the earrings out to these solid gold sphere studs from Mejuri. In the past years, I always went to Claires and got my lobes pierced, apart from my first set of holes which was done when I was a baby. As we all know Claires only pierces by using a piercing gun which is a huge no-no! I realized that could have been the main reason why my piercings wouldn't heal, along with having very sensitive skin of course. I knew I wanted a lot more piercings so every time I got a new piercing I made sure to wait at least 3 weeks before moving on to the next spot. That way I can give my previous piercings a few weeks to heal before adding a brand new one into the mix.

Since my lobes were healing so well I started doing research on how to properly care for a piercing and what to do if your piercing becomes infected, irritated, or if a keloid grows. Keloids are those annoying and ugly bubbles that tend to grow on either end of the piercings. I wanted to take all precautions just in case I'm faced with any issues I was determined to get more piercings, and my friend also gave me a couple of tips and tricks. Years ago I had gotten my tragus pierced about 3-4 times because it wouldn't heal properly. After weeks of it only getting worse, I always ended up having to get it removed which pained me since I loved that piercing so much. I did not want this to happen with any future piercings. The last thing you want to do after going through the initial pain of getting a piercing and spending money on it only to end up getting it removed due to issues during the healing process. Taking care and healing a fresh piercing is such tedious work! It also takes a really long time until a piercing is completely healed and they all differ from the location. I will talk about how I healed and took care of my piercings when they were swollen, irritated, hurt, or if a keloid grew towards the end of this post.

The next piercing I added to my collection, very spontaneously I may add, was my conch. Cartilage piercing takes anywhere from 3-6 months to heal possibly even 9 months. It definitely takes the longest to heal and I have found they can be some of the most tedious spots to heal as well. Cartilage heals in cycles so when you think you've surpassed the worst and it's looking good, it will take you back to the beginning of the healing cycle. It's all worth it though! The conch was a piercing I had gone back and forth whether or not I wanted to get it. I wasn't sure if it would go with the vision of piercings I planned on getting but it quickly became one of my favorites. What I love about this piercing is that it's an instant eye-catcher. You can pretty much see it immediately once you're facing me and that's exactly what I want. I want people to be able to see the pretty piercings and jewels I have going on in my ear. The earring I have is a crystal trinity that I got from Body Jewlz, the local piercing shop I go to. This spot was one that hurt because the skin is a lot tougher. The sore and tenderness lasted a week and a half. This piercing has been healing pretty well but I've noticed that if I slept on my left ear the pressure would cause a keloid flare-up. This was when I started sleeping with a travel pillow and it's one thing I highly suggest you get if you're considering building a curated ear. You'll be able to safely sleep on your ear without putting any pressure on your fresh piercings and prevent causing any irritations.

For the following piercing, I had done was one I that I had wanted so badly and it was the daith. This spot didn't necessarily hurt but I felt a lot of pressure when having it done, maybe because it's such a tight spot and I have small ears. I think this piercing is so cute especially with this solid gold circled hoop with a small diamond, also from the shop I go to. It looks so delicate and it's a piercing that doesn't really get in the way since it's so snug inside of the ear. I didn't get too many keloid flare-ups in this spot until I switched out the ring to this one. Afterward, it was a little sensitive for a couple of weeks but having a very strict cleaning schedule did the trick. I'd also like to add that when I got this pierced I wasn't able to use my airPods on my left ear anymore so that it wouldn't interfere with the healing process which was a bit of a bummer. As time has passed I occasionally use my left airPods and when I do I try not to put too much pressure on the piercing itself so I won't irritate it. The daith piercing has been said to help relieve migraines. I'm not sure how true or false this is, it's still cute though.

The next time I went to get more piercings I got a total of three. I decided it was time to add a third piercing on my earlobe and I also got my helix pierced. I don't know if I'm the only one but I feel like getting your earlobes pierced with a needle hurts so much more than having it done with a piercing gun! I still have in the stud I got from when I had it pierced on my left ear and I changed the one on my right to an old larger diamond stud until I decide on something permanent. Surprisingly, the helix stung for a split second and I didn't feel anything afterward. This piercing did remain a bit sore and sensitive for about a week and a half afterward. I haven't had any problems with it and it's also been the easiest piercing to heal thus far. This is another one of my favorites especially since I knew this spot would be perfect for this north star earring from Maison Miru. I ordered it specifically for this spot and I love the meaning Maison Miru has for this and a lot more of their earrings. On their website, it says that the North Star stud earring is "a tiny little starburst that guides you where you need to go. Wear it as a reminder to follow your true path." This is such a meaningful earring to me.

About a month later I got my forward helix pierced. This was another spot that didn't really hurt when I had it done. It was also sore for a little over a week, and it hasn't given me issues. I thought this was going to be a piercing that would get hit a lot given it's 'forward' in my ear, it'd be more prone to getting in the way or hit. However, I rarely even touch it and maybe I've hit it a total of two maybe three times accidentally. I've probably already said this too many times in this post but this piercing is such a cute and dainty spot. I just love the placement of it and I can't wait to eventually change it out to a different earring once it heals.

In case you're wondering the pave lightning and moon earring in my lobes are also from Maison Miru. Their cartilage and flat back earrings are wonderful. They are made of solid implant grade titanium. These two earrings also have wonderful meanings which you can find out more if you check out their website.

Cleaning and caring for my piercings:
If my piercing is doing good and looks great I still clean it with saltwater spray twice a day. I won't touch it at all, and when I'm in the shower I let the warm water run over all of my earrings. As soon as I see a keloid growing I grab a Q-tip and drop a few drops of tea tree oil onto it and then dab it all around the keloid and the hole it's growing on. Tea tree oil is really good to use because it will help dry it out. I'll usually apply this twice a day after I've sprayed my piercings with sea salt spray and then let it dry before going in with the oil. I'll continue this regimen until the keloid is gone. I've noticed that some keloids are a bit stubborn than others and no matter how well I clean and treat them with the oil it won't budge. This is when I start using aspirin paste. I create this by grabbing a few aspirin pills and crushing them very finely and then adding as much water necessary for it to turn into a paste-like consistency. With a cosmetic brush that I only use for this, I apply enough to cover up the keloid. I try doing this 2-3 times a day until that keloid is completely gone.

I switch things up to see what will work and if one doesn't I try the other way. Healing takes time so does getting rid of a keloid. Don't get discouraged if you feel you've been taking very careful care of your piercing and that ugly bump is still there. I've had ones that's lasted a good two weeks and are now completely gone.

Another major thing to consider is the jewelry you put in your skin. I can't use anything fake, my skin will get extremely angry and irritated you don't even want to know the infection it can cause. I've learned this the hard way. I can only use real gold in my ears or titanium, everything else isn't even an option.

One last tip I have to share is if your piercing seems to be infected one thing I did when my daith was a bit swollen and sensitive to the touch was submerge my ear in a cup of warm salt water for five minutes twice a day. I did this until I felt the piercing was looking a lot better and it really made a difference.

We have reached the end of this post. I have a few other piercings that I would love to ultimately add to my ear and start on my right ear eventually. Are you into ear piercings too? What piercings do you have or would you love to get? If you have any questions please feel free to ask me below!