The Rise of Tragus Piercings: A Stylish Addition to Your Studio Offerings
The Rise of Tragus Piercings: A Stylish Addition to Your Studio Offerings
As we look ahead, we can only wonder what the biggest piercing trends of the future will be. If fashion experts are to be believed, tragus piercings might be a strong contender.
A super dainty piercing that appears in the ear cartilage, the tragus piercing has recently become one of the top piercings to get. As a piercing studio, you need to be prepared. Here’s everything you need to know about the tragus piercing for your clients.
What is a tragus piercing?
Tragus piercings are ear piercings that appear in the flap of cartilage right in front of the ear canal. When you plug your ears, you might use this piece of cartilage to close off the canal and muffle noise.
Although the tragus piercing has been slowly gaining in popularity as the cultivated cartilage look has become more mainstream, it’s earned a spot as one of the piercings to get in recent years.
Variations
Those who love the tragus piercing look but are looking for something a bit more distinctive can seek out two variations: the anti-tragus and the double tragus.
The anti-tragus pierces the triangular flap of cartilage located directly above the earlobe. This piercing style paired with a carefully arranged lobe piercing look can provide a subtle yet stunning addition to any ear piercing aesthetic.
Anti-tragus jewellery is typically a super dainty hoop or teeny tiny flat-back earring.
Another variation is the double tragus piercing, which as the name implies, is simply two tragus piercings located on top of each other. This look is scarce because it needs a fairly substantial tragus to complete properly. However, if the piercee carries suitable space, the tragus earrings placed vertically creates an alluring and unique look.
Unfortunately, not everyone has anatomy that’s suitable for a tragus piercing. In this case, you can offer them the forward helix piercing, which appears in a similar location, just slightly higher in the forward rim of the ear. Another option may be the surface tragus piercing, which is placed in the skin right next to the ear. Although this surface piercing is located closer to where a tragus piercing would appear, it carries a slightly different aesthetic as a surface piercing rather than an ear piercing.
Does a tragus piercing hurt?
The short answer is probably. Let’s go into a bit more detail.
When searching for “tragus piercing pain scale 1 – 10,” you find answers ranging anywhere between 1 – 5. Because pain is an individual experience, it’s difficult to predict the tragus piercing pain that your client will experience. While one may feel nothing more than a quick pinch, another might feel very uncomfortable.
The important thing is that your clients should not feel inordinate discomfort. Although pain will probably be felt during the piercing process, it’s bearable.
How long does a tragus piercing take to heal?
The tragus piercing healing time is a minimum of 6 – 9 months. Sometimes, it can take longer (up to 12 months in some cases), and it might even take less time if the person has a propensity for fast healing. Even so, you can expect that most cases will take at least six months before healing is complete.
Encourage your clients to come to you and confirm that their tragus piercings have finished healing before stopping aftercare practices.
Because cartilage piercings take such a long time to heal, piercees commonly stop caring for their piercings much too soon as they believe them are fully healed. This leads to complications like infections, piercing bumps, and more.
To avoid any piercing healing issues, it’s best if they continue aftercare until a professional has told them that it’s okay to stop. The tragus piercing healing time is a minimum of 6 – 9 months. Sometimes, it can take longer (up to 12 months in some cases), and it might even take less time if the person has a propensity for fast healing. Even so, you can expect that most cases will take at least six months before healing is complete.
Encourage your clients to come to you and confirm that their tragus piercings have finished healing before stopping aftercare practices. Because cartilage piercings take such a long time to heal, piercees commonly stop caring for their piercings much too soon as they believe them are fully healed. This leads to complications like infections, piercing bumps, and more. To avoid this, it’s best if they continue aftercare until a professional has told them that it’s okay to stop.
Tragus piercing aftercare
Caring for a tragus piercing is the same as any other piercing. The important part is that the piercee takes care of their piercing throughout the substantial healing period.
To clean the piercing, use a piercing aftercare saline solution (containing only salt and water—no tea tree oil!) to gently clean the front and back of the piercing. This can be done by either spraying a clean paper towel with the solution and wiping the front and back or spraying the aftercare spray directly onto the piercing.
The piercee should clean it 2 – 3 times daily or if it comes into contact with something questionable.
Besides keeping the piercing clean, here are some general rules to avoid any damage:
- Do not sleep on the piercing. If the piercee is a side sleeper, they can lay on a travel pillow and put their ear in the hole so that no pressure is placed on the tragus jewellery.
