Inside: Cool examples of the flat piercing ideas to try. 

I’m loving the different ways of piercing your cartilage these days! I suppose we refer to the cartilage as the helix now… And the flat piercing is one of these cute new trends I’m loving to see!

Back when I was in high school and it was starting to become popular to get different piercings on your ears, there were a few options and we called them the triple (lobe), tragus, and the cartilage. And that was about it for a while. Again, now the cartilage piercing on the top of your ear is more commonly called the helix piercing because there is so much of your cartilage to pierce these days that you have to have specific names for each one.

The flat piercing literally is the flat part of your cartilage below your helix. Easy, right?

Two girls with flat piercings

The flat is my new favorite so I wanted to give you a deep dive on what it’s like to get it done, how much does it cost, etc. So if you’ve been considering this piercing, check out these examples as to why you should get it!

How Much Does A Flat Piercing Cost

Cartilage piercings are likely going to cost between $40 to $80. Where you land in this price range is going to depend on where your shop is and how experienced your piercer is. This price does not include jewelry prices.

Don’t go cheap on your piercer’s experience. Knowing you have a piercer you can trust is going to make this process so much better, and you can move forward with the healing part knowing everything has been done well up to that point.

The Geographic location of the shop is a different story! You can find cheap shops and expensive shops solely based on the part of town you’re in, so if you think that’s why a shop might be more expensive, go ahead and look around for one that is more practical.

Essentially, don’t always go with the cheapest option just because you can. You might be a risk taker and odds are, the piercer is fine, but you don’t always want to take a chance on your pierced skin!

How Much Does It Hurt

Cartilage piercings are pretty hit or miss if they’re going to be pretty painful or not.

And piercings are generally hard to gauge on the pain scale because it’s so different for everyone!

Overall, any area that is mostly cartilage is tougher to pierce so it’s going to be a little more painful. When it takes a little more work to get the needle through, it’s going to make the area a little more tender and sore. The flat part of the cartilage is thicker than most.

You will feel soreness for the next few days, maybe a couple weeks, but you won’t be seething with pain! Tough it out in the chair and you’ll be good.

How To Heal And Not Get Infected

Luckily, cartilage piercings are easy to get to to clean and manage while healing.

You do have to stay on top of your hair though and make sure it’s not getting tangled or pulling on the new jewelry.

If it does, don’t yank on it to clear it, you’ll want to spend some time unwinding the hair around the earring.
This doesn’t happen often, at least not for me, but it is something to be aware of while healing a new piercing on the top of your ear.

You’ll want to take a saline-soaked cotton swab and gently douse both sides of the piercing with it. Once it starts to heal a bit, move the earring around so that you can get under the stud as well. Do this twice a day.

The healing process for a cartilage piercing takes a little longer, as it’s an area with far less blood flow to heal a hurt spot. It can take anywhere from three to six months to fully heal.

What Does The Scar Look Like

Luckily, cartilage piercings don’t usually leave a scar! Woo!

Honestly it’s in an area you don’t have to worry about too much anyway, and scar tissue will always do it’s thing, but you won’t find a massive scar left from the flat piercing.

Three girls with ears full of piercings

Flat Piercing Ideas

With a piercing this versatile, it’s hard to know where to start when you’re ready to start buying jewelry for it. Here are some of my personal favorite ideas free to try!

I love sparkle, I love funky, and I love mixing and matching styles with different ear piercings!

When I’m adding more and more jewelry pieces to my ear, I like to think about how I can make each one dynamic and change it up a bit. Something I would normally put in a first lobe, I put in the second, and add a textured hoop to my rook? Yes please!

Try these ideas for your flat piercing.

1. Little Star
2. Stud And Bolt
3. Triangle Stud
4. Five Stud Star

Minimalist piercings

Minimalist Flat Piercing Ideas

While being funky and adding crazy stuff to every piercing is fun, we all love a good minimalist style. Especially in the last few years, minimalism has taken over!

If you’re a huge fan and a lover of all things minimal, some beautiful sparkly studs or a flat metal stud is going to be perfect for you. Or if you’ve already got a lot going on with different piercings and styles, throwing in some chill pieces never hurts either! It’s all about balance.

Check these out.

5. Diamond Line
6. Pear Shaped
7. North Star
8. Ball Stud

Jewelry Ideas for the flat piercing

Jewelry

In the era of Etsy and the new online store popping up everywhere you look, finding jewelry is so easy yet so difficult because it’s almost overwhelming how many options you have.

Studs, hoops, climbers, anything you could ever think exists and is ready for you to put in your bag, order, and be on your doorstep in days. A truly wild concept.

Flowers, stars, teardrops there are so many shapes you can choose from so find your favorite, find what works the cutest with what you’ve already got, and get this flat piercing styled!

9. Dangle
10. Serpent
11. Green Stone
12. Butterfly
13. Opal

The flat piercing is such a cool and unique new take on a classic cartilage piercing, I just know we are going to be seeing it everywhere soon. Get ahead of the trend and hop on it now!

There are so many ways to style this piercing, with clusters, constellations, hoops, and studs, you’ll never run out of ideas. Embellish your already decorated ear with some extra flair on the flat of your cartilage.

I predict this trendy ear piercing is going to be the next big thing by next summer. When you have your hair up in a high pony to beat the heat, this is going to be SO cute!

When you’re ready to get your next ear piercing (after the flat of course!) The auricle is another cute addition to the cartilage part of your ear that I can’t resist!
I broke it down for you here.