Piercing cleaning made easy - expert tips on piercing care

Why you should clean your piercings regularly

Proper care for fresh ear piercings

An ear piercing can take up to four months to heal completely. With the following measures, you can support the healing process and ideally shorten it:

1. Hands off! In the time after piercing, you should avoid twisting and playing with your piercing. It's better to leave the piercing alone so that it can heal in peace.
2. Hair away: To prevent hair from getting caught in the sensitive area, you should wear your hair closed as often as possible. Wool hats should also be left at home for the time being.
3. No dyeing: Dyeing your hair is taboo for the first few months, as chemical substances can get into the wound. Hairspray should also be kept away from the area.
4. Change pillowcase: To keep bacteria away from the piercing, you should change your pillowcase weekly at the beginning.

Cleaning: (2x daily)

• You should wash your hands thoroughly before cleaning
• Instead of using drying rubbing alcohol, you can make a saline solution at home. Mix 1/8 teaspoon of non-iodized salt with 250 ml of warm, distilled water until the salt has dissolved.
• Now dip a piece of gauze, paper towel or cotton bud into the salt solution and hold it on the pierced area for about five minutes. Any encrustations should come off easily.
• You can also carefully turn your ear piercing so that the saline solution gets into the wound.
• Then dab everything dry. That's it!

Notes on freshly pierced mouth and lip piercings

Tongue and lip piercings are constantly exposed to new substances due to the daily intake of food. Logically, freshly pierced piercings are all the more susceptible to inflammation. We have put together the most important measures to keep the wound clean until it has healed:

1. The right diet: dairy products, spicy and acidic foods should be avoided if possible. Vitamin C and zinc are important now: strawberries, spinach and whole grains are important sources. You should also drink 2-3 liters of water a day, not only to stay hydrated but also to flush away food waste.
2. Eat slowly and carefully: This will prevent you from getting stuck and hurting yourself.
3. Hygiene in bed: Change your pillowcase weekly to keep bacteria away.
4. Don't play around: As tempting as it may seem, constantly touching and moving around only gets in the way of healing.
5. Less make-up: Try to apply as little make-up as possible around the puncture site, as this can irritate the wound.

Cleaning:

• The best way to clean your tongue piercing is to rinse your mouth after every meal. Chamomile tea or antibacterial mouthwash without alcohol is suitable for this.
• You can clean your lip piercing with a homemade saline solution. To do this, mix 1/8 teaspoon of non-iodized salt with 250 ml of distilled, lukewarm water until it has dissolved.
• Dip a cotton bud, handkerchief or gauze into the solution and hold it on the fresh piercing for five minutes. Then dry the area with a tissue. Repeat the process twice a day until the piercing is healed.

Clean fresh navel piercings properly

A navel piercing is a real eye-catcher that you want to show off immediately. Unfortunately, navel piercings can take up to six months to heal. We'll show you the most important tips to make the time fly by:

1. Loose clothing: During the weeks of healing, wear mainly loose clothing that the piercing cannot get caught on. Tight clothing encourages friction and a lack of air circulation, which delays healing.
2. Showering instead of bathing: Showering is more hygienic, as germs are rinsed away directly instead of repeatedly reaching the puncture canal. However, if you still feel like taking a bath, you should rinse the pierced area thoroughly after bathing, as shampoo and the like can cause irritation.
3. Don't play around: Yes, a new piercing is exciting. But by constantly playing around, you not only get bacteria into the wound, you also disrupt your body's natural healing process. So hands off!
4. Fresh bedding: Change your bedding weekly in the early days to prevent bacteria from getting to the site.

Cleaning:

• You don't need any special cleaning agents to clean your new body jewelry. Simply mix 1/8 teaspoon of non-iodized salt with 250ml of distilled, warm water until the salt has dissolved.
• Apply the saline solution to the piercing with a sterile cotton swab, paper towel or gauze for five minutes. Wash your hands beforehand.
• Finally, dry the piercing completely with a paper towel. Done!

Cleaning a healed piercing

Conclusion