Ear piercings are a timeless and beautiful way to express your personal style. Whether you're starting your journey with your first ear piercing or adding to your collection, it's crucial to care for your piercing properly for a safe and successful healing process. 

When I first started working at S-kin Studio Jewelry about a year ago, I only had my lobe piercings (and a helix piercing that unfortunately closed on me). Embarrassingly, even my lobe piercings closed on me a few times throughout my life too, due to lack of care.

Today, I have 8 ear piercings in total, including two cartilage ones, all done and adorned in S-kin Studio Jewelry piercing earrings. Each of these piercings has been carefully placed and done to suit my ear shape with the help of our in-house professional piercer, Summah! With her help, we’ve come up with our top tips on how to best heal your ear piercings!

Keep your piercing clean

The first step to healing your ear piercing is to keep them clean. It’s really easy to do, but it is also something that is often overlooked and forgotten. You should use a saline or antiseptic solution to clean your piercing at least twice a day for the first 4-6 weeks of getting your piercing. We would recommend stocking up on some Neilmed Piercing Aftercare Spray, this saline spray is designed to last and offer an easy solution to cleaning your piercings. The pressure of the nozzle means that you can get it into all the nooks and crannies of the ear. This spray comes highly recommended from piercing professionals.

Tip: If you need to touch your piercings, make sure you wash your hands before touching it. You don’t want to introduce any bacteria to your piercings. Remember, at the end of the day it's an open wound, you wouldn’t shove your fingers into a healing scab! If you need to apply any other solutions to your piercing, make sure to use a clean cotton swab!

Avoid touching or twisting your jewelry

It’s so tempting to touch or twist your jewelry when you get a new piercing but this will actually prevent a smooth healing process. We strongly advise that you resist the urge to touch your piercings, as this can cause irritation and potentially introduce bacteria to the area. If you need to adjust your jewelry, make sure to wash your hands first and be gentle with it. Alternatively, you can always go to your local professional piercer to have them adjust or replace your piercing earrings for you. 

Tip: For faster healing we recommend you get pierced with a stud and not a hoop as you are less likely to knock around a stud than you are a hoop. The more movement your fresh piercing gets the longer the healing period. 

Stay mindful when submerging in water

Besides making sure that you wash off your shower suds in the shower, submerging your ear piercing in water can increase the risk of infection and prolong the healing process. It’s almost impossible to stay away from water, so what you can do after swimming, or going into a spa is to make sure you wash off the shampoo suds with water and pat gently with a clean cotton cloth until it’s dry. Like caring for a new flesh wound, you want to make sure that the wound is always clean and dry.

Be cautious when changing jewelry

This cannot be stressed enough! It's so important to wait until your piercing is fully healed before changing your jewellery. If you swap the jewellery out too early, you may risk infections, or your piercings closing! One of the key factors why people swap it out too early is because they don’t like the design of their piercings. That is why we designed our 14K Solid Gold Piercings, so that you can come into our Piercing Station and start building your gorgeous ear stacks!

When changing jewellery, make sure you only put in clean jewellery pieces with clean hands only. If you experience any pain or resistance when changing your jewellery, stop and seek professional help. We also offer Earring Changeover as part of our piercing services if you are local to the Cremorne, Richmond Melbourne area. 

Avoid sleeping on your piercing

Sleeping on the side of your piercing can cause pressure and irritation, making it harder for your piercing to heal properly. For the first few days after you get your new piercing, try sleeping on your back or on the opposite side of your pierced ear until your piercing is fully healed.

Tip: What worked for me was putting a pillow on my lower back to alleviate any pressure on my back.

In my experience, the healing time for your ear piercing will depend on your individual circumstances and the location of your piercing. It’s so different for everyone. Typically, earlobe piercings can take 6-8 weeks to heal, while cartilage piercings can take up to 6-12 months to fully heal. By following these tips and keeping your piercing clean, you’ll be one step closer to having your ear piercings heal beautifully and stay healthy for years to come!

I’m keen to get a few more ear piercings, maybe a 14k Solid Gold Ophelia Pave Huggie Hoop on my middle helix on my right ear and a helix (or a flat) with a 14K Solid Gold Delia Pearl Drop Stud on my left. What do you think will suit me best? 

Stay tuned on our socials @skinstudioj_ to see how my ear stack goes!

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