The classic helix piercing - a piercing channel higher up on the ear - is the most popular and most frequently pierced new 'ear piercing'.Ear piercings are in! No other part of the body can be pierced as individually and in as many different ways as our ears. The trend is clearly towards multiple ear piercings - ideally coordinated with one another, like the trendy curated ear.

Why just one piercing when you can have several? The more, the better! It all started with normal ear piercings in the earlobe and over the last few years many new variations have become established in the field of ear piercings. The classic helix piercing - a piercing channel higher up on the ear - is the most popular and most frequently pierced new 'ear piercing'.

Before getting their first piercing, most people have already had regular earrings pierced, are familiar with the healing process, and expect a similar healing process for their new piercing.

Piercings in the cartilage area have a longer healing time

Why? Cartilage has no blood vessels and is therefore very difficult to nourish.However, most ear piercings are done in the cartilage area and not just through the soft fatty tissue in the earlobe. The piercing channel, which has to heal, also goes through the elastic cartilage tissue in the ear and this ensures that the healing process is somewhat different and more difficult for the body. Why? Cartilage has no blood vessels and is therefore very difficult to nourish.

This is not a problem and can happen even if you take care of it seriously and look after the new piercing channel well.So you need a little patience when it comes to healing your new ear piercing. You should allow between 3 and 6 months, in some cases it can take up to 12 months for the piercing to heal completely. This is not a problem and can happen even if you take care of it seriously and look after the new piercing channel well.

What should I pay attention to during healing?

• No sauna, solarium or swimming pool visits in the first 4 - 6 weeks

• Do not allow shampoo or other care products to come into contact with the fresh piercing

• Wear a braid at the beginning so that the hair does not get caught in the jewelry

• Do not use hairspray or dry shampoo on the pierced area

• When removing or removing make-up, make sure that you do not touch the piercing

• Be careful when combing

• Change the pillowcase weekly in the first month

• No bathing or diving/snorkeling holiday in the first 6 weeks

• Avoid wearing a 'towel turban' after washing your hair

• Large headphones (sometimes also in-ear headphones) should be avoided

• Please also avoid caps, hats, wigs etc. if they touch the ear

• Touching the piercing in the first few weeks (if) only with clean hands

• Do not allow foreign body fluids to come into contact with the fresh puncture channel

• In order not to negatively affect the angle of the piercing, do not sleep on it

• Do not remove or move the jewelry - not even to clean it

• Changing jewelry too early

• Do not over-care, gently cleaning twice a day is enough

• Do not use Octenisept to care for the cartilage area!

• Have patience. Have patience. And then have some more patience

Don't let the length of the list put you off! It's actually just things you shouldn't do. A common mistake is to worry too much about the new piercing because you want to give it extra attention and care so that it heals faster.

Over-care disrupts healing

Imagine you want to cook dinner. The ideal conditions for making a good meal are a well-equipped kitchen, all the ingredients, and enough time to prepare everything. If someone interrupts you every few minutes and takes your knife away or throws ingredients on the floor, the dinner may not taste as good as it would if you had had peace and quiet while preparing it. You can imagine the same thing with the healing of a piercing.

Your body knows what to do and the best way to support it is to not disturb it and to ensure that the piercing is free of crusts and stress.Unfortunately, if you take too much care of your body, you often end up with the opposite. There is no product in the world that can do the job your body does, but you can support it. Imagine you want to cook dinner.

The ideal conditions for making a good meal are a well-equipped kitchen, all the ingredients, and enough time to prepare everything. If someone interrupts you every few minutes and takes your knife away or throws ingredients on the floor, the dinner may not taste as good as it would if you had had peace and quiet while preparing it. You can imagine the same thing with the healing of a piercing. Your body knows what to do and the best way to support it is to not disturb it and to ensure that the piercing is free of crusts and stress.

The right jewelry is crucial for healing

There is now so much beautiful piercing jewelry that is also suitable for first time use that you have the full choice from simple balls with no frills, to the smallest shapes and simple glitter stones, to opulent attachments with several luxury piercing jewelry with diamonds .In addition to proper care, it is also important to get a suitable piece of jewelry for the first time. What should you look out for? There is now so much beautiful piercing jewelry that is also suitable for first time use that you have the full choice from simple balls with no frills, to the smallest shapes and simple glitter stones, to opulent attachments with several luxury piercing jewelry with diamonds .

