4 Things You Should Probably Know Before Getting Pierced

There’s nothing we love more than a random national something day. You’ve probably heard of National Pet Day, National Best Friend Day, and loads more happy dates that give us a small reason to celebrate a random Wednesday. Today is officially National Piercing Day, and that’s something I can get on board with.

The best way to celebrate National Piercing Day is to go out and get pierced, but before you do that, I’d like to let you in on a few piercing facts that you should probably know before going under the needle.

Having been pierced 12 times in my 21 years, I’d like to think I know a thing or two about the addictive body modification. Although every person’s piercing experience is different, here’s a few things I’ve encountered on my piercing journey that might be useful for you to know.

Please do not pierce yourself

You might be thinking: why would anyone in their right mind pierce themselves? It’s a valid question, but 15-year-old me must not have been in her right mind while piercing her septum in the family bathroom.

I had my septum pierced before this (by a professional), hid it from my parents for a few months before I inevitably forgot to flip it up into my nose before getting into my Dad’s car. After being forced to let it close up, months later my rebellious teenage self thought it’d be a great idea to order a piercing needle online, re-pierce my septum and save the €40 that I would have paid a piercer to do the job for me.

Fast forward six years later and the only thing wrong with my septum piercing is that it’s slightly crooked, but has never been infected. Despite this, I highly suggest researching and going to a piercer you trust.

Piercings are smelly

This is the one nobody is willing to talk about.

All piercings smell while healing, however this is easier to ignore when it’s not in your nose 24/7. Your body secretes a substance called sebum as part of its normal everyday work. Sebum is secreted by the sebaceous glands in the skin. … mix sebum with some dead skin cells and a little bit of bacteria, and you get some really smelly piercings.

I can’t really smell mine anymore, but that could be because I’m used to it. You have been warned.

 

Don’t buy crappy jewellery..no matter how cool it is

I had my first nipple piercing for a year before I thought to myself: “you know what’s pretty badass? A nipple bar shaped like an arrow.” So I turned to the internet and bought one for what definitely cost less than a tenner. I had no idea what metal it was made from and fast forward two months later and I had a pretty nasty infected nipple piercing – glorious.

I ended up having to take it out, letting the piercing heal up and having it redone a year later. Always always buy your jewellery from a professional piercer/shop.

The healing process is disgusting but important

Things that you should probably be aware of before taking the piercing plunge is that the healing process is usually long and differs for each piercing depending on where it is. Your piercing will scab up and go crusty (gorge), it’ll probably bleed on and off for a bit, and like I previously mentioned, it smells.

It’s super important to not be lazy when looking after your healing piercing and wash it twice a day for as long as your piercer recommends. A common mistake people make is that they think just because a piercing isn’t sore anymore it’s healed. It can take up to a year for a piercing to heal fully, so don’t be silly with your aftercare.

 

 

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• National Piercing Day