Conch vs Daith Piercing, which one you should choose?
In this article, we’re going to take five rounds, five topics, and decide which of these two piercings is the winner.
These are basically designed to give people about the advantages of one over the other. What we’re going to cover is anatomy, placement, healing, jewelry choices, and living with the piercing.
Let’s start this conch vs daith piercing comparison by understanding what each piercing is.
What is a Conch Piercing?
Conch piercing is a piercing that is done through the conch of the ear. The conch is this bowl-like structure in the ear that starts up from the top and goes all the way down to the lower portion.
The piercing is done straight through it, matching the angle of the actual curvature of it. Think like a clock, it’s done at that angle or compass.
What is a Daith Piercing?
Daith piercings is done through the beginning of the helix, just above the ear canal, done straight up and down, kind of perpendicular or 90-degree angle with that tissue.
Initial Piercing Jewelry
Jewelry-wise, when they’re initially pierced, conchs are done with studs. With daith piercings, they need to be done with circular or curved jewelry, preferably circular jewelry.
Conch vs Daith Piercing: Anatomy
Conch Piercing Anatomy
If you have an ear, you probably can get this piercing. Conch piercing can be done anywhere kind of on that bowl of the ear.
All of us have one, so you’re likely going to have one. The only thing you really want to worry about is if you plan on wearing circular jewelry in that particular piercing in your conch.
Some people call it an orbital. No, that’s not a separate piercing. That is a conch piercing. It’s been a conch piercing since the 1980s. It’s going to stay a conch piercing.
Just because you put a different piece of jewelry in it doesn’t make it a new piercing.
You have to take into consideration that the piercing is as high up in or to the outer part of the ear that it can comfortably wrap around all of the structure of the ear that’s here, the helix and this flat area past the anti-helix.
Daith Piercing Anatomy
Daith piercings is a little bit more complicated. The ridge in the daith area needs to—I always have to look at this and make sure because this thing’s kind of weird shaped.
But everybody’s ears are a little weird shaped.
So, with daith piercings, we’re placing it in that area. It needs to be pronounced enough or high enough, I guess, would be the way to put it to support the jewelry. So that the jewelry can lay flat.
If it’s too thin or too low or if there isn’t going to be room above it—the anti-helix is the part where we do rook piercings.
If there isn’t enough space for that jewelry to comfortably sit, it will put pressure on the piercing and cause issues. So, there needs to be enough room and that area needs to be pronounced enough.
Piercing Anatomy Winner
On piercing anatomy, I’m going to give it to the conch piercing. Everybody has the anatomy for it.
There’s not really a lot of nuances that you need to worry about.
If you want to wear a ring in it, that might be a little bit more complicated when it comes to jewelry selection and sizing and placement.
But for the most part, the daith piercing has a lot more that we need to consider before saying, “Yeah, it’s going to work.”
And that moves us on to placement variety.
Conch vs Daith Piercing: Placement
Conch Piercing Placement
You have a lot of options depending on the size of your ear. You can do multiple ones. You can do more than two. You can do them in a line.
You can do all kinds of fun stuff. You can even do industrial conchs where it’s one conch to the other conch. You can do conch to anti-helix. All kinds of fun stuff.
The reality is it really depends on what your goal is as far as wearing jewelry. That would be the only restraint.
If you plan on wearing a ring, probably the thinner area where the conch is not as pronounced is going to be a better option. Kind of that traditional mid-conch placement.
However, if you want something unique and different, you can place it behind the anti-tragus. You could do a hidden, they call them hidden or floating piercings. The piercing is placed high in the conch and just a chain hangs down.
Daith Piercing Placement
With the daith piercing placement, it needs to be in a situation where it’s going to be anchored well, that it’s not going to be heavily into the ear canal below that.
Also, it needs to be done in a way where the jewelry will lay flat. So, you don’t want it too deep in there. It’s kind of a one-chance kind of situation.
There are some people where that area is pronounced enough that they can do multiple ones. I’ve done them.
The coolest thing was to do—we did a bigger ring on one of them and then a smaller one. So, there was a ring inside of a ring inside of your ear. Kind of a cool look.
Piercing Placement Winner
This one I’m also going to give to the conch just basically because there are so many placement options to work with and be creative and do on the ear. So, after two rounds that makes the score conch two, daith zero.
The conch vs daith piercing battle continues, that moves us on to round number three.
Conch vs Daith Piercing: Healing
Conch Piercing Healing
In this conch vs daith piercing comparison, conch piercing heals out about three to eight months. It varies from person to person. It’s easy to isolate depending on how deep it is in the ear.
If it’s more towards the edge of the ear, it’s going to take a little bit longer because it’s more likely to get contact. It tends to go through multiple stages of grumpiness. This is a piercing that I refer to as a toddler piercing.
One day it’s the most beautiful thing and wonderful thing in the world, right? Then the next day it is the biggest grump you’ve ever met in your entire life.
A complete—you want to tear your hair out and move out of town and just leave it there. It kind of goes through those phases.
It might require multiple times downsizing and upsizing the jewelry. It can be a little tricky sometimes. Mainly because if you put any pressure on that area it’s flexible and that movement can cause problems.
Daith Piercing Healing
Daith piercing on the other hand is pretty well isolated. So contact with it is not as big of an issue. It can be easy to isolate.
