Piercing Aftercare Routine

To make sure your piercing heals without complications, whether it's on the ear cartilage, face, or body, you'll need to follow an aftercare routine closely, one your piercer will normally walk you through. We still wanted to put together a guide on the topic, because you can never hear it enough!

Daily Cleaning

Before anything else, don't forget to wash your hands thoroughly! Under the nails, between the fingers... this step is crucial to avoid bringing bacteria to your new piercing, and so avoid infection!

We recommend using physiological saline or a suitable saline solution to clean your piercing morning and evening for at least the first 15 days. In the weeks after that, one cleaning a day is enough.

It's best to use a gauze pad rather than cotton, which can leave fibers around your piercing or catch on your jewelry and cause irritation.

What to Avoid With a New Piercing

If you want to get through the healing phase without a hot, sore ear or the occasional bump, there are a few things you'll need to avoid to help your piercing heal faster.

• Don't sleep on the ear you just had pierced

• Avoid friction (no high-waisted jeans for navel piercings, for example)
• No earbuds or other accessories that could catch on your new ear cartilage piercing, especially for a daith, tragus, conch, or rook
• No makeup on your piercing
• Don't remove your piercing jewelry before your first check-up
• Don't play with or touch your jewelry outside your care routine, to avoid bringing bacteria to it
• Avoid antiseptic products like Biseptine, Betadine, and similar
• Excess alcohol and drug use, which thin the blood and slow healing
• Avoid swimming pools too, which are a breeding ground for bacteria
• Don't leave your piercing damp after aftercare

Our Tips

• Avoid getting both ears pierced at once. Otherwise, it becomes hard not to sleep on your recent piercings, and you risk ending up with bumps or inflammation.
• Choose jewelry in biocompatible materials. You can find an article on our blog explaining the different materials we recommend for a new piercing. At Obsidian, we strongly recommend 14k or 18k gold or ASTM F-136 titanium, the only two materials our piercers use for starter jewelry.
• Choose your piercer based on quality, not price. When you're getting a permanent mark on your body, it's worth choosing an expert. Take the time to research different piercing studios to make the best choice.
• Make sure your starter jewelry is sized to allow for swelling during the first healing phase. On ear piercings, we often fit an 8 or 9mm bar at first, then swap it for a shorter 6 or 7mm bar once healing is further along.

If a bump appears, it isn't automatically a keloid (that can't really be confirmed until much later). Don't hesitate to reach out to your piercing studio for guidance. You're also welcome to contact us by email or WhatsApp if we're able to help you remotely.