Kelli Fleming

So last Tuesday I got my cartilage pierced. I've been cleaning it daily, and up until yesterday I've had no problems with it. Yesterday I woke up and noticed it was sore, tender, and swollen. I, of course, began reading every article I possibly could, and did hours worth of research. I've been doing salt water soaks and icing it, as well as taking advil, and the pain had subsisded significantly, but it's still swollen and kinda red.

There's no type of discharge coming from it, so I don't think it's infected.

In the days leading up to this, I'd been twisting it like you would with a normal lobe piercing [big mistake I learned], and it had been itchy so I'd been scratching the area around it. Aside from touching it constantly, I got it caught in my hairbrush, AND my god-awful friend hit me right in the piercing.

So would that all likely be what caused this, or is this normal cartilage piercing behavior? Should I be worried, and is there anything else I can do to get rid of this swelling and pain? Lastly, have any of you experienced this, and would you be able to give me any advice?

All help is welcome, so long as you're experienced with piercings yourself.

So for the past 3 years I've been coloring my hair. Not like my entire head, but a streak or two of color and the underlayer of my bangs. I went to a professional for the first two years, and she moved and there's no one I trust to touch my hair. So I kind of started doing my own hair once she left. I dyed the underlayer purple about a year ago, kept it for approximately three months, then went completely black. My hair has been black since (note: my hair is naturally a light brown/dirty blonde), and I touch it up every other month. But I've been letting it fade for 2-3 months now, and it's currently a mixture of dark brown/medium brown.

I've done 2 deep conditioning treatments in the past month to prepare it because I plan on dying it all red soon. I plan to use L'oreal hicolor for dark hair only, and 30 volume developer. I just want to know if this is a good idea, any tips or help would be greatly appreciated as well. The main thing is, will it work, and will my hair be OK? I really don't want it breaking off or anything. It's never been that damaged before, and I hope it never will be that bad.