Usually heals out in about three to six months. And there’s no downsizing required at all or changing the jewelry size during the healing process.
Piercing Healing Winner
That round of the conch vs daith piercing comparison goes to the daith. It’s an easier piercing to heal in my opinion. It has less nuances and less grumpiness and weirdness. Easier to isolate. So, after three rounds, that makes the score conch piercing two, daith piercing one.
Conch vs Daith Piercing: Jewelry Choices
When comparing conch vs daith piercing jewelry options, there are significant differences.
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Conch Piercing Jewelry
With a conch initial piercing, it needs to be done with a stud piece of jewelry. After it heals, you may be able to switch out to a ring or circular jewelry depending on its location.
There’s a huge, huge, huge variety of different ends that you can put on these. Especially if you’re working with threadless jewelry where you go from manufacturer to manufacturer. It’s unlimited what the jewelry options are.
Daith Piercing Jewelry
Daith piercings on the other hand, you’re pretty much stuck with either a circular barbell or a curved barbell.
Now, that’s the bad news. The good news is because these are usually done at 16 gauge, a lot of septum jewelry will work in these.
Septum jewelry is very popular and in high demand. And thus there’s a lot of different options out there. So, there’s a lot of variety as far as rings.
Circular or curved barbells, they’re just—I don’t know, they don’t look as good in this piercing in my opinion. And they just get kind of hidden.
And really, all you have is just different ends that maybe aren’t that spectacular.
Piercing Jewelry Winner
So, that one is going to the conch piercing, meaning after four rounds, conch piercing three, daith piercing one.
Conch vs Daith Piercing: Living with the Piercing
The final round to decide this. I think we all know where this is going, but we’ll go through it anyway.
Living with a Conch Piercing
With a conch piercing, you’re looking at—it’s easy to hide, especially stud jewelry.
Ring jewelry, if you put a ring or circular jewelry in it, it might be a little bit more difficult to hide. But for the most part, it’s going to be pretty socially acceptable.
People don’t really freak out about ear piercings. Not as much as they do facial piercings. So, it’s not going to affect employment or anything else.
Even after it heals, in seasons, you should avoid contact. Conch piercing can get grumpy even after it’s healed and well seasoned. It can close very rapidly.
I do suggest leaving something in it indefinitely. Only taking out jewelry to put it back in.
Conch piercing can go through grumpy phases, even after it heals. If it’s bumped or slept on or what have you, suddenly it’ll flare up and you’ll have issues.
Rings have a lot more contact or circular jewelry than studs do. If you plan on wearing that, you really are kind of asking for it to get caught in hair, clothes, helmets, hats, everything. So, keep that in mind when choosing what you want in your piercing.
Living with a Daith Piercing
Daith piercings, different ballgame. It is easy to hide.
And pretty much most people are not even going to notice—they may know you have it and when they see it, they’re going to go, “Oh, that’s a cool ear piercing.” So, it doesn’t really affect social issues as much as say a facial piercing would.
Less contact than other piercings. So, it’s a little bit easier to isolate during the healing process and afterwards. So, you’re not having to worry about bumping it as much.
However, the biggest drawback is because of its location and depending on your anatomy, you may have issues wearing earbuds or any type of device or thing that you stick in your ear canal.
Even long after it heals. It’s just—there’s just not much room in the ear canal area. And depending on the size of your ear anatomy and where it had to be placed, it may definitely affect your ability to use those things.
So, if that’s part of your daily life, this may not be a piercing that you want to get.
And it’s easy to isolate. It’s not really a piercing that you have to worry about as much as the conch. I don’t think people bump them as much as people bump conchs.
Living with the Piercing Winner
So that final round I’m going to give to the conch piercing just basically because of the earbud thing.
It is a part of a lot of people’s lives. And I have gone through the consultation with people that are coming in to get that done.
And that was probably and still is one of the most deciding factors for people to go, “What else can I get on my ear that’s in that same kind of area? Something that isn’t going to impact my ability to use a stethoscope or earbuds?”
Final Score
So after five rounds, the final score is conch four piercing , daith piercing one.
As I said, I never know if this helps any or not. It’s not—it really doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t mean that if you have a conch piercing, you’re more superior to those that have daith piercings.
Does a daith piercing really work for migraines?
One of the things I didn’t cover in this conch vs daith piercing comparison is daith piercings’ connection to migraine headaches.
Here’s the deal. Your piercer isn’t an acupuncturist and all of that is based on acupuncture. Whether or not it would continue to stimulate the vagus nerve and cause any impact whatsoever is questionable at best.
I’ve had extremely mixed results from clients that did it for that reason. My advice to you is want the piercing and hope that it causes the relief. It’s your best option.
Closing Thoughts on Conch vs Daith Piercing
So after five rounds, the final score is conch piercing four, daith piercing one. As I said, I never know if this helps any or not. It really doesn’t mean anything.
It doesn’t mean that if you have a conch piercing, you’re more superior to those that have daith piercings. This conch vs daith piercing comparison shows both piercings have their unique advantages.
The conch offers more placement variety and jewelry options, making it versatile for different styles. The daith heals easier and causes less irritation during the healing process.
Your choice should depend on your anatomy, lifestyle needs, and personal preferences. Consider factors like earbud usage, jewelry preferences, and healing commitment before making your decision.