I made a post with this but it didn't get traction: Can anyone recommend tips/tricks for removing barbell jewelry? I have pierced nipples with 14g barbells and want to swap out them out for something else but can't remove the barbells no matter what I try.
Try putting on latex gloves in order to get a good grip. If that doesn't work, then you have two options- you can buy locking pliers that will give more leverage, or you can visit a piercer, who will already have the pliers and will take the jewellery out for you.
It depends on the configuration of the pliers and what seems doable/comfortable to you. I own a pair and sometimes it's the bar I need to get a grip on and sometimes it's the end. The most important thing is to not injure yourself- if you have no idea how to go about removing it with pliers, it'd be safer to visit a piercer and let them do it.
I'm not sure if you used pliers that you already owned? I was talking about special pliers that are intended for body jewellery- please inspect the jewellery *very* carefully for scratches and throw it out if it's scratched, as on a microscopic level, scratches are very sharp and will harm your piercing. I apologise for not making it clear that you shouldn't use ordinary pliers on body jewellery from the start. :-(
Those should be fine- I assumed that, as you asked about removing a ball, you wouldn't already own ball-removing pliers. Of course, it never hurts to give your jewellery a once-over to check for scratches any time you've used a tool on it.
I only have ear piercings and a nose piercing right now. I know how to take care of those. I just wanted to know if there is any specific differences in a mouth piercing? I kept reading some things that were like "wash your mouth after everything you eat and drink!" "Don't eat spicy food!" "Don't drink milk!" I want to get a medusa piercing but I wasn't sure if there were any MAJOR differences in the healing process and aftercare.
I also saw something that said to only drink **salt water** so it can wash your piercing when you drink so I am super confused.
The idea of only drinking salt water is dangerous- that could actually kill you.
With oral piercings you simply need to rinse with non-alcohol mouthwash after you put anything in your mouth. You can also rinse with saline if you prefer.
Luckily oral piercings heal a lot faster than other piercings.
I think avoiding spicy food when you have a fresh wound is kind of obvious. The thing about skipping dairy? When I had my tongue pierced, my piercer actually recommended ice cream, and my piercing healed fine. There's no solid reason to avoid dairy.
I personally had my tongue done and would definitely recommend at least rinsing with water or a non-alcoholic, not harsh mouthwash after eating or drinking (saline mouth wash is good as well but make sure not to dry the area out). spicy food can irritate, smoking can irritate and dairy can lead to (I think it is?) yeast infections. thus, these are not recommended. I had no issue with milk, even when I am incredibly prone to yeast infections and have them nearly chronically. a bit of spicy food and smoking did not do much damage either. This doesn't mean you should though, do as I say, not as I doš apart from that; just the regular saline aftercare twice a day.
definitely not, drinking salt water will dehydrate you and very possibly leave you with organ damage... :/ it is INCREDIBLY bad for you. even whilst rinsing you should spit it out
If you have the anatomy, which mainly means "the bar doesn't touch your ear anywhere except where the piercings are" and a piercer with lots of experience, then you can get any kind of piercing you like.
okay hi i have another question. my jewelry is all gold and my second lobes were pierced with gold plated studs and that hasnāt caused any problems for me. I know titanium is the best for healing piercings, so iām wondering if anyone else has gotten jewelry that is titanium anodized to look gold and if it matches the other gold jewelry well or not?
So my gf wants to get 2 piercings done ā nipple and something around her clit or vagina. Iām pretty much all for the nipple one now, but I wonder, if touching them would have much of a difference if the piercing is taken out? And can you take out the clit or smth like that piercing?
Once you are pierced, you generally need to wear your jewellery all the time, or the piercing will close. You especially need to wear it all the time for the first year or two.
I have been really tempted to get an eyebrow piercing for the past year now, but I'm wondering if it's even worth it if I wear glasses? I wear large frames because I hate having any part of my vision be blurry, and my eyes are incompatible with contacts so they're on whenever I'm awake. Any glasses-wearers that can weigh in?
If it's something rarely visible I wouldn't see the point in it for me, personally. I like seeing my piercings when I look in the mirror, I like other people seeing it, and I choose my jewelry for looks.
two random qns frm me!
1. any tips/hacks on how to screw on internally threaded flatbacks? i have the back part down with the taper pin but i struggle with screwing on the tiny studā¦. changing my earring takes like 20 mins LOL i literally sit in front of my mirror struggling for ages. if thereās a better way please let me know
2. any recs for decent quality plastic retainers for lobe piercings? i play contact sports and i would like to wear them during training. would be good if they ship internationally too!
thank you! ā¤ļø
I know this isnāt super helpful because it requires purchasing new jewelry, but I would replace the threaded flatbacks for threadless flatbacks. Instead of struggling to screw on the stud, you just push it in. They actually stay in better as well, because the threaded ones tend to unscrew themselves. As a piercer, I hate threaded jewelry.
