We don't expect you to stop using hair products during your healing period, but we DO recommend protecting your new piercing from exposure to hair spray and other styling products, including shampoo and conditioner.
Avoid baths, hot tubs, swimming pools, saunas, lakes, etc. for the first three weeks after being pierced as they contain bacteria which can increase the risk of infection.
Flip your hair to the opposite side of your head so you can avoid getting an excessive amount of water or any product in the wound. Make sure you stay in this position until you've completely rinsed the product out of your hair before gently patting your ear dry.
Tiny hair particles from a hair cut can be like fiber glass and if they get trapped in or around the piercing channel, they will cause extreme swelling and irritation.
Stay out of pools, hot tubs, rivers, lakes and other bodies of water while your piercing is healing. Don't fiddle with your piercings. Don't touch a new piercing or twist the jewelry unless you're cleaning it. Keep clothing away from the piercing, too.
Earlobe Piercing
Earlobe piercings are the most standard, comfortable, and fastest healing type you can get.
Oral piercings, or piercings that have constant contact with your saliva, tend to heal a lot easier than most other piercings, due to the healing properties of our own saliva. Tongue piercings have the fastest healing duration of all piercings at only two weeks before you can downsize the bar.
Your sweat is sterile to you, so shower like you normally do and clean the piercing afterwards with saline or sterile wound wash. Do not swim in rivers, lakes, hot tubs, pools, or oceans until your piercing is healed.
Sleeping overtop long hair that is touching a new piercing could introduce bacteria. This might also cause the hair to get snagged in the new jewelry. It's best for that 6-8 week healing period to keep the hair up in a ponytail or a bun while sleeping.
Avoid sleeping with wet hair if you have a new ear piercing. The moisture can lead to complications.
Being too rough on the skin around your piercings can cause irritation. Washing your face with a gentle cleanser, like the La Roche-Posay Toleriane Hydrating Gentle Facial Cleanser, is a great way to ensure that the skin around your piercing is clean after using a micellar water.
Rook piercings are located in the cartilage at the uppermost part of the inner ear. The location does go through a thick bit of cartilage so it can be more painful and harder to heal than many other spots on the ear. The Rook is more in line with the Snug when it comes to pain and healing.
The snug piercing is known to be the most painful ear piercing for the majority of people to receive. On the pain scale, it ranks at around a 9/10 compared to other piercings. However, keep in mind that even the most painful piercings will likely hurt less than getting a paper cut.
Your newly pierced ears will heal faster and will be less prone to infection if they are not touched. Rotating will cause irritation or injury of the new piercings. A piercing is essentially a puncture wound that heals around a piece of jewelry.
It is important to note that your piercing may be tender or painful for up to 3-5 days after the procedure was performed. This is normal. Sleeping directly on your ears or side may prolong the tenderness due to the pressure on the piercing site.
The idea of twisting/moving your new piercing daily & doing this frequently throughout the day is outdated & rarely helps the area to heal nicely, in most cases it causes soreness, redness or swelling which leads to longer healing times & can lead to infection.
Dyes and lighters and other chemicals used in the process like toners can all cause irritation to healing piercings. As such it's really important to avoid getting any on your piercings. But no matter how carefully you or your stylist works, it's easy to accidentally hit or bump the area or have product transfer.
It's normal to have some redness, swelling or pain for a couple of days after getting your ears pierced. But your ears should look and feel better each day. If you find that your ears do great and then suddenly start to become red, inflamed or crusty a week or two later, that's usually a sign of infection.
*Avoid sleeping on the piercing. Even if your piercing does not hurt anymore, try not to sleep on it. The pressure of sleeping on your piercing during the healing process may cause bumps or migration.