As a piercing fan myself, I know healing is always such a tricky process. Just when you start to think it’s healed, you wake up and it’s throbbing, AGAIN! Radiance spoke to a piercing specialist to provide you with the complete guide to healing your piercings.

Rhianon Blanford is a piercer from Doncaster and has been in the piercing industry since 2018. She has set up a small business in Sheffield, Piercings by Rhi, located in ‘Follow your dream Tattoo studio’ on Devonshire Street. 

“The most popular piercings amongst young people are ear lobes, helixes, nose piercings and eyebrow piercings,” says Rhi.

I don’t know about you, but my helix piercing took years to heal, and according to Rhi, this is very common.

“Belly buttons also heal slowly because there’s so much movement there and it’s such a thick piece of skin,” she says.

 (Me and my belly piercing have a love-hate relationship… )

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The average healing time for an ear piercing is around four to five months. Some parts of the body, like the lips, can heal quicker.

Rhi recommends: “ I’d leave in the swell bar (a thicker and longer bar), for around six weeks, then come in with a downsize, a shorter bar or earring and leave that in for the rest of the healing process.”

We all rush into healing and try to use all sorts of products  to make it heal quicker: rubbing alcohol, home-made strong salt water… and maybe we should just be keeping it simple.

“I recommend saline solution, usually a pre-made one is best, most tattoo studios have it.” Rhi says. “Or you can use just plain boiled, cooled down water, that helps as well.”

Warning! She said COOLED DOWN boiled water, we don’t  want any accidents!

In simple terms – make sure not to touch it or lay on it too much. If you do, it will hurt, could migrate (slightly move position) and can cause worse infections that require proper medical attention.

Piercings are fun and cool so let’s do our best to make the healing manageable!