A helix piercing refers to the upper part of cartilage on your ear, which is typically more difficult to pierce than the fleshy lobe. As a result, these piercings tend to take longer to heal, and Gottschalk estimated about 12 months of healing time for most outer-cartilage piercings to fully heal, helix included. However, for some people, these kinds of cartilage piercings can heal within six months; it just depends on your body.