It’s Time To Retire My Cartilage Ring

The day my roommate and I got our cartilage pierced.

 

It was a brisk night in Wisconsin on November 16th, 2010. My roommate and I were up to no good. We decided to rebel and get our cartilage pierced without consulting our parents first. So we got in the car, drove to the mall, and marched right down to Claire’s. Holding hands and trying not to pee our pants, we let the piercing lady put that gun up to our ear and shoot the earring through.

Its been a love hate relationship with my cartilage ring. Whenever my ear was sore, I’d text my roommate and hers was usually sore too. It was like we were cartilage-piercing-sisters. We were connected. Both of us had the very annoying problem of having out hair getting tangled around the back of the earring. You can’t wear a Bluetooth head set on the ear you have pierced (Good thing the Bluetooth I bough only goes on the ear I have pierced). I absolutely love when it gets infected and you have to clean it and keep turning the ring so it doesn’t get stuck in one place forever. Yep, I’m really sad to see my little bit of rebellion go.

I only had the cartilage ring for four years, but looking back at all the trouble it has caused me makes me wonder if it was even worth it. It was a pretty common piercing, I can’t even imagine what people put up with who are piercings in really weird places. Or in a lot of places. What’s the point? Yes, sometimes piercings can be pretty, and its fun to buy cute earrings, but why deal with not being able to sleep on your right side because your ear is throbbing, or having to deal with the nastiness of an infection. Why do we put up with this?

How do you feel about piercings? Are they worth all the trouble?