How to Care for Newly-Pierced Ears

Having your ears pierced is something that you might well be looking forward to. It finally gives you the chance to adorn your ear lobes with pearls, diamonds, gemstones and precious metals, enhancing any outfit no matter the occasion you’re attending. But with all of the benefits that ear piercings bring, it’s important that you’re taking the aftercare seriously. 

If you’ve never had your ears pierced before, you might be wondering what that entails, exactly, so we’ve put together some tips for you to follow to make sure your ear piercings are kept clean and sanitary for as long as they take to heal, which could be anywhere between six and eight weeks. With this in mind, here’s how you can care for newly-pierced ears like a professional.

 

Keep your hands clean at all times

This is a simple and easy way of keeping your ear piercings clean. Despite making sure that we keep our hands clean generally, it’s even more important that you’re keeping on top of your own personal hygiene if you’ve just had your ears pierced. As a minimum, you should keep your hands clean, using soap and water, and then dry them off with a clean towel. 

This is especially important if you’re going to be touching your new piercing, either to clean the hole or rotate your earrings. This is to prevent the fresh wound from coming into contact with bacteria that could cause an infection. As a general rule, you should keep your hands clean at all times, but definitely make a conscious effort to clean them before touching the new piercing site.

 

Make sure that the piercing itself clean & hygienic

In addition to making sure your hands are clean before touching the site of the new piercing, you need to ensure that the site itself is clean. It’s recommended that you use a saline ear care solution, which can often be bought from the place who did your piercing, making sure a clean cotton pad or cotton bud is soaked in the solution and then gently dabbed on the area. You should make sure that both the front and the back of the piercing site has been cleaned with this saline solution. You need to be doing this around three times a day in a bid to keep infections away.

 

Rotate & twist your earrings from time-to-time

With new wounds, especially in the earlobes, the body will work hard to heal it over. It’s common for new piercings to close up if you do not wear the earrings for the recommended amount of time. However, even if you do wear earrings, you’ll find that your body will try to heal over the earring itself. You want to avoid this as much as possible, and part of mitigating this issue is to physically rotate the earring without taking it out. 

Not only will it be less painful, but it will also heal quicker and more efficiently than if you don’t twist your earrings on a regular basis. The best time to do this is when you have just washed your hands and when the wound is moistened. Usually, people will choose to rotate the earring after cleaning it with the saline solution. When rotating the earring, do so gently and without pulling or tugging.

 

Refrain from using too many sprays or cosmetic products

Your new piercing hole will fare far better when exposed to fresh air. This can speed up the healing process. Something that limits the amount of air they’re exposed to is the overuse of things like hairspray and shampoo. These products can clog up the area around the wound, preventing airflow from getting to the site. 

Not only could this cause irritation to your new piercing, but it can slow down the healing and make it more vulnerable to infections, as it will no longer be clean and sanitary. Instead of not using those products at all, simply avoid them coming into contact with the earlobe simply by temporarily covering it up with a plaster or gauze. Make sure you uncover your piercing again once you have finished.

 

Try to avoid bumping or knocking your piercing

Where you might think that knocking your new piercing is unlikely, it’s actually more common than you think. Most piercings will receive knocks and bangs when taking clothing off, or putting clothing on, usually over the head. Snagging is extremely common. So make sure you take jumpers, t-shirts and over garments off with care. Ensure that foreign objects do not come into contact with your new piercing. 

You should also look to avoid playing sports. However, if this isn’t an option, then you should cover your piercings over with plasters and over protective dressings. This will prevent them from getting caught on clothing, people or being knocked.

 

Ensure that you keep your earrings in 

It’s imperative that you keep your earrings in for the recommended amount of time. This will enable the hole to heal and become robust enough that it won’t close up. If you take your earrings out before they have healed, then the holes will heal over. As such, you’ll have to go and have them pierced again. 

It’s far more cost-effective and simple to have your ears pierced once. But follow the rules and aftercare properly so that the holes don’t heal over. Once your piercings have healed, change your earring if you wish. This is because, at that time, it’s very rare that the hole will heal up again. 

You will need to keep your earrings in for at least six weeks. It’s also recommended that you continue to wear earrings thereafter, provided they’re made from silver, gold or platinum. This is because costume jewellery can irritate ear piercing, especially if they’re relatively new.

 

Little Star has a wide range of different jewellery pieces available for men, women and children. From gold and silver earrings and necklaces to christening bangles and personalised pieces, you’ll be able to have your every jewellery need met when looking to Little Star for quality products. Whether you’re on the lookout for the perfect mother and baby gift or are searching for something special to give your spouse, we will have a collection that will seamlessly meet your requirements. For further information, get in touch with a member of our expert team today – we’re always pleased to hear from you.