A quick Forenote

The biggest contributor to healing happy, healthy piercings is your immune system. A piercing is essentially an open puncture wound that we’re trying to force to heal around a foreign object. Crazy, right? This is not something the body was naturally made to do and it’s truly quite a feat. That being said, if your immune system is compromised or overloaded (illness, stress, poor nutrition, healing too many things at once, etc) it can drastically slow down healing and you may experience more complications than normally anticipated. This doesn’t mean piercings are off the table for you by any means if you are immunocompromised or stressed, however just stay mindful of this fact while healing and give yourself some patience. Try to drink lots of water, eat as balanced as possible, take your vitamins, and break up with whoever is stressing you out.

You can also find our troubleshooting page at the link below, where we specifically cover excess swelling, bumps, and irritation and what to do about it in more depth!

Cleaning Fresh Piercings

The best way to clean your piercing is to rinse it thoroughly under a direct stream of warm running water. Yes, that’s really it. We recommend doing this at the end of your daily shower, which allows the steam to soften any debris or “crusties” that may have built up on the jewelry and makes it super easy to rinse away. Be sure to pay extra attention to drying the piercing thoroughly on the front and the back, and attempt to keep wet hair off of it with bobby pins or by tying it up. You can use either a blow dryer on the cool setting or a clean paper towel to dry your piercing, but be sure to pat, don’t wipe. Excess moisture is a major cause of irritation, so never skip drying. Avoid getting any kind of soap or moisturizer on your piercing.

What to Expect

Crusty build up, some on and off bleeding, itching, redness, swelling, and dryness are all normal parts of healing. Removing your jewelry can cause it to close IMMEDIATELY, so keep your jewelry in unless you’re ready to permanently retire that piercing. Even fully healed piercings begin to shrink within minutes. You do not need to remove the jewelry to clean anything.

We expect the area to remain swollen for several weeks, and we recommend having shorter jewelry put in most piercings a few weeks to a few months after being pierced. This is called a downsize. Not all piercings need to be downsized, but if there’s extra space on your posts, be sure to set up a downsize appointment ASAP.

Fresh piercings heal from the outside in, so remember, it takes a lot longer for piercings to heal than it may appear from the outside. Everyone’s body will heal differently and it can take upwards of a full year for all of the damaged cells to fully regenerate and form a completely healed piercing channel, and complications can arise at any point during that process, so be patient, diligent, and always reach out if something feels off or you have any questions or concerns.

What to Avoid

-Don’t touch your piercing! Don’t twist it, play with it, or pick stuff off of it. This is the number one cause of complications and irritation.

-Don’t sleep on your piercing. This can cause major irritation and migration. For ear piercings, a travel or hemorrhoid pillow can be a great solution if you’re a side sleeper, as sleeping with your ear in the hole will relieve all of that pressure and help protect your piercings!

-Do not submerge your piercing in any body of water, pool, or bathtub for a minimum of eight weeks. This will expose your piercing to a ton of bacteria, putting you at risk for major infection.

-Do not use alcohol, peroxide, tea tree oil, or any sort of ointments. This will all cause severe irritation and can even result in chemical burns.

-Do not change your jewelry prior to your piercer’s recommendation.

-Avoid q-tips, cotton balls, or anything that may leave fibers behind. These can get tangled on the piercing and even find their way inside the piercing channel, which is super uncomfortable and causes a lot of irritation.

-Don’t listen to your friends. We know they mean well, but there is a huge amount of misinformation about body piercing floating around out there, and unfortunately it’s uncommon for someone to have accurate information unless they are a reputable body piercer. If you have any questions at all, please reach out either by phone during business hours or by email at pierceme@cowpok.com for assistance.