Piercing tips and tricks – from piercers! Working in the trade you pick up some tricks and tips as you go, so today we’d like to share some with you that we hope could come in handy!
Changing lip and tongue bars at home
Piercings such as lip and tongue piercings are notorious for being tricky to do yourself, as the bars are slippery from saliva and are hard to get a firm enough grip of to properly tighten or to loosen the bar.
A good way of combatting this is to use two small pieces of tissue to dry the end(s) and to hold a steadier grip than if you were to just use your hands. The tissue basically acts the same as our gloves do- helping to get a stronger grip on the bar and prevent slipping!
Cleaning jewellery at home
One of the most common questions we receive out of hours is “how do you properly clean a piece of jewellery at home?” whether it’s a new piece of jewellery or an old piece you’re changing back to, it is important to take a moment to properly clean a piece of jewellery before inserting it into your piercing. Please note that this is *NOT* sterilisation for new piercings, and we would *NEVER* recommend any form of home piercing!
To clean a piece of jewellery ready for insertion, we recommend you using a clean egg cup with either body-safe antibacterial soap, or some 100% natural rock salt, and mixing it with some boiled hot water. Let the jewellery cool and pat dry with a clean tissue.
Easiest jewellery to change yourself?
Piercings can be a little tricky to change yourself depending on the area, the jewellery, and your own confidence. But there are a few styles of jewellery that are a lot easier to change on yourself than others. For example, ball closure rings can be almost impossible to change yourself, as they require tools to open and close the ring, which is not possible to do by hand.
However, smooth hinged segment rings are super easy to change yourself, as they feature a small segment that swings open and clicks shut- meaning you can pull the ring gently to pop it open, and then squeeze it to shut it again.
Labrets can be a little awkward to change yourself, as they must go in from the back of the piercing, as only the front of the piercing is removable. However, once in, you can just change the front without removing the bar and, after some practice, this process can become easy!
Barbells are generally considered easy to change yourself, as both the front and back can be removed, meaning you can put it in whichever way feels easiest for you.
Sleeping with a new piercing
Sleeping on a piercing is a fast track way to irritation and can have a negative effect on the angle of the piercing, making jewellery hard to wear in the future, so it should always be avoided- especially when it comes to ear piercings.
While we always recommend getting ear piercings on the opposite side to what you are having pierced, sometimes we toss and stur in our sleep without meaning to. A good way to combat this is by using a travel pillow. Travel pillows that go around your neck are the perfect “U” shape to use as a pillow so that your ear can safely nestle inside without putting any pressure on your piercing.