What to Avoid with a New Body Piercing | FreshTrends (2024)

Getting a new body piercing is always exciting, but it's not always fun and games. To keep your piercing in good shape during the healing process there are a few things you should refrain from doing...or at least be careful when doing. Here are 10 things to avoid when you have a fresh new piercing.

1. Avoid clothing, bedding or fabric that can snag. Knitted fabrics are especially snag-worthy. For example, if you have a nose piercing avoid drying your face with a towel, but instead dab dry with a tissue paper.
2. Avoid rough contact. For example, sex, fun-play wrestling and contact sports (note: you can still be intimate, just be careful not to bump your piercing). The idea is not to accidentally hit or snag your piercing, not only will it be painful, but you can cause an irritation that could set the healing process back a few weeks.
3. Avoid, at all costs, oral contact with other people's bodily fluids. An open wound, like a piercing, is the perfect passage for bacteria, germs, infection and viruses to get into your body. Sodon't let anyone kiss your ear when you've got a new cartilage piercing!
4. Avoid harsh cleansers like alcohol, peroxide and ointments. If you're going to stray from the soaps and saline washes, talk to your piercing professional first, or the pharmacist. We have a great selectionPiercing Aftercare Cleansing Solutions to use for your daily piercing cleansing routine.
5. Avoid over-cleaning as it can be damaging and can slow the healing process by causing irritation. Soeven if you have an obsession with cleanliness and have a fear of germs, do not obsessively wash your new navel piercing! A regular routing of 1-2 times a day should suffice for all your new piercings.
6. Avoid baths. Showers are always best when your piercing is healing, as baths can harbor bacteria. You wouldn't want your new nipple piercing soaking in dirty water; fresh running water is definitely a better option for keeping your fresh piercings bacteria-free.
7. Avoid questionable bodies of water. Lakes, rivers, oceans, swimming pools, and especially jacuzzis and hot tubs. These places can be crawling with all sorts of unknown bacteria that you don't want in your body piercing. If you must dive in, cover your piercing with a waterproof bandage, limit your time in the water, and disinfect your piercing immediately afterwards.
8. Avoid scented or dyed products like lotions, body powders and sprays, perfumes, and other cosmetic products which can cause irritation.
9. Avoid alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, recreational drugs and stress.These are all stimulants which may cause inflammation which consequentially slows down healing.
10. Avoid sun bathing. Some sun is good for you as it provides essential vitamin D, but too much sun exposure can cause a sun burn and weaken the immune system. Sun exposure to wounds can also cause scarring, so you'll want to avoid sunbathing while your new piercing is healing.

Whether you have a belly ring, a nipple piercing, cartilage piercing, new nose ring, or labret, if you follow this simple advice along with a good piercing care routine, you should be on the road to aspeedy piercing recovery.