I get asked about my piercings almost everyday, so here we go. Besides my ear piercings, I also have my septum, and my belly button pierced. No other secret piercings, I promise. Left ear:
Five lobe piercings, my tragus, and my (infected) rook. The first three lobe piercings were done with the gun and then replaced with 18GA studs, and then the other two I felt a little rebellious and did them in my room, with a bag of ice, and a thin sewing needle. I do not recommend doing this in any way, shape, or form.
Right now in my lobes I am wearing surgical steel studs, and let me tell you, these studs have lasted me forever. Through vacations, showers, everything. No tarnishing, no infections, s’all good in the hood.
I got my tragus done about six years ago, with a 16GA needle, and then afterwards the piercer put in a 16GA surgical steel straight barbell in my ear. The piercing itself was a lot less painful than I anticipated it to be. A lot of people who have their tragus done will tell you about a “popping” sound they hear when it’s getting pierced but fortunately for me, I didn’t hear that, nor did I feel a thing.
The healing process was definitely as bad as I thought it would be. I had to avoid using headphones, and talking on the phone against that ear to avoid a keloid or any future infections. I continued to follow cleaning instructions for about two months, until I finally decided to change it. See that little stud that’s in the above picture, that’s the only earring I have ever worn in my tragus, and it’s lasted me years.
I’m wearing a 16GA surgical steel flat back barbell. Great for wearing headphones, etc.
Since the tragus is such a small area, I avoid wearing anything with a long post, or anything too big and bulky because of the small area. Simple is always better.
Now, onto that infamous infected rook piercing. I got this done about three months ago, and I’m not going to lie, I didn’t take care of it the way I should of. I got pierced with a 16GA needle, and afterwards a 16GA surgical steel 8mm curved barbell was put in. In my ear now is still the same piece of jewelry I was pierced with, just with one less ball. It fell out in my sleep or something, but the bar manages to stay in perfectly fine without it.
The actual pain itself for this piercing wasn’t too bad. I mostly just felt a lot of pressure because it’s such a small area to pierce, so for the piercer to get the jewelry in, it was a tight squeeze, but I survived!
I recommend not putting any pierce of jewelry in this piercing that isn’t a curved barbell. Since you are pierced on an angle, for comfort and looks, it’s best to put in a curved barbell.
Right ear: 
Five lobe piercings, and my forward helix. Lobe piercings are the same as described above, except my fourth and fifth hole I am wearing sterling silver medium size nose hoops. My helix was the best and worst thing I have ever done. I got this one done about three years ago. I didn’t want your basic cartilage piercing, I wanted something cooler and different, and so I got this one done. I got pierced with a 16GA needle, and then afterwards a 16GA captive bead hoop was put in (bad idea, I’ll tell you why in a second.) The pain of this piercing, on a scale from 1-10 was like a 1. Seriously, it was close to no pain. But the healing was on another level. I developed the biggest keloid ever, and that was because I 1. Didn’t clean it properly, and 2. I got pierced with a hoop, when I was told not to, because it would’ve healed better with a straight barbell. Why? Because the bar would be shorter and there is less of a chance bacteria would get in my unhealed piercing and it also wouldn’t move around as much and get caught onto my hair.
