Piercing aftercare

How to care for a new piercing, from day one until it’s fully healed. Follow the steps for your piercing type, and call us with any questions about healing, jewelry or aftercare.

A piercing heals from the outside in, so it can look finished long before it is.

A fresh ear piercing with titanium jewelry

Cleaning: ears, face and body

  1. Spray the front and back with H2Ocean twice a day.
  2. Keep going until it’s fully healed: at least 2 months, and for some piercings 8 months to a year.
  3. Pat dry with something clean and disposable, like a paper towel.
  4. Skip soap, creams, ointments, alcohol and peroxide.
Fresh septum and nostril piercings

Water

  1. Stay out of pools, hot tubs, baths and the ocean until it’s healed (2 months to a year).
  2. Showers are fine. Rinse the piercing last so no shampoo or body wash is left on it.
Healed helix piercing with gold koi fish jewelry and blue opal lobe stud

Changing your jewelry

  1. After 2 months a piercer can check if you’re ready. Most piercings need longer.
  2. Keep jewelry in consistently for the first year.
  3. Jewelry you buy from us is installed free the same day.
  4. Jewelry from anywhere else can only go in healed piercings, for a $10 install fee. We aren’t liable for outside jewelry.
  5. Changing it at home? We can sterilize the jewelry for you, or soak it in rubbing alcohol for 20 minutes first.
  6. We aren’t responsible for the wrong size or for jewelry that breaks during a home change.
A nostril stud piercing in profile

Nostrils

  1. Keep the jewelry in for at least 2 months.
  2. If it comes out, hold the hole open with a stud and come see us.
  3. Go easy with washcloths and towels. They catch on nostril jewelry easily.
A tongue piercing

Oral piercings

  1. These steps are for the inside of your mouth. For the outside of a lip or cheek piercing, use the cleaning steps above.
  2. Rinse after anything other than bottled water or ice. H2Ocean is our first choice, or use Listerine or another ADA-approved antiseptic mouthwash.
  3. Swelling is normal. Advil, Aleve or another ibuprofen helps. Don’t take Tylenol for it.
  4. Avoid contact with anyone else’s body fluids for 1 month.
  5. Try to avoid alcohol while it heals. If you do drink, hard liquor is better than beer.
A cheek microdermal piercing

Microdermals

  1. Keep the dressing on for 2 days. If it fills with blood, take it off sooner, clean the area and put on a new one.
  2. For the next 2 weeks, put on a fresh bandage every day.
  3. Each time one comes off, rinse with warm water in the shower, clean with H2Ocean and pat dry with a clean paper towel.
  4. Keep using H2Ocean once a day for 1 month.
  5. The top stays in for at least 6 months, and only your piercer should change it. Doing it yourself can damage the piercing and cause it to reject.
  6. We recommend Earthrise StarPatch microdermal retention dressings: sterile, clear dressings made to hold a new dermal in place and protect it from snags.
A child getting her ears pierced at Z-Edge

Children and infants

  1. Don’t remove or change a child’s jewelry for at least 1 year.
  2. If a top needs changing or something worries you, get in touch and we’ll help.

Shop aftercare

H2Ocean Piercing Aftercare Spray is sterile, purified ocean salt water with sea salt and lysozyme. No soap, alcohol or peroxide, and it’s safe for body and oral piercings. For lip, tongue and labret piercings, H2Ocean Healing Rinse is a natural sea salt oral rinse with no alcohol, fluoride or sugar. Both are at all three studios and online.

H2Ocean Piercing Aftercare Spray and Healing Rinse

All aftercare

Call the studio

Questions about your piercing? Call us instead of asking friends or YouTube. We’re happy to take a look.

Request an AppointmentContact Us