- Avoid water and dampness. This means staying away from pools, hot tubs, lakes, and anything that will make the piercing damp for a prolonged period. When the piercee showers, they should immediately dab the piercing dry with a clean paper towel. After working out, they should also do their best to dry any sweat around the piercing site.
- Avoid earbuds and headphones that touch the jewellery. This can introduce bacteria and place pressure on the jewellery.
- Do not twist or touch the tragus earrings. If crusties are to form, rather than twisting the jewellery to get them off, the piercee can dab the crusties away with a damp paper towel.
Possible complications
As with any piercing, possible complications can arise. Even though most piercing complications can be avoided with proper care, sometimes an issue may occur even if everything is done correctly. Your clients must know common complications and come to you for help should one arise.
Here are the most common complications in tragus piercings:
- Tragus piercing bump: Piercing bumps are among the most common piercing complications, which can arise for a number of reasons. They may appear due to trauma to the piercing site, irritation from harsh chemicals or improper tragus jewellery, a minor localised infection, dampness, and more. If your client comes to you complaining about a piercing bump, discuss their routines, cleaning schedule, and more to try and ascertain the source of the bump.
- Swollen tragus piercing: Swelling is a normal part of healing. After all, piercings are a puncture to the body, and you must expect your body to react like it’s a wound. During the first week after getting pierced, your clients should expect some slight swelling. If the swelling is extreme or it occurs a while after getting pierced, then it may be indicative of another issue.
- Tragus piercing infection: Piercing infections typically occur due to poor hygiene (although some people simply have the propensity to heal poorly), and if one should arise, the piercee must seek medical attention immediately. The symptoms of a piercing infection include green or yellow pus secreting from the piercing, discomfort, swelling, redness, and bleeding. If you let it go for too long, you may also develop a fever. Symptoms often appear rapidly, and it’s not uncommon for someone to go to bed with a seemingly healthy piercing and wake up with infection symptoms. The good news is that tragus piercing infections aren’t all that common as long as the piercee is taking care of their piercing properly.
If your clients are wondering how to take out tragus piercing jewellery, have them come to you for help. Because the tragus piercing appears in such a small area, they might need some tips unique to their anatomy to help them learn how to change their tragus jewellery on their own.
Tragus jewellery
Tragus piercing jewellery makes the aesthetic. Because the flap of cartilage that makes up the tragus is so small, it needs the daintiest of tragus piercing earrings to fit. But, because it’s such a distinctive piercing, even the tiniest jewellery really shines in this piercing type.
Since tragus earrings are gaining so much popularity, your studio should have plenty of tragus jewellery on hand. Check out styles like sleek seamless hoops, gold tragus piercing jewellery, horseshoes, labrets with tiny gemstones, and more. We also offer threadless and internally threaded jewellery suitable for fresh and healed piercings. Tragus piercing earrings are surprisingly versatile for such a small piercing area.
How to address piercings and acupuncture
In recent years, the idea has arisen that piercings can be used to permanently activate acupuncture points and cure certain ails. This has led people to get tragus piercings for migraines and other supposed health benefits.
As much as we would love it to be otherwise, tragus piercing benefits stop at aesthetics. There is no scientific proof to support the theory that piercings can do anything besides improve your style, and most experts agree that any sort of pain relief that appears as the result of a piercing is nothing more than a placebo effect.
If someone comes to your studio seeking a tragus piercing to cure their migraines or another issue, make sure you’re upfront with them about the absence of scientific support for these claims.
If they want to get the tragus piercing because they love the look and the potential benefits would be a happy side effect, then great! You can go ahead with the procedure. If they’re seeking a tragus piercing only for the potential benefits, encourage them to try something else. Tragus piercings carry a long and arduous healing process, and it’s not worth it for a pseudoscientific theory.
Tragus piercing earrings make a sophisticated addition to any cartilage piercing look. As it’s predicted to skyrocket in popularity this year, piercing studios should be prepared to accommodate this adorable piercing style.
Publication date and/or Last Updated: September 30, 2024
Author: cesar@suprank.com
Views: 496
Copyright Holder: Acha Co., Ltd.
Company info: WholesaleBodyJewellery is owned and operated by Acha, a leading manufacturer and online supplier of piercing jewellery with more than 20 years in the industry.
