Right, this one needs saying plainly: if you’re mixing table salt into tap water and calling it saline, you’re not doing aftercare. You’re guessing, and your piercing is the one paying for it.
Is Homemade Salt Water Safe for Piercings?
People have used salt water on wounds for generations. It’s not some random tip off a forum, it’s old knowledge that hasn’t caught up with newer information. As understanding of piercing aftercare has moved on, studios have adapted with it, and that’s not a bad thing. The issue isn’t that anyone’s doing something stupid. It’s that tap water isn’t sterile, which is fine for drinking but not for putting on an open wound, and a pinch of table salt in a mug isn’t a measured concentration. Too strong and you’re drying the piercing out, too weak and you’ve basically rinsed it with nothing.
What Happens When You Clean a Piercing with Kitchen Ingredients?
We see the results of this constantly. Cartilage still angry at four months. Lobes that won’t calm down. A dermal that’s permanently weeping because someone’s been “cleaning” it with kitchen ingredients twice a day for weeks. Almost every time, it traces back to this.
The Best Saline for Piercing Aftercare: Sterile Wound Wash
So here’s what actually happens instead: we sell proper sterile wound-wash saline in-studio, with a precision nozzle that makes it easy to actually use properly. That’s what we’d suggest buying. Failing that, you can pick up a basic one from any pharmacy, and squeeze it all over your ear (and yourself). It’s a couple of quid, and either way it does the one job it needs to do without you having to think about ratios.
How to Clean a New Piercing: A Simple Daily Routine
Routine’s simple. Spray it, leave it a few seconds so anything crusty softens, wipe it gently. Don’t scrub. Don’t go digging round the jewellery trying to get “underneath” it. Twice a day. That’s it. More isn’t better, it just irritates the site for no reason.
Piercing Aftercare in Bearwood and Birmingham
If you live in Bearwood or Birmingham and you’ve had a piercing done with us, you’ve already got the specifics for your piercing. But this bit applies to everyone, because it’s one of the single most avoidable mess-ups we still see walking through the door.
Why Choose Outliers Ink for Piercings in Birmingham
We’re Outliers Ink, a licensed studio with a five-star reputation, titanium-only piercing, and a proper selection of it in-store. Our reputation comes from happy, healthy, healed clients, not just pierced ones, and no fake reviews.
Ditch the DIY Saline and Get Your Piercing Healing Properly
If what’s in your bathroom cabinet right now is a bottle you’ve made yourself, bin it and bring yourself in and we’ll sort you out properly. And if you haven’t been pierced by us yet, we’d also advise you make it your next stop.
Book your free consultation at Outliers Ink
If you’ve had a piercing done with us at Outliers Ink Piercing Studio Bearwood, you’ll already have the timeline for your specific piercing. And if you haven’t, and you’re in Birmingham (Quinton, Harborne, or Oldbury) pop in and get pierced by the team at Outliers Ink. Book now.