No matter what your heart beats for, the following points should be considered when choosing the first jewelry for a fresh piercing:

• Compatible material to which one does not react. The jewelry comes into direct contact with the bloodstream and is The surgical steel offered in drugstores and accessories stores is not suitable for first use,the body. It should be accordingly safe. Bio compatible titanium is the most common material for this, but nickel-free gold or niobium are also suitable. The surgical steel offered in drugstores and accessories shops is not suitable for first use,

• A suitable attachment that is not too big or too small and does not make cleaning difficult or even impossible.

• A simple titanium ball is perfect. But both this - and the corresponding plug - should be made of titanium, which is made to stay in the body and should be flush with the back.Well-made jewelry. The higher the quality of the jewelry, the better the piercing can heal. Very important: We don't mean that you have to use 18 carat gold to get a piercing that heals well! A simple titanium ball is perfect. But both this - and the corresponding plug - should be made of titanium, which is made to stay in the body and should be flush with the back.

• Extra length is also important at the beginning. The freshly inserted piece of jewelry should be a little(!) too long, as a small swelling is to be expected. This must be compensated, otherwise the piercing stud will be too tight and cause problems. This should be exchanged for a suitable stud after about 6 - 10 weeks, when the swelling has gone down.

• Studs are almost always better suited to healing than rings. Since rings are round, they do not sit 'straight' in the piercing channel and press on the piercing channel at the entry and exit points, which is a guarantee for problems with healing. This problem could of course be solved by adjusting the ring size, but this is usually not visually appealing and leads to more movement on the piercing channel due to the large ring. This in turn also leads to problems with healing.

It is best to seek advice from a piercing studio and trust the opinion of the piercer if he or she advises against using a piece of jewelry as a first-time piercing.

External influences and good timing

Before getting a piercing, you should consider whether you have a beach holiday planned for the following weeks, are going through a stressful exam period or are sleeping in a tent at a festival for a long weekend the next day.

What to expect during the healing process:

Lack of sleep, excessive alcohol (or drugs), stress, poor personal hygiene, extreme temperature changes and poor diet all have a negative impact on the healing of a piercing. Anything that puts stress on the body also puts stress on the healing process. This does not mean that the piercing will not heal. But it may take a little longer or increase the normal minor irritation that occurs during healing. This can make you feel insecure and then you start to worry, which in the worst case leads to overfeeding, which can then cause problems. What to expect during the healing process:

• Slight redness around the injection sites

• Slight swelling around the puncture channel

• leakage of wound fluid

• Light crusting around the puncture channel - this should be gently removed

• Possible bleeding in the first 8 days

• Slight burning or tenderness in the pierced area

• Fluctuations - sometimes it feels better, sometimes a little worse

• Mild itching

Ideally, you will receive written care instructions after the piercing, which have been individually put together by the studio. It should not only be important to a good piercing studio that you are happy immediately after the piercing, but also that you are still happy in 6 or 12 weeks because your piercing has healed well and the jewelry still looks nice.

One thing should always be clear: every body is different and can react differently. Comparisons with your friends often only lead to insecurity.In addition, the studio should always be willing to take time to answer your questions - if you don't feel like you're in good hands, you can always go to another piercing studio and get a second opinion. One thing should always be clear: every body is different and can react differently. Comparisons with your friends often only lead to insecurity.

Patience, patience, patience

A piercing heals from the outside in. This means that the puncture sites or the entrance and exit of the piercing channel look healthy much sooner than is the case in the middle of the piercing channel. The cartilage area is poorly supplied, which is why we need to give the body time to heal there.

Unfortunately, the good looks and the fact that the piercing no longer hurts in everyday use tempt many people to change the jewelry too early. This can lead to problems that set you back a long way in the healing process and in the end you have to wait even longer for the longed-for small ring in the helix piercing than you would have had to if you had waited the minimum of 3 months straight away.

In any case, we wish you happy healing and don't forget: patience is the key to a happy piercing.

So you always reward yourself if you accept a little more waiting time and only exchange the piercing once it has healed completely. Even if this takes up to 12 months. In any case, we wish you happy healing and don't forget: patience is the key to a happy piercing.