piercings, and keeping them happy.

[smellyskelly]

well, i've had piercing apprenticeships a few times, though i never stuck with it, but i always have friends come and ask me how to nurse their infected piercings back to health. i've always given them methods that shops would suggest and methods that i've found worked for me, i've had over 70 piercings so far (still subtracting and adding), have my lobes stretched to 5/8ths, started the process when i was 13, and still sometimes pierce friends for trades of beer and cigs.
some of the methods of care i tell people are;
- never touch or play with your piercings without washing your hands prior.
- sea salt & warm water = best friend, but 2-3 times daily would be enough, anymore than that and it irritates the piercing.
- never use rubbing alcohol! dries the skin out, irritates the hell out of piercings.
- betadine [sp] is one of the best solutions to cleanse with.
- if you have an oral piercing, a combo of 1/2 water 1/2 mouthwash rinse after smoking, eatting,kissing.
- dont fidgit around with the jewlery in a surface piercing,(pinching the skin to see the barbells, or feel the feet of a dermal anchor) keep them covered with clean guaze while sleeping to prevent touching of your bed sheets.
- ear piercings, use a clean pillow case every night, or cover pillow with a clean t shirt every night.
- oh yeah, fingers OFF. stop playing with your new oral piercings also.

now my question to you is, are there any methods of keeping a piercing happy while out on the road? my septum is probably the most annoying piercing to keep happy, especially when its cold out and im a snot machine.

 

[Rstank]

piercing health and exercise

KEEPIN THEM HOLES HAPPY: i usually have vitamin supplements (the gel kind) pop em give em a rub down with some nice herbs or if you dont have that get sum moisturizer and wash frequently pay attention to your skin and what its saying....if its hurting turning red or pus'in pull it out and re pierce it another time.....make sure to have natural stuff like wood antler or bone jewelry that is well cleaned...i always pack a nice kit of stuff just in case i need to down gauge.....rub some vitamine E to clean & moisturize that fucker and if you are planning to gauge up on the road use vitamin E again and put some lime and roman chamomile on it

EXERCISE: if i need a little strain to keep my body awake wet down a shirt or a cloth so it wont rip and do some pull stretches with it behind your neck or step on it and pull up or do some crunches and push ups always gewd to wake that body and get blood pumping

 

[Rstank]

my septum is gauged and extra sensitive i usually take it out and wash it with warm water and pop a little hole in my gel vitamins and rub it down with some vitamin E keeps it happy as hell vitamin E is good for all piercings & snot is good for the most part just keep your snot wet if it starts to dry and get all crustie like next truck stop or place you can get warm water take out the septum ring clean it and clean your skin in your nose and dry then put it back in

 

[Rash L]

I've been a piercer for 8yrs and smellyskelly's got it down!
I have a few additional tidbits:

- sea salt & warm water = best friend, but 2-3 times daily would be enough, anymore than that and it irritates the piercing.

Salt water should be only as salty as your tears (or saline solution), not as salty as sweat. The recipe (if you like exact measurements) should be 1/8-1/4 teaspoon (non-iodized) sea salt to 8oz of warm water, I recommend using a shot glass or small cup for most soaking - you might have to get creative. Afterward you should rinse with cool, CLEAN water and pat dry with a CLEAN cloth. Of course on the road you can only do the best you can....

Vitamin E and extra virgin olive oil are good for piercings, but not FRESH piercings, so give them a bit to heal before getting that stuff in there. Oils and ointments (like A&D or Neosporin) can pull bacteria and contaminants into the piercing and keep them there which is, as you can imagine, not the best thing for a puncture wound. (if you read the back of those ointments they specifically will say not to use on puncture wounds, or at least they SHOULD)

In Addition to not using rubbing alcohol, dont use hydrogen peroxide, it will inhibit the cell growth you are trying to encourage, and dry your skin.

For oral piercings, 1/2 and 1/2 water and alcoholic mouthwash is good, but a non-alcoholic mouthwash is even better -- I love Biotene. Dont forget to swish your mouth with salt water too (can be stronger than the sea salt solution you use to soak your non-oral piercings)! Salt water after kissing/eating/smoking can be just as good, if not better than mouthwash with alcohol, and will be a lot cheaper. And I am sure you'll rinse with fresh clean water afterward, because unless you are a salt addict you wont like having that salty taste lingering in your mouth.

Dont forget that lip and cheek piercings need BOTH oral care and non-oral care since the entrance and exit holes for those piercings will both need care.

Its been said before, but DONT PLAY WITH YOUR PIERCINGS!!! HANDS OFF!!! and no matter what people tell you, DONT ROTATE YOUR PIERCING JEWELRY!! Unless you are trying to heal a piercing with something like wood or plastic or something porous (EW, bad idea, you're just setting yourself up to fail) there should be no reason to turn the jewelry, and doing so will pull "crusties" into the hole and create small tears that will have to heal all over again... this will increase healing time.

Trying to heal a piercing while on the road is HARD work, but it CAN be done. Just be careful and if you get a major infection its better to get antibiotics than to just remove the piercing -- you dont want the outer layers of skin to heal and trap the infection inside, creating an abscess, abscesses hurt! Er, but dont just ignore infections, thats nasty and has (very rarely) resulted in death.

Listen to your body and good luck!

 

[Rash L]

piercing health and exercise

ahhh much better.

 

[simpletoremember]

thank you guys. i just got my septum pierced and was wondering about these things.

 

[smellyskelly]

Rstank, warm water is a good idea, ive never thought about it. ive always just sat there and scratched the dried snot off with my nail, not sanitary at all .

