Piercing magazine: take care of your piercing in the summer

Summer has come, and the desire to reveal and decorate our bodies is more relevant for most of us ... This is the time of year when we go on vacation, often far from home. this is a great opportunity to change the look and indulge in small changes! Therefore, many people wait for the summer to get pierced. We invite you to read our piercing care guidelines before starting 😉

If you plan to be in the sun for a long time

Whether your piercing is recent or old, sunburn will never be welcome, especially around a gem where the skin is sensitive. Avoid sun exposure on your new piercing. A cap or T-shirt can be more than enough for effective protection. Do not bandage your piercing; this will cause maceration with sweat and, as a result, the growth of bacteria (increased risk of infection). We do not recommend the use of sunscreen on a healing piercing. This prevents the skin from breathing and the product may interact negatively with the puncture site.

If you plan on swimming (sea, pool, lake, sauna, etc.)

If you've just got a piercing - or if it hasn't healed yet - you should absolutely avoid damp spots; therefore, the use of the sauna / hammam is strictly prohibited! The punctured area should not be immersed, especially in water, which can often contain bacteria and germs. Do not immerse yourself in water, keep the piercing dry at all times, and do not bathe for a long time. If you do fall into water, be sure to clean your piercing as soon as possible. Use pH neutral soap, then rinse thoroughly with hot water, then apply physiological serum. In general, don't worry if you just want to soak your feet and legs. However, if you plan to go swimming in the summer, you will have to postpone the piercing project when you return from vacation.

If you do a lot of sports

Exercise in hot weather tends to irritate the skin due to sweating, which is often more profuse. To avoid all problems, you must clean the new piercing after training (see above). If you already have scars, use unscented wet wipes! You can also quickly spray a sea salt solution to remove impurities adhering to your skin. The piercing must be able to breathe normally. Therefore, never put lotions or creams on it if you know you are going to exercise.

If you are allergic

Beware of allergies that can trigger the appearance in the summer, especially if you travel to unfamiliar places. If you have a particular allergy, it is best to wait for your return to get your piercing done. Allergies strongly mobilize your body and therefore can slow down or jeopardize good healing. By default, if you are aware of a mild allergy, do not pierce your nose. This will allow you to blow your nose without risking snagging the piercing or provoking a potential infection.

Take care of your new piercing

Care depends on the type of piercing (detailed care guide here), but here are some general rules to follow during healing, regardless of the time of year, to take care of the latter.

During the healing period, it is necessary:

Keep your piercing clean: as mentioned above, use pH neutral soap, rinse thoroughly with hot water, then apply physiological serum: these are the main treatments for new piercings. If you are a little irritated, put the serum in the refrigerator, it will relieve more and work more effectively.

Keep your piercing moisturized: The skin around the piercing can sometimes dry out, especially on the lobe: you can use one or two drops of jojoba or sweet almond oil to moisturize it. Remember to always handle your piercing with clean hands!

Strengthen your immune system: A new piercing is an open wound in the medical sense. Healing piercings requires your immune system. To strengthen it, you must think about proper and balanced nutrition, moisturize yourself, get enough sleep, and practice personal hygiene. This will keep germs and bacteria at bay as much as possible and make the piercing more effective.

Any piercing in the mouth (tongue, lip, smiley, etc.) is especially delicate during the first two weeks. Therefore, you should eat soft foods (bananas, yogurt, compote, rice, etc.) and avoid hard and porous foods (crisp bread, chips, etc.).

Not to do :

Avoid taking anticoagulants, alcohol, and excess caffeine. New piercings are prone to intermittent bleeding early in the healing process, this is completely normal. It is important that your body can quickly reject all foreign objects so that suitable scar tissue is formed (this is epithelialization). If the blood is too thin, this natural defense system may not work best.

It should be noted that use a highly diluted mouthwash or sea salt liquid to pierce your mouth, as alcohol-based liquids dry out the area, exposing it to infections.

Nicotine also slows down wound healing. If you are unable to quit smoking, reduce the number of cigarettes you smoke per day. You can also substitute products with less nicotine, such as micro dose patches.

Do not forcefully remove dead skin around the piercing. If you pull them out, you run the risk of pushing bacteria into the scar canal. This can trigger an infection. These "scabs" are simply lymph (a clear fluid that the body naturally secretes as a wound heals) that tends to dry out, forming a whitish scab around external punctures. This is part of the normal healing process. To remove crusts, use a shower spray in the bathroom and rinse the affected area with hot water.

Don't try to squeeze out what you think is possible by pressing on the piercing. Again, in most cases this is a small lymph ball that can appear next to the piercing even months after the act. Applying a simple compress with fresh physiological serum will gradually deflate until the air disappears.

First of all, it is very important not to touch your piercing, especially if you haven't washed your hands for a long time. This bad reflex (itching, new, beautiful, etc.) directly transfers germs to the area to be healed.

Change of decorations:

Make sure your piercing is completely healed before changing jewelry! We cannot insist on this: it is better to wait a little than not enough ... It is for this reason that at MBA - My Body Art we offer you a wide selection of posing jewelry. From the very beginning, you can get a result that matches your style and your desire. Even after a long healing period, this area remains very tender. So do not hesitate to come to us before taking off your decorations for installation. We remind you that we change jewelry for free if it comes from us!

At the MBA, we constantly strive for excellence in the quality of our services and promise to make your piercing experience as comfortable as possible. Thus, all of our matching jewelry is made of titanium and meets the most stringent sanitary requirements.

To find out more and get to know our piercers, visit one of our shops in Lyon, Villeurbanne, Chambery, Grenoble or Saint-Etienne. Remember that you can get a quote online at any time here.