Having any piercing through cartilage is always going to take far longer to heal than through soft tissue. It is also more prone to infections, so only use good-quality earring in it, even after it heals, nothing with the cheap nickel posts, because one it gets infected it take a long time to clear out.

No, I have no piercings myself. But I did work at an Earring Tree a while ago - just wore magnetic earrings when I had my hair up.

I have too many skin sensitivities and grandma tried having her ears pierced as a young woman and got a very, very bad infection and reaction, and they almost removed half of her ear lobe. So I decided as a child not to risk it!