Rash, thank you for the sea salt measurements, i've never measured, just usually 2 small pinches of salt.
Oh & Rash, any helpful tips on stretching your septum? mine was pierced at a 16g, but i've managed to easily slide a 14g right on in, though im having more difficulty getting a 12g in there, i had it pierced back in december of 2008, stretched it to the 14g in about june so i dont think im trying to stretch prematurely. i just wanna get this fucker in already! haha but in the correct way of course, i never force stretching but dammit this 12g CB is just STARRING at me all the time.

 

[Rash L]

smelly:
play with it!!. its obviously healed and not hurting anymore, so pull on it a bit and fiddle with it.... once I needed to stretch my septum back up to 10g to get my jewelry in.... I ended up putting a 12g barbell in and rigging some wire around both sides to make a place to hang a padlock off of it... after a few hours the 10g slid in with minimal discomfort.... I just had to make sure the whole get up didnt get caught on anything for those few hours. Of course, my septum had already been 10g at one time so I believe it was a bit easier of a stretch than if the hole had never been stretched, so I suggest just play with it.

 

[smellyskelly]

:] thank you for replying, iim trying that right now, so far so good. just found out with padlock on your septum jewlery, swinging your head to the side real quick is not fun or smart :blush:

 

[Rash L]

HAHAHA.. yeah, definitely not fun at all. Anything that hurts is bad for your piercing.

 

[smellyskelly]

haha yeah, it only hurt cause it smacked me in the upper lip haha. buttt its finally at a 12g! in 6 months i will go to a 10g <3

 

[Rash L]

Congrats!!

 

[Rstank]

(if you want to know)

MY METHOD FOR GAUGING MY SEPTUM: i usually clean the jewlery that i plan on putting in and set it down on a towel then take out my jewlery and clean the hole nice and good....i use a pinch of coco butter and some vita E on my hole and the jewlery i plan on putting in then slowly but surley inch it in untill whala! its through then wait a while and keep my septum wet with vita warm water and love all day....its at a 2G now and couldnt be any better

hope its helped
STANK

 

[wildboy860]

I was told tea tree oil works well on getting rid of keliods on piercings. and for streching... take a hot shower before attempting the strech and it's supposed to loosen up your skin making it easier to strech. oh and it's better if you use a taper and some sorta lubrication aswell.

 

[sprout]

What is everyones' opinions on silicon plugs?

 

[plantsomeseeds]

silicon EVERYTHING creeps me the fuck out, and i'd avoid having it in constanst contact with any part of my body....but thats just me.

 

[Rash L]

I have some silicon plugs... they are GREAT for sleeping in (and regular wear), but they irritate my ears if left in an extended time... then again EVERYTHING irritates my skin (hence the name "rash")

Keloids can be very hard to get rid of, and there are a few techniques piercers can try that I wont mention here, because they can be very harmful if you dont know what you are doing, but you can also try rubbing with oil (like wildboy680 mentioned), before or after you try removing the piercing. If you are going to use tea tree oil for keloids, dilute it well with olive oil or some other type of neutral oil, it can be hard on the skin if used straight.... with that said, extra virgin olive oil alone with rubbing can be a cheaper alternative that I would suggest before buying Tea Tree Oil (of course if you are acquiring tea tree oil without money, go for it! That stuff is good for a lot of things). The rubbing is the major part of this process, apply oil and rub as often as possible.

Stretching should always be a slow process... and should only be started months after you think your piercings have healed. Put a good 4-6months time between gauges when first going up in size. SOME holes will stretch naturally after they have healed over time with normal wear and play, others should definitely be done with tapers, and you should always use a good water-based lube, GO SLOW!! sometimes I will walk around with a taper in my ear all day if I have to, pushing the taper very gradually. Never force your piercings!

 

[Rash L]

I have some silicon plugs... they are GREAT for sleeping in (and regular wear), but they irritate my ears if left in an extended time... then again EVERYTHING irritates my skin (hence the name "rash")

Keloids can be very hard to get rid of, and there are a few techniques piercers can try that I wont mention here, because they can be very harmful if you dont know what you are doing, but you can also try rubbing with oil (like wildboy680 mentioned), before or after you try removing the piercing. If you are going to use tea tree oil for keloids, dilute it well with olive oil or some other type of neutral oil, it can be hard on the skin if used straight.... with that said, extra virgin olive oil alone with rubbing can be a cheaper alternative that I would suggest before buying Tea Tree Oil (of course if you are acquiring tea tree oil without money, go for it! That stuff is good for a lot of things). The rubbing is the major part of this process, apply oil and rub as often as possible.

Stretching should always be a slow process... and should only be started months after you think your piercings have healed. Put a good 4-6months time between gauges when first going up in size. SOME holes will stretch naturally after they have healed over time with normal wear and play, others should definitely be done with tapers, and you should always use a good water-based lube, GO SLOW!! sometimes I will walk around with a taper in my ear all day if I have to, pushing the taper very gradually. Never force your piercings!

 

[dirty_rotten_squatter]

and for streching... take a hot shower before attempting the strech and it's supposed to loosen up your skin making it easier to strech.

yeah, my ex would strecth her ears in the shower, and she said it doesn't hurt at all like if she did it outside of the shower.

haha yeah, it only hurt cause it smacked me in the upper lip haha. buttt its finally at a 12g! in 6 months i will go to a 10g <3

Sweet! I'm also fixin to bump up mine to a 12.

 

[wildboy860]

I have a pair of Kaos tunnels and I'm pretty sure that shit is silicone and my ears have no problems with them. the only thing is you don't wanna use them to strech with cuase they'll tear your skin real bad. it's just a bad idea.