Welcome to Gaia! ::

I like them both, but I like the cartilage piercing a bit more. But the problem is I am in college and I am pretty sure my parents would be pissed off if they knew I got one. I will be going home the week after getting it done. Are they easy to hide? Like if I wear my hear down will it be covered? And how hard is the piercing to take care of? Does it get infected really easily? Being in college and all I don't want to create any problems. If you were me, what would you do? And keep in mind that I am living at college and use public bathrooms shared with the hall. Would it be bad to clean my earrings in there since its a public bathroom with germs. Like there would be germs on the handle of the sink even after I washed my hands. Would it be easy to get infected since I would cleaning them in a public bathroom?

People don't notice my cartilage piercing that often. I wear a lot of small jewelry though too. Never had an infection on that piercing...im also rather lucky with piercing infections overall though. Never had one from getting a piercing done...only ever developed one from metal allergies (is stick to gold, titanium, and surgical steel now). Takes longer to heal than a lobe. That area is more prone to discomfort if you sleep in earrings but i've found jewelry that works just fine for me.

If you have a hall bathroom you'll be keeping your stuff in a caddy or something anyways. Just keep your own stuff clean. There's no situation where you need to touch a bathroom door then touch your ear. Hang a mirror in your room too. You just have to like squirt some solution on it and twist it everyday. It's been a while for me, maybe im missing something, but it's not complicated unless something goes wrong.

If you know how they "work", then you know that infection is 99% of the time your own fault. They don't just happen, they rarely ever happen from the shop (assuming you go to an actual, experienced, licensed professional, not somewhere in the mall or someone's bathroom), and they're actually not common at all. Most people's idea of "infection" is really just irritation, and both are treated very differently.

So if you're so concerned that you can't take care of them properly in your current situation, don't get anything done at all. And if your so concerned with what your parents think, especially if they are financing you or taking care of you in any way, then don't get anything done.