After Care Guide

Thank you for getting pierced with us! Below are our Aftercare Instructions based on recommendations from the Association of Professional Piercers (APP). The instructions below are general recommendations and there is variation in healing times and experiences between individuals. If you have any questions please feel free to contact your piercer or the studio via the "Contact Us!" button.

TLDR (but please try to read this whole page):

1) Clean your piercings twice daily (at least) with sterile saline.
2) Don't touch it.
3) Don't take it out.
4) Don't sleep on it.
5) If you think something is wrong our piercers are available to help you! Don't be afraid to reach out via Instagram DM (we're all under 30, we're iPad kids, we'll get back to you within 24 hours).

General Information:

Fresh piercings should be cleaned at least twice a day. You should continue to clean piercings throughout the healing process. Do not remove your jewelry for cleaning. We do not recommend doing your first jewelry change on your own.

Expect swelling, redness and tenderness around the piercing site for several days to weeks, depending on the full healing time of your piercing. It is normal for the piercing to secrete whiteish or yellow fluid (which is not pus) that will form crust near the piercing. Piercings heal from the outside inward so even if a piercing seems healed it could still be very fragile on the inside. We advise that clients continue cleaning piercings throughout the entire healing period.

Prevent irritation and trauma to your fresh piercings. Hitting your piercings will likely be painful! Please avoid sleeping on your healing piercings. Sleeping on piercings can cause irritation and migration (when the angle of the piercing turns). Irritation and trauma can slow the healing process.

Saline Solution:

Our primary aftercare recommendation is sterile saline spray, often labeled as wound wash. This solution should contain 0.9% sodium chloride. This can be purchased at drug stores in the first aid section and is often labeled as wound wash or saline spray. Please clean your piercings at least twice daily.

These solutions should only have sodium chloride and distilled water in them. Any other additives can be irritating and damaging to the skin. Please do not use products that contain oils or benzalkonium chloride.

Kirakira Piercing Company recommends Steri-wash Piercing Aftercare which is available for sale at our shop. Steri-wash comes with a misting applicator that is easier to use than drugstore brand applicators and is gentle on healing piercings. Our product is slightly more expensive than drug-store versions of the product and we mostly stock it for client convenience. Using our product is not more effective, it is perfectly fine to purchase more affordable drug store options.

Downsizing:

After your initial swelling goes down we recommend coming back into the studio for a downsizing appointment. Downsizing is when the long post in your new piercing is replaced with a shorter post that fits more flush with your tissue. Typically we recommend coming in for a downsizing appointment anywhere from 4-8 weeks after your initial piercing procedure, especially if you notice the piercing moving back and forth a lot because of extra bar space or it gets snagged on hair and clothing.

For lip and oral piercings we typically recommend a 2-3 week downsize to prevent enamel and gum damage and to greatly reduce irritation. Lip and oral piercing swelling tends to increase very quickly and decrease quite quickly as well.

Downsizing can help prevent or heal irritation bumps and prevent or halt piercing migration. We highly recommend downsizing in order to have the smoothest healing process possible!

For threadless jewelry we simply replace the long backing with a shorter one. You can keep the topper in your piercing (the pretty part of the jewelry)! Backings at Kira are typically $15 but we discount the backings for downsizes. Each backing is $10 for downsizing. The jewelry change service for downsizing is completely free!

Healing Times by Piercing :

Healing times between individuals may be faster or slower than listed below. Aftercare is a huge part of healing and will greatly contribute to how quickly your body recovers. Not using proper cleaning methods, irritation, and trauma can all affect your healingtime and experience.

Earlobes: 8 - 12 weeks

Ear Cartilage: 6 - 12 months

Eyebrow: 8 - 12 weeks

Nostril: 6 - 12 months

Septum: 6 - 8 weeks

Bridge: 8 - 12 weeks

Tongue: 6 - 8 weeks

Lip/Labret: 8-12 weeks

Smiley/Linguistic Frenulum: 6 - 8 weeks

Nipples: 6 - 12 months

Navel: 6 - 12 months

Genitals: varied, please contact us for more information!

Disclaimer + Sea Salt Soak:

Along with saline spray, your piercer may also recommended sea salt soaks or warm compresses. Please only use sea salt soaks as a supplemental aftercare protocol if your piercer recommends them and only for 2 - 3 weeks.

DISCLAIMER: Sea Salt Soaks as warm compresses are not recommended for everyone and are not an Association of Professional Piercer approved method of aftercare. We only recommend sea salt soaks to those who are struggling with specific aftercare and healing issues. We recommend sea salt soaks because they are cost-effective (many times cheaper than bottled saline) and if done properly (according to our instructions) it is equally as effective as doing soaks with over-the-counter bottled saline. We care about client budget and would rather clients not be forced to spend 10x the money on saline from us, or from the store, when there is an effective method like sea salt soaks available. We have never seen a client contract an infection or have skin irritation because of a sea salt soak.

