There are so many articles on the web and a great deal of them are inaccurate and could increase the amount of time it will take your piercing to heal.

I don’t have any degrees or qualifications on the subject of body piercing but I’ve put myself through it enough times to know what you should do to get those piercings healed up nice and quickly.

What NOT to clean with and why

A lot of the aforementioned articles will tell you to use some sort of alcohol-based solution, such as surgical spirits. NEVER use these as they can dry out the surrounding skin, causing it to become sore and dry.
Alcohol-based solutions actually damage the skin cells it comes into contact with, killing them off and making it easy for an infection to get in.

You also shouldn’t use tea tree oil to clean piercings with. Although it has anti-bacterial properties, it’s a *bit* harsh to be putting on your skin twice a day, every day; when I did this, my piercing started looking like I’d put a cigarette out on it; the tea tree oil had burnt the skin surrounding the piercing!

It’s a good idea to not put any type of oil on a new piercing, as it can create a sort of seal around it, stopping the air from getting to it, stopping the solution you SHOULD use from getting to it and stopping the gunk from getting out.
Not having gunk come out of the piercing may sound nice but what do you think that gunk’s going to do, if it can’t drain out of the piercing? It’ll start to rot. Not so nice, is it?

What you SHOULD clean with

Instead of using any fancy lotions and potions that could actually cause more damage to your piercing, you should use a sea salt solution.
Some piercers will send you out with a sea salt solution but others will just give you a slip which will tell you how to make your own.

A sea salt solution can be made at home and costs next to nothing. The best part is that you can adjust the amount of salt you use, so if your ears start to look a little dry, you just add less salt.

How to make the sea salt solution

What you will need:

• A kettle
• A jug – with measurements written on it
• A tea spoon
• Sea salt (which can be bought from health food shops and supermarkets and is very cheap)

Fill up your kettle and turn it on. While you’re waiting, grab your jug, a tea spoon and your sea salt. Measure out a quarter of a tea spoon of your sea salt and pour it in the jug.
When the kettle’s boiled, pour about half a pint / 300ml / 30cl of the boiling water in the jug.

You need to wait for the water to cool down; you don’t want to scald the new piercings. I like the water to still be quite warm, so I usually wait about 35-40 minutes before I clean my piercings. My sister likes it cold, so she waits at least an hour.

How to clean the piercing

You should use a cotton bud / q-tip (you know, those things people stick in their ear holes to “clean them”) to clean the piercings with. I buy the ones meant for babies, as the cotton is wound one more tightly and doesn’t look like it’ll fall apart when I get it wet.

Dip the cotton bud in the solution you’ve just made up, making sure NOT to touch the end that will come into contact with the piercing. Tap the stick part against the rim of the jug, to get rid of any drips and excess water.
Place the cotton bud against the jewelry and gently, softly roll the cotton bud around the edge of the piercing.
For every piercing, you will have an entrance and an exit. Make sure you use a NEW, CLEAN, UNUSED cotton bud for each. If you drop a cotton bud or accidentally touch it, discard it and get another one.

When you’ve cleaned the piercing, you will have a little wet patch surrounding each piercing. You will want to get rid of the little wet patches, as they contain salt (dry skin anyone?). Dry off the same way you would clean the piercing but make sure that the cotton bud is dry.

If the area surrounding the piercing starts to look a little dry or flaky, then reduce the amount of salt you add to the solution. For example, I actually use a little more than half the amount that’s recommended, because I started having some dryness and flakyness going on around my piercings.

You should clean your piercing twice a day, every day for the healing period. If you’re not sure what the healing period is, ask your piercer.
If you develop an infection, clean your ears three times a day but NO MORE than that, otherwise your piercing may become dry and sore.

What you should and should NOT do with your new piercing

• DO NOT turn or twist the jewelry. The jewelry WILL NOT get “stuck” if you don’t and your ear WILL NOT “eat” the jewelry (unless you get it so infected it swells up to gigantic proportions). By twisting or turning it, all you’re doing is pissing off your ear even further, causing new tears to open up in the piercing and reopening old ones.
• DO leave the starter jewelry in the piercing for as long as possible, unless it’s causing irritation (IF this happens, go back to the piercer and have THEM change the jewelry). For the first jewelry change, go back to the piercer and get them to do it for you.
• DO find out the gauge you’ve gotten pierced at and try and only buy jewelry at that gauge; you were pierced at that size for a reason.
• DO keep your hair away from your ears for as long as possible after getting a new piercing. Just like fingernails, it doesn’t matter how often you clean your hair, it will still contain dirt. You don’t want ANY dirt in your new piercing.
• DON’T cover the piercing with a plaster; air needs to be able to get to it.
• DON’T touch the jewelry unless you’re cleaning it. Even then, make sure you’ve JUST washed your hands with anti-bacterial soap.
• DON’T pick off the crusties or try to force them off while cleaning. I know it’s gross having to walk around with your hair tied up and having these nasty little scab-like things on your new holes but you’ll only risk damaging the piercing or causing an infection if you push too hard. If anyone mentions it or makes a big deal out of it, tell them to “get lost” (using your own choice words ).
• DO NOT remove the jewelry if you develop an infection. When there’s an infection, there will be pus. Your jewelry gives the pus a way out of the piercing, preventing the infection from worsening.

Look after your new piercing and you should have no problems.

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You should take a look at my other piercing-related article, “Answering Some Ear Piercing Questions” if you feel unsure about anything to do with your ear piercing.

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Tags: Body Modification, Piercings