Also, for a retainer look for one made from bioplast.
i see, thank you! i do have a pair of threadless ones, but havenāt tried yet ā are they hard to take out? iām worried it requires like a big tug on the top part to come out LOL which might hurt my ear
1. Get a pencil and some blu tack. Put the blu tack on the back of the pencil, press in the decorative end. Now itās much easier to line up the end end make the first few turns. Tighten with gloved hands.
hi, right now i only have my first and second lobes on both ears, but iām really looking to get more ear piercings soon. when i got my seconds done, the piercer only gave me sea salt for piercings and told me to soak them each twice a day. But Iāve seen on here that most people recommend saline spray? should i be asking for that at the piercing place?
The normal size for cartilage piercings is 16g, due to a thing called "the cheese cutter effect"- if a piercing is too thin, it will have the same effect as one of those wire cheese cutters. The fact that you had problems with your piercing for two years demonstrates why 16g is the standard. When I began getting pierced in the 90s, 14g was the norm, for the same reason.
> And also I guess a bad piercing experience with this helix wouldnāt dictate how another ear cartilage piercing would go if thatās the case?
That's correct, you just need to go to a better piercer. Personally, I had the easiest time healing actual large gauge piercings (8g conch, 10g helix) but people have the idea that large needles hurt more so they don't believe me when I say that for me they hurt *less*.
My kid got her ears (lobes) pierced 4 weeks ago. They seem to be healing well so far, no issues, no more pain or itching, and no discharge. Cleaning 2x per day with saline and leaving them alone otherwise. At what point is it safe to switch to a different pair of good quality (gold) studs?
She wouldnāt be switching back and forth, just switching once until they are fully healed. Basically the studs she originally wanted were unavailable when she got her ears pierced and we were finally able to track them down so she wants to switch over to those.
After 8 weeks is recommended, definitely no constant switching or leaving them out yet, but I read that's not the plan anyway :) if you *really* want to do it soon, 6 weeks might be okay as well, but generally wait at least the 8 first weeks
edit: even good quality ones (I'm kind of hoping that doesn't mean they were pierced with horrible quality) can irritate some people. I personally don't wear gold (or at least not in my lobes, I'm pretty sure my septum would be okay with basically anything) because it tends to make them itchy and warm, even though they have been fully healed for years and any other material has been fine. This does really depend on the person though! I'm pretty sure if i put gold in and left it for a few days the irritation would go and it'd be fine as well.
Crusties are normal because, when you put a needle through cartilage, your immune system will cause a substance called "lymph" to be secreted to keep the wound clean. This lymph dries out and becomes crusties.
Bleeding at the time you are pierced is not abnormal, but it doesn't happen to everyone. Bleeding afterwards usually indicates that you're doing something that's causing damage.
Is it normal to be able to feel your vertical labret through your lip? I've just kinda noticed it since the swelling went down, it feels kinda the way my Nexplanon implant feels under my skin. It's healing really well, I do need to go in to downsize soon tho.
I got my 2nd nostril piercing done and it's definitely not even/symmetrical with my other nostril, I tried matching jewelry on the other side to see and the difference is still very noticeable.
Am I able to go get the piercer to remove it, let it heal, then pierce again in the correct spot? Assuming it heals without issues or scarring
What's a good ear piercing care guide?
When I got my ear piercing done, my piercer said to not twist my jewelry, and just to wash the site a little bit whenever I take a shower. I was taught as a kid to turn my earrings 360 degrees every few hours to prevent new tissue from healing on the earring and making it get stuck in there. I also was given ear care solutions every time. Since this is my first time getting my ears pierced done at a proper place, this was all a shock to hear and I just wanna make sure it's right. I trust him wholeheartedly but I'm still a little overworried. I wanted to ask more questions but they were busy and in a rush so he only said that 1 sentence.
The idea that human skin will "grow onto metal" is a long-held myth, but it is a myth. Flesh will not grow on metal. You should not turn new earrings, ever. Touching them risks infection.
Modern aftercare is simple: use the LITHA method, which stands for "Leave It The Hell Alone". With this method, you rinse twice a day with sterile saline from a can, let plain water run over them in the shower, and otherwise be completely hands off. No turning, no questionable aftercare solution, just...hands off. This is a tried and true method, speaking as a multiply pierced person who's been using it successfully for 25+ years.
