Piercing & Tattoo Aftercare

Two products, two jobs, and they do not swap. For piercings, Body Candy's sea salt saline spray with rosemary oil and vitamin E, the clean-hands-and-saline routine piercers actually recommend, in a 4 oz bottle that reaches a nostril or a navel on the go. For tattoos, our unscented shea and cocoa butter balm with aloe, ginger and arnica, single or in 3 and 6 packs. Since 1999.

Piercing Aftercare Basics: Saline, Soaks & What to Skip

The routine: wash your hands, then saline. Spray the piercing two to four times, twice a day, and let it dry; when a piercing is irritated, give it a proper warm saline soak instead: a quarter teaspoon of non-iodized sea salt in a cup of warm water, five to ten minutes, rinse with plain water, fresh solution every time. More salt is not better. Do not twist or rotate the jewelry, do not pick the crusties, and keep towels, phones and pillowcases clean; most trouble is friction and your own hands.

What to skip: rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, Bactine, antibacterial soaps and ointments (Neosporin, A&D, bacitracin), which dry, irritate or seal the channel; alcohol mouthwash on an oral piercing; pools, hot tubs and lakes while it heals. That is also why the tattoo balm stays on tattoos: a balm on a piercing traps moisture inside the channel. Published healing times are minimums, from 4 to 8 weeks for a lobe to 6 to 9 months or more for navel and nipple, and a piercing that has stopped crusting is not yet strong underneath.

Thick yellow or green discharge with a smell, spreading redness, heat and worsening pain are a doctor's visit, not a product, and the jewelry stays in so the hole does not close over it. Everything else, saline and patience handle. When your piercer clears you to swap, the jewelry that irritates least is the metal that has no nickel to give.

Care guides by piercing:

Nose piercing aftercare → Nose Piercing Aftercare
Nipple piercing healing → Nipple Piercing Healing
Tongue piercing care → How to Take Care of a Tongue Piercing
Eyebrow piercing care → How to Take Care of an Eyebrow Piercing
Septum healing stages → Septum Piercing Healing Stages
Belly button piercing care → Caring for a Belly Button Piercing
The nickel-free jewelry for irritated skin → Titanium Body Jewelry
Lost a ball → Replacement Balls & Parts

FAQ

What is in the piercing aftercare spray, and how do I use it?

It is a sea salt saline spray with a touch of rosemary oil and vitamin E, in a 4 oz bottle. Wash your hands, spray the piercing two to four times, and let it air dry or pat with clean paper towel; twice a day is the routine while a piercing is settling. A spray is the convenient way to reach a nostril, tragus or navel on the go; it does not replace a proper warm saline soak when a piercing is cranky.

Can I use the tattoo balm on a piercing?

No, and that matters. The balm is for tattooed skin: shea and cocoa butter, sunflower and rice bran oil, aloe, ginger and arnica, unscented, rubbed into clean dry skin. A piercing is a healing channel through tissue, and balms and ointments seal it off from air and trap moisture inside, which is exactly what piercers tell you to avoid. Piercings get saline; tattoos get balm.

What should I never put on a healing piercing?

The medicine cabinet, mostly. Rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide dry out and damage the new tissue; Bactine and antibacterial or harsh soaps irritate it; ointments like Neosporin, A&D and bacitracin seal the channel and cut off oxygen; alcohol mouthwash on an oral piercing kills the good flora too. Gentle saline, clean hands and leaving the jewelry alone do more than any of them.

How do I make a saline soak at home?

Dissolve a quarter teaspoon of non-iodized sea salt in one cup of warm, clean water; more salt is not better, it stings and irritates. Soak the piercing for five to ten minutes once or twice a day by leaning into a cup or pressing a clean cup against the skin to seal it, then rinse with plain water so no salt dries on the jewelry. Make it fresh each time. As the piercing settles, taper to once a day, then every other day.

Is the crust on my jewelry a sign of infection?

Usually not. A thin clear or whitish fluid that dries into crusties is the normal secretion of a healing piercing; soften it off with saline rather than picking. Infection looks different: thick yellow or green discharge with a bad smell, spreading redness, heat and pain that gets worse instead of better. That is a doctor visit, not a product; and do not take the jewelry out, because the hole can close over the infection.

How long does a piercing take to heal, and when can I change the jewelry?

Longer than it looks. Published times are minimums and vary by person: earlobes about 4 to 8 weeks, a nostril several months, cartilage, navel and nipple 6 to 9 months or more. A piercing that has stopped crusting looks healed before the channel underneath is strong. Do not twist or rotate the jewelry while it heals, and leave the starter in until your piercer clears you to swap; then the fun part starts.