Many APP certified shops will recommend sea salt soaks by word-of-mouth and will not write it down to avoid criticism. We write it down because we would never recommend something that we couldn't stand behind and put on record.

Please feel free to ask us questions via text, call, or by appointment if you have any concerns. We'd love to help you!

You can make sea salt soak solution at home using clean water (distilled water or filtered Hawai'i tap water) and non-iodized sea salt. Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt into a clean bowl with 1 cup of water. Use a clean utensil to mix the solution. For a cold soak place the mixture into the freezer for ten minutes. For a warm soak place in the microwave for 15 seconds (please test the warm water before soaking your piercing!). Please follow these instructions very carefully in order to minimize the risks associated with sea salt soaks.

Oral Piercings:

Whenever you eat or drink something that is not water, please rinse your mouth with non-alcoholic mouthwash. If your oral piercing is completely inside of your mouth (i.e. tongue, smiley) this is the only aftercare you need!

If your piercing exits the mouth (i.e. snakebites, medusa, labret) please rinse the inside of your mouth after ingesting anything that is not water, and clean the outside of your piercing twice a day with sterile saline. If your oral piercing does not enter the mouth at all (i.e. vertical labret, vertical philtrum, angel fangs) please clean it normally, flushing the outside of the piercing with sterile saline wound wash twice a day.

When not maintained properly, oral piercings have a very high rate of infection! Please do your best to follow the aftercare instructions provided by your piercer.

For any piercing that enters the oral cavity please observe these recommendations:

Please avoid drinking alcohol throughout your healing time as it damages healing wounds.
While healing an oral piercing please avoid smoking of any kind, including vaping and cigars.
It may be best to avoid very spicy foods, foods with syrups, very salty foods (such as potato chips), and foods with small bits (such as fried rice) as they could become stuck inside of your piercing and cause irritation or infection.
Please avoid oral sex for at least a month into the healing process.
For tongue piercings, please avoid drinking from a straw as the suction puts a lot of pressure on healing tongue piercings.
Listen to your body! If something is causing pain, it's likely damaging your piercing.

Piercing Dos and Don'ts:

DO:

- You may want to purchase a travel pillow to sleep on to prevent putting pressure on ear piercings.

- Wash/change your bedding regularly

- Leave your jewelry in at all times! Consult your piercer before removing any of your jewelry.

- Avoid handling your piercings. If you have to handle healing piercings, please wash your hands.

- Clean items that touch your piercings including glasses, phones, headphones, and hats.

- Reach out to your piercer if you have questions!

- Check out our FAQ page.

DON'T:

- Please do not clean your piercings with rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, iodine, colloidal silver, or tea tree oil.

- Please do not submerge your piercings in pools, hot tubs, or bath tubs.

- Do not apply lotions or cosmetics directly to healing piercings.

- For nipple piercings please avoid lace underwear in order to prevent tugging or snagging.

- Please do not wear high-waisted pants while healing a navel piercing.

Piercing Bumps, Keloids, & Infections:

A piercing bump healing with a silicone disk to manually press the bump downward and keep the jewelry from moving.

This client healed this bump down completely over several weeks with sea salt soaks and by reducing irritation from high waisted pants.

Bumps on your piercings are often perfectly normal, especially for cartilage piercings and longer healing piercings like navels and nipples. Piercing bumps are not infections, and they are not keloids. Piercing bumps or irritation bumps have many causes but are most often caused by irritation and improper after care. Usually these kinds of bumps will go away within 3 - 8 weeks, depending on the individual. Do not remove your jewelry if you are noticing a bump.

Bumps are usually not keloids! Keloids and keloiding conditions are genetic and they do not go away on their own (unlike piercing bumps) so they need to be removed by a dermatologist. Those who are prone to developing keloids are usually aware of it because broken skin such as cuts and scrapes will heal as severely raised scars (caused by the formation of excess scar tissue and collagen). This condition requires a diagnosis from a dermatologist.

Feel free to contact us if you get bumps! In order to recommend a plan for healing we would likely require a well-lit photo or in-person appointment. There are various products and methods that work well to reduce bumps and we'd be happy to recommend them after examining your piercing!

Below is an infected helix (where antibiotics were required). The swelling will move beyond the piercing site, the ear will be too tender to touch and will ache without contact with the area at all. Usually there is also heat, itching, and intense swelling, as well as green or bright yellow discharge. Please do not remove your piercing if you believe you have an infection. Wait until a medical professional tells you to do so, as removing the jewelry can trap the infection under the skin. Often, the piercing can still be saved with a combination of antibiotics from a doctor and hot compresses.

Infections are very rare in professional piercing. Please reach out if you need troubleshooting! We have a troubleshooting appointment available.