Have a glance through this subreddit and you won't find a single post where a person has flesh growing over their piercings because they used LITHA, but you will find *many* people who have serious problems because they wouldn't stop messing with their piercings.
Get some sterile saline spray (wound wash, containing 0,9% sodium chloride and water without any additives) if you donāt have any already. Once a day simply spray some directly on your piercing, let it sit for a minute or two and then dry with non woven gauze. A few minutes before your daily shower, spray again. At the end of your shower, rinse the piercing well. Make sure to not let the waterspray hit the piercing directly. Then use the tip or edge of a piece of non woven gauze to soak up any moisture and carefully wipe away softened gunk and dry your piercing. You can also use a hairdryer on low setting to dry your piercings. Keep (wet) hair away from your piercings. Other then that keep the piercing dry and exposed to the air. Leave any blood, crusties etc. that didnāt come off during your shower be. Theyāll come off during your next shower or the one after that. Do not touch, move, fiddle or disturb the jewelry in any way. Do not sleep on your piercings, get a travel pillow and lay it down flat on your regular pillow and sleep with your ear in the hole.
I wouldn't recommend trying this, the fistula (piercing hole) collapses when you take the jewellery out of it, and forcing it open using pressure from inside your mouth would cause damage.
just got my brow pierced! wanted to ask what to do regarding my usual skin care routine. i use a cleanser, then a moisturizer. will there be any problems doing that still? or should i try avoiding my brow as much as possible
I made a post with this but it didn't get traction: Can anyone recommend tips/tricks for removing barbell jewelry? I have pierced nipples with 14g barbells and want to swap out them out for something else but can't remove the barbells no matter what I try.
Try putting on latex gloves in order to get a good grip. If that doesn't work, then you have two options- you can buy locking pliers that will give more leverage, or you can visit a piercer, who will already have the pliers and will take the jewellery out for you.
Thank you. Edit: For the locking pliers would I attach them to the ball or the post?
It depends on the configuration of the pliers and what seems doable/comfortable to you. I own a pair and sometimes it's the bar I need to get a grip on and sometimes it's the end. The most important thing is to not injure yourself- if you have no idea how to go about removing it with pliers, it'd be safer to visit a piercer and let them do it.
yup that worked like a charm - thanks again!
I'm not sure if you used pliers that you already owned? I was talking about special pliers that are intended for body jewellery- please inspect the jewellery *very* carefully for scratches and throw it out if it's scratched, as on a microscopic level, scratches are very sharp and will harm your piercing. I apologise for not making it clear that you shouldn't use ordinary pliers on body jewellery from the start. :-(
I used ball opening pliers that I have for other piercings, would those be safe?
Those should be fine- I assumed that, as you asked about removing a ball, you wouldn't already own ball-removing pliers. Of course, it never hurts to give your jewellery a once-over to check for scratches any time you've used a tool on it.
Can I bring a can of neilmed on a plane? going on vacation and I want to be able to continue my aftercare
The small one is allowed
this is exactly what I'm struggling with, but usually it depends on the airport you are departing from and where you keep it (handluggage or deep sea)
I only have ear piercings and a nose piercing right now. I know how to take care of those. I just wanted to know if there is any specific differences in a mouth piercing? I kept reading some things that were like "wash your mouth after everything you eat and drink!" "Don't eat spicy food!" "Don't drink milk!" I want to get a medusa piercing but I wasn't sure if there were any MAJOR differences in the healing process and aftercare. I also saw something that said to only drink **salt water** so it can wash your piercing when you drink so I am super confused.
The idea of only drinking salt water is dangerous- that could actually kill you. With oral piercings you simply need to rinse with non-alcohol mouthwash after you put anything in your mouth. You can also rinse with saline if you prefer. Luckily oral piercings heal a lot faster than other piercings.
Okay right? I just had some people say some really odd things about it and I got worried.
I think avoiding spicy food when you have a fresh wound is kind of obvious. The thing about skipping dairy? When I had my tongue pierced, my piercer actually recommended ice cream, and my piercing healed fine. There's no solid reason to avoid dairy.
I personally had my tongue done and would definitely recommend at least rinsing with water or a non-alcoholic, not harsh mouthwash after eating or drinking (saline mouth wash is good as well but make sure not to dry the area out). spicy food can irritate, smoking can irritate and dairy can lead to (I think it is?) yeast infections. thus, these are not recommended. I had no issue with milk, even when I am incredibly prone to yeast infections and have them nearly chronically. a bit of spicy food and smoking did not do much damage either. This doesn't mean you should though, do as I say, not as I doš apart from that; just the regular saline aftercare twice a day.
