Piercing Aftercare

Good aftercare consists of keeping the piercing clean, leaving it alone, and giving your body the conditions it needs to heal.

The Core Principle

A fresh piercing is a healing wound. Your body does the work, and your job is to support that process. Over-cleaning, touching, and over-treating are some of the most common reasons piercings struggle to heal.

What to Use

Sterile saline wound wash is the only thing you need to clean your piercing. Look for a product labeled "sterile saline" with 0.9% sodium chloride and no additives. A simple spray bottle makes application easy.

Do not use:

• Hydrogen peroxide

• Rubbing alcohol

• Antibacterial soap

• Tea tree oil or other essential oils

• Bactine

• Anything "natural" or "antiseptic" that isn't plain saline

These products are too harsh for healing tissue and will slow your healing down, not speed it up. The goal of cleaning is to rinse away debris, not to kill everything in sight. Your body's own healing process is doing the hard work there.

Daily Cleaning Routine

Rinse your piercing once or twice a day with sterile saline spray. Spray directly onto the piercing site, let it sit for a moment, and pat dry with a clean paper towel. Do not rub or scrub. Cloth towels can harbor bacteria and snag jewelry. You can also give your piercings a rinse in the shower (filtered water is best), avoid fragrance soaps while washing just water will be best. That's it! Twice a day cleaning, no more. Consistent, gentle cleaning is better than frequent, aggressive cleaning.

Hands Off

Do not touch/move your piercing. Your hands carry bacteria. More importantly: do not rotate, twist, or play with the jewelry during healing. The idea that you need to "spin" a piercing to keep it from sticking is outdated. Movement disrupts the healing tissue and slows the process down.

Downsizing

Your initial jewelry has extra length to accommodate swelling. Once swelling has settled and your piercing has gone through the recommended healing period, it’s important to downsize your jewelry. Leaving long jewelry in place increases the chance of snagging, pressure, and irritation bumps. Downsizing jewelry is replacing your initial piercing with a shorter/more snug fitted piece. This is a great opportunity for a piercer to assess the piercing, see how it’s healing and to safely change your piercing if it’s ready. This part of the piercing healing journey is very important, so it’s best to check in with your piercer to see when a downsize is needed.

What's Normal

• Tenderness and redness

• Clear to white-yellow discharge that dries to a light crust around the jewelry. This is lymph fluid, not infection.

• Light bleeding

• Localized swelling, that can fluctuate on/off during the entire healing period

• Piercings going through stages of looking great, then looking irritated, then improving again.

What's Not Normal

• Increasing redness, excessive swelling that is not localized to the piercing location

• Green or black discharge

• Fever

If you're unsure whether something is normal, check with your piercer so a professional can take a look at your piercing. Many issues that look like infection are actually irritation, and removing, or changing jewelry yourself can cause more trauma.

Common Causes of Trouble

Sleeping on your piercing is one of the most consistent causes of irritation bumps and prolonged healing, especially with ears. Travel pillows (worn like a neck pillow while side-sleeping) and donut pillows can help. Changing pillowcases regularly also make a big difference.

Snagging: hairbrushes, clothing, towels, headphones, glasses, and pets are frequent offenders. Be mindful of what's coming near a fresh piercing.

Submerging in water: Best safety for your piercing is to wait until the piercing is fully healed before going into swimming in pools, lakes, the ocean, or hot tubs. Showers are fine.

Makeup, spray, and lotion near the piercing: keep these products away from healing tissue.

Stress and poor sleep: your immune system is doing the healing. When you're run down, healing slows down. Drink water, eat food & get good sleep!

Healing & Changing Timelines

***Please note that these are general healing times and not a guaranteed timeline as to how long you will heal. Everyone’s body, skin type and lifestyles all factor into how we heal. Keep in mind, healing is not always linear - Some piercings can take longer to heal or can experience “setbacks” if proper cleaning is not in place or if we accidentally pull or snag jewelry.

Ear lobes (1st, 2nd, 3rd)

Ear lobes can heal fully anywhere between 2-3 months with a downsize in typically 6-8 weeks.

Ear cartilage (helix, flat, tragus, conch, daith, rook, snug, industrial)

Cartilage piercings can take anywhere between 6–12 months to fully heal. Downsize is usually 2-3 months.

Nostril

Full healing time is typically 4–6 months. To downsize the labret/post, have at least 2-4 months of healing. If you want to change it to a hoop/ring, it’s best to let it fully heal for the 4-6 months as hoops tend to move and are easier to snag during healing.

Septum

Septum piercings can take around 2–3 months to fully heal. Downsize is usually 1-2 months.

Bridge

Bridge piercings can take anywhere between 4-6 months to fully heal with a downsize in 2-3 months.

Eyebrow

Full healing can take 3-4 months with a downsize in 6-8 weeks.

Navel

Navel piercings can take 4-6 months to fully heal. Downsize is typically 2-3 months.

Nipple

These can take around 6 months to 1 year to fully heal. Downsize is typically 2-3 months.

Lip/Labret/Tongue

Full healing can be 2-3 months. Downsize/changing for lip/labret piercings is typically 4-6 weeks. Downsize for tongue is typically 2-4 weeks.

Dermal

Overall healing (depending on placement) can take 6 months to 1 year for full healing and changing is 6 months.

VCH (Vertical Clitoral Hood)

VCH piercings take around 4-6 months to heal with clean, consistent care. Downsize is typically 2-3 months.