Lets talk about Daith piercings! These piercings have exploded with popularity in the last 3-5 years. And with good reason- these piercings are super fun. They fill the middle bowl of the ear with a beautiful ring, anything from simple and snug to bold and flashy. And in the days of covid, they are unaffected by mask straps, making them a particularly popular choice currently. They are a unique addition to any ear project, and the jewelry choices they offer with forward facing rings are unlike pretty much any other ear piercing. Theres a world of gorgeous rings for them these days. But, these piercings are tricky to heal, and can be even trickier to preform correctly. There also a lot of misinformation about daith piercings out there, so let’s break down everything you need to know before getting your daith pierced!
Wait….where is it going again?
If you’ve seen photos daith piercings or seen them in photos, you know you can see the jewelry, but you usually can’t see the piercing itself. It’s sucked away behind the tragus and forward helix on most ears, so the ring seems to magically float in the center of the ear. The daith actually is pierced in the connective tissue, the little ridge between the bottom of a forward helix and a tragus. Often confused with rook piercings, these are more tucked away in the ear. This can make them tricky to preform, and only a piercer with experience in the placement should be offering them. Daiths, if the angle is even slightly off, won’t heal easily. They can also migrate and reject if pierced too shallow, or angled too high. They ideally should sit evenly between the conch and tragus, and tucked into the ear. While this effect is part of what makes daith piercing awesome, it also makes them a huge pain in the ass for many to heal. You can’t see what you are cleaning! You just kinda hope you clean away all the crust and debris, and its hard to see if the piercing is irritated or grumpy. Many folks don’t catch irritations till it’s too late and they have gotten bad, because it’s so hard to see. This factor definitely makes a daith a more advanced heal then some other ear piercings for many clients. You have to be more on top of checking things to make sure you are getting them clean, and keeping and eye on the piercing as it heals. Making sure not to sleep on this piercing is also essential, since you can’t see when it’s irritated easily. Asking a friend or family member to peek for you and make sure things look clean is also a great idea. Or you can take photos on your phone to check. I also suggest against wearing earbuds or in ear headphones while this is healing. Once it's healed, that's totally fine.
What Jewelry can I wear?
Finally, the moment you’ve all been waiting for- HOOPS!
Yes, the perfect jewelry for a daith piercing is a hoop. Big hoops small hoops fancy hoops and simple hoops. It’s all fair game. Plain seam rings are about the only thing you wouldn’t want to wear in this piercing while it heals as far as hoops go. This piercing heals much better with slightly oversized rings over any other style. That said, many piercers still for some reason insist on piercing these with curved barbells. This is not great and leads to lots of issues. Curves can flip inward toward the ear canal and cause pressure irritations. They also can get stuck flipped in and are very frustrating to get flipped correctly. These should almost always be pierced with a hoop, and you can swap to a curve if you so desire once healed. Be mindful that the flipping issue can happen with curves even once healed, and honestly you can’t see the curve much anyway. As fas far as the heart style Jewlery is concerned, I personally suggest hearts for healed daith piercings only, as healing with the hearts can be difficult and the peak or V can rotate into the piercing, causing issues.
I heard these piercings cure migraines?
As a lifetime migraine suffer, boy do I wish. A rumor started years ago online saying daith piercings can cure migraines, and it’s snowballed out of control ever since. Unfortunately, this rumor in inaccurate and misleading. No body piercing can cure any medical condition. I go over this more in my post about piercings as cures, which you can read here. In short, the American migraine association has come out with a statement saying the daith piercing if anything is a placebo. There is no medical evidence it does anything to cure or help migraines. There's no major nerve ending we pierce through when we pierce it, and there’s no magic acupuncture spot either. Placebo is powerful- in drug trials people who are given the fake pill still often get better because they believe they are getting the real medication. The mind is absolutely a powerful organ, and any people who claim to be cured are likely experiencing a strong placebo effect. All we as piercers can offer are safe, well done, beautiful body piercings.
Is this easy to change on my own?
Ahh, remember that whole bit about not being able to see the actual piercing? Yeah, that bit. These piercings can be really tricky to change yourself, and a few times year clients come in who have tried and failed. With its this piercing I strongly suggest having a professional piercer assist you with changes, even once healed, unless you are very, very confidant in yourself. As an aside, when I wore my daith I didn’t change it on my own. No thanks!
How is it pronounced?
The technical pronunciation is do-th, like rhyming with goth and moth. Many folks however say daith like faith, because of the spelling. This piercing was first done by Erik Dakota. He did this piercing for his client Theresa, who requested something unique and one of a kind. After doing the first of this piercing, he asked the client to name it. She was a "good catholic girl" and had been teaching herself Hebrew, and decided to name it daith after the word daath or da'at meaning knowledge or intelligence. This piercing being named from a Hebrew word is where the pronunciation comes from!
Daith piercings are super fun, super awesome ear piercings. They add a new dimension to any ear project, and can sport some range of decorative, blingy, awesome jewelry the industry has to offer. That said, these piercings can be tricky to heal, and require some extra TLC. They also 100% do not cure any medical condition. No piercing does. Definitely take that into account before taking the plunge on this piercing!