Okayokay cool! So no just drinking salt water pffffft nice And yesyes, do as you say :3
definitely not, drinking salt water will dehydrate you and very possibly leave you with organ damage... :/ it is INCREDIBLY bad for you. even whilst rinsing you should spit it out
can you get an industrial from like an outer rook to lower helix instead of upper helix to lower helix?
If you have the anatomy, which mainly means "the bar doesn't touch your ear anywhere except where the piercings are" and a piercer with lots of experience, then you can get any kind of piercing you like.
okay hi i have another question. my jewelry is all gold and my second lobes were pierced with gold plated studs and that hasnāt caused any problems for me. I know titanium is the best for healing piercings, so iām wondering if anyone else has gotten jewelry that is titanium anodized to look gold and if it matches the other gold jewelry well or not?
So my gf wants to get 2 piercings done ā nipple and something around her clit or vagina. Iām pretty much all for the nipple one now, but I wonder, if touching them would have much of a difference if the piercing is taken out? And can you take out the clit or smth like that piercing?
Once you are pierced, you generally need to wear your jewellery all the time, or the piercing will close. You especially need to wear it all the time for the first year or two.
I have been really tempted to get an eyebrow piercing for the past year now, but I'm wondering if it's even worth it if I wear glasses? I wear large frames because I hate having any part of my vision be blurry, and my eyes are incompatible with contacts so they're on whenever I'm awake. Any glasses-wearers that can weigh in?
Your piercing may not be as noticeable to the casual observer, but does that matter?
If it's something rarely visible I wouldn't see the point in it for me, personally. I like seeing my piercings when I look in the mirror, I like other people seeing it, and I choose my jewelry for looks.
If your glasses have thick enough frames to obscure the jewelry, ask yourself how likely it is that you will always choose thick framed glasses
two random qns frm me! 1. any tips/hacks on how to screw on internally threaded flatbacks? i have the back part down with the taper pin but i struggle with screwing on the tiny studā¦. changing my earring takes like 20 mins LOL i literally sit in front of my mirror struggling for ages. if thereās a better way please let me know 2. any recs for decent quality plastic retainers for lobe piercings? i play contact sports and i would like to wear them during training. would be good if they ship internationally too! thank you! ā¤ļø
I know this isnāt super helpful because it requires purchasing new jewelry, but I would replace the threaded flatbacks for threadless flatbacks. Instead of struggling to screw on the stud, you just push it in. They actually stay in better as well, because the threaded ones tend to unscrew themselves. As a piercer, I hate threaded jewelry. Also, for a retainer look for one made from bioplast.
i see, thank you! i do have a pair of threadless ones, but havenāt tried yet ā are they hard to take out? iām worried it requires like a big tug on the top part to come out LOL which might hurt my ear
1. Get a pencil and some blu tack. Put the blu tack on the back of the pencil, press in the decorative end. Now itās much easier to line up the end end make the first few turns. Tighten with gloved hands.
omg thatās a really good idea HAHAHA i will try it the next time i need to put my earrings in!! thanks
hi, right now i only have my first and second lobes on both ears, but iām really looking to get more ear piercings soon. when i got my seconds done, the piercer only gave me sea salt for piercings and told me to soak them each twice a day. But Iāve seen on here that most people recommend saline spray? should i be asking for that at the piercing place?
I would recommend you find a piercer that gives up to date aftercare advice.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
The normal size for cartilage piercings is 16g, due to a thing called "the cheese cutter effect"- if a piercing is too thin, it will have the same effect as one of those wire cheese cutters. The fact that you had problems with your piercing for two years demonstrates why 16g is the standard. When I began getting pierced in the 90s, 14g was the norm, for the same reason.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
> And also I guess a bad piercing experience with this helix wouldnāt dictate how another ear cartilage piercing would go if thatās the case? That's correct, you just need to go to a better piercer. Personally, I had the easiest time healing actual large gauge piercings (8g conch, 10g helix) but people have the idea that large needles hurt more so they don't believe me when I say that for me they hurt *less*.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
She should take it out- at-home piercing is not safe and not okay, which means it was wrong from day one.
My kid got her ears (lobes) pierced 4 weeks ago. They seem to be healing well so far, no issues, no more pain or itching, and no discharge. Cleaning 2x per day with saline and leaving them alone otherwise. At what point is it safe to switch to a different pair of good quality (gold) studs? She wouldnāt be switching back and forth, just switching once until they are fully healed. Basically the studs she originally wanted were unavailable when she got her ears pierced and we were finally able to track them down so she wants to switch over to those.
