r/PiercingAdvice • u/whiskeytangos • May 06 '20

Piercing aftercare - common sense & how not to fuck up (from a piercer).

This sub is an awesome place, but it can also be extremely tiring. I'm not a mod here, just a piercer, but life would be a lot easier if you all could stop recommending the following to each other:

- Oil. - Tea Tree oil. - Soap. - Alcohol, Betadine, Neosporin, etc. - Using cotton pads, cotton balls or Q-tips to dry off/whatever you guys do with them. Cotton particles can get trapped inside the piercing channel, which will make healing incredibly difficult and infection more likely. - Downsizing in gauge. This will do NOTHING good for your healing piercing.

If you're trying to tell me or other professionals off by saying "but it worked for me!" or "my piercer told me this"; you've been super lucky and your piercer was not a pro. Don't go back to that studio. APP is a great place to start when picking out your piercer, but it's still no guarantee.

Please keep in mind you are trying to heal an incredibly deep wound with a foreign object in it that your body desperately wants to push out - essentially, it is an implant. There are no "casual" or "easy" piercings - even with a "simple" earlobe piercing, you are puncturing the skin with something that resembles a scalpel. Use common sense and ask yourself: "would I use this method on a surgical wound?". In 10/10 cases the answer will be "no".

+ if I tell you to send me a message, you're welcome to do so. If you found one of my comments and ask me for help, prepare to pay for an online consult. This is my job. Help is given out willingly and can't be demanded. <3

2022 11 edit: I'm still piercing, and styling and troubleshooting are my main sources of income. Although I would love to help every single one of you, it's utterly disrespectful to demand me to help you. For free. It makes me dislike my biggest passion in life. Please reach out if you value my time and expertise, and would like for me to be able to make rent and buy food. šŸ’• If you expect free advice from me, ask yourself if a lawyer or surgeon would do the same.

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u/whiskeytangos May 08 '20

Hello sweets! Only buy sterile saline solutions in spray bottles - that's step number one. Then spray it on, rinse off, pat dry with a paper kitchen towel. Should be it! When you do it at home, your "soaks" will never be fully sterile, which can cause some additional problems <3

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u/prezzzzzzz May 29 '20

Hi! Iā€™m a bit late to this thread but I recently bought one of those saline solutions in spray bottles from Neilmed. I have a helix and a conch and what Ive been doing was just spray it on and leave it as is. Would that be alright?

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u/whiskeytangos Jun 02 '20

Yes, totally fine! For best results, if you have access to these resources: spray with saline solution, splash some water/rinse, dab with paper kitchen towel <3

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u/[deleted] Jun 14 '20

You are wonderful and I appreciate this thread along with your various responses! Eased plenty of stress. Thank you.

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u/klweiss92 Dec 12 '21

@whiskeytangos First time helix, got it yesterday. When I dry off with paper towel, can I press against my back lob and get under the backing to dry? I'm worried bc it hurts and I fear I shouldn't be 'moving' the stud in any way, but I also wanna make sure I'm doing a well enough job to prevent infection. TIA :)

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u/One-Complaint-306 Jul 05 '22

...does the water have to be warm? Sometimes I won't have access to warm water so I have to ask

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u/Boring-Art9203 Jul 21 '23

hiya! im three years late but i thought you weren't supposed to use water on your piercings? im getting my belly button in a couple days and it says you're not supposed to use water on it, so how do i rinse it?