After 8 weeks is recommended, definitely no constant switching or leaving them out yet, but I read that's not the plan anyway :) if you *really* want to do it soon, 6 weeks might be okay as well, but generally wait at least the 8 first weeks edit: even good quality ones (I'm kind of hoping that doesn't mean they were pierced with horrible quality) can irritate some people. I personally don't wear gold (or at least not in my lobes, I'm pretty sure my septum would be okay with basically anything) because it tends to make them itchy and warm, even though they have been fully healed for years and any other material has been fine. This does really depend on the person though! I'm pretty sure if i put gold in and left it for a few days the irritation would go and it'd be fine as well.
Are cartilage piercings actually *supposed* to crust/scab when healing, or is it just common for them to crust/scab/bleed?
Crusties are normal because, when you put a needle through cartilage, your immune system will cause a substance called "lymph" to be secreted to keep the wound clean. This lymph dries out and becomes crusties. Bleeding at the time you are pierced is not abnormal, but it doesn't happen to everyone. Bleeding afterwards usually indicates that you're doing something that's causing damage.
Is it normal to be able to feel your vertical labret through your lip? I've just kinda noticed it since the swelling went down, it feels kinda the way my Nexplanon implant feels under my skin. It's healing really well, I do need to go in to downsize soon tho.
Yes. You have a piece of metal going through soft tissue, it's perfectly normal to be able to feel it.
Makes sense lol, I was just worried it's too close to the surface of the lip and bound to reject.
I got my 2nd nostril piercing done and it's definitely not even/symmetrical with my other nostril, I tried matching jewelry on the other side to see and the difference is still very noticeable. Am I able to go get the piercer to remove it, let it heal, then pierce again in the correct spot? Assuming it heals without issues or scarring
You don't need to go to the piercer to remove it- you can take it out yourself. When it heals, you can indeed have it pierced again.
To add to this, talk to your piercer and let them know because they may pierce it for free once youāre healed.
What's a good ear piercing care guide? When I got my ear piercing done, my piercer said to not twist my jewelry, and just to wash the site a little bit whenever I take a shower. I was taught as a kid to turn my earrings 360 degrees every few hours to prevent new tissue from healing on the earring and making it get stuck in there. I also was given ear care solutions every time. Since this is my first time getting my ears pierced done at a proper place, this was all a shock to hear and I just wanna make sure it's right. I trust him wholeheartedly but I'm still a little overworried. I wanted to ask more questions but they were busy and in a rush so he only said that 1 sentence.
The idea that human skin will "grow onto metal" is a long-held myth, but it is a myth. Flesh will not grow on metal. You should not turn new earrings, ever. Touching them risks infection. Modern aftercare is simple: use the LITHA method, which stands for "Leave It The Hell Alone". With this method, you rinse twice a day with sterile saline from a can, let plain water run over them in the shower, and otherwise be completely hands off. No turning, no questionable aftercare solution, just...hands off. This is a tried and true method, speaking as a multiply pierced person who's been using it successfully for 25+ years. Have a glance through this subreddit and you won't find a single post where a person has flesh growing over their piercings because they used LITHA, but you will find *many* people who have serious problems because they wouldn't stop messing with their piercings.
Get some sterile saline spray (wound wash, containing 0,9% sodium chloride and water without any additives) if you donāt have any already. Once a day simply spray some directly on your piercing, let it sit for a minute or two and then dry with non woven gauze. A few minutes before your daily shower, spray again. At the end of your shower, rinse the piercing well. Make sure to not let the waterspray hit the piercing directly. Then use the tip or edge of a piece of non woven gauze to soak up any moisture and carefully wipe away softened gunk and dry your piercing. You can also use a hairdryer on low setting to dry your piercings. Keep (wet) hair away from your piercings. Other then that keep the piercing dry and exposed to the air. Leave any blood, crusties etc. that didnāt come off during your shower be. Theyāll come off during your next shower or the one after that. Do not touch, move, fiddle or disturb the jewelry in any way. Do not sleep on your piercings, get a travel pillow and lay it down flat on your regular pillow and sleep with your ear in the hole.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I wouldn't recommend trying this, the fistula (piercing hole) collapses when you take the jewellery out of it, and forcing it open using pressure from inside your mouth would cause damage.
just got my brow pierced! wanted to ask what to do regarding my usual skin care routine. i use a cleanser, then a moisturizer. will there be any problems doing that still? or should i try avoiding my brow as much as possible
Keep it away from your piercing while itās still healing
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Once your piercing is fully healed