So you want to get a piercing

Congrats on deciding to update your avatar! Let's go over some things you should know.

Anatomy: A ton of piercings do require you to have a certain type of anatomy. Does this mean you can't get the piercing of your dreams? Not necessarily! Almost everything has a workaround. As long as you like your jewelry options, we can make it work.

Some examples of anatomy dependent piercings:

Industrial

Navel

Multiple forward helixes

Stacked lobes

Tongue

Daith

Tragus

Nipples

Healing: We'll do a more in depth dive on what it takes to heal a piercing, but for now we'll cover some basics.

A lot of us have old habits instilled into us by a company that rhymes with "Flares". First things first, a piercing will NOT be healed in 6 weeks. I don't care what you were told, it's physically impossible. (Even a tongue piercing, with one of the shortest heal times, isn't fully healed for 2 months) There is NO NEED to rotate a piercing. You're basically picking off a scab every time you do it and you're slowing down your healing (not to mention causing unnecessary pain for yourself) A piercing is a commitment to the healing process. I tell my clients that a tattoo takes longer but is healed quicker, a piercing is quicker in the moment but takes months or even years to heal. You can't do any swimming/soaking with a fresh piercing for at LEAST one month, ideally two. You know how your fingers do the pruney thing in the bath? That's your skin absorbing the water from the bath. The skin around your piercing is no different in that regard except you also have an open wound absorbing that water, too. Obviously, this impacts some piercings more than others. Hot tubbing with fresh lobes? You're alright as long as you keep your head out of water, and maybe a water wipe down when you're done if you get sweaty. River floating with a fresh navel? Bad times, my friend. Sit that one out.

You don't always get to start with the jewelry you want. Your piercing initially has a longer bar to accommodate swelling and make it easier to clean. If you start with a larger/more intricate piece, you're going to increase your chance of rejection and migration, as well as have a nightmare trying to clean your piercing. Ride it out with something simple for the first few months, once you can downsize that's a great time to think about something jazzy!

Aftercare: You're going to be taking care of this piercing longer than most people anticipate. I usually tell people twice a day cleaning for 6 months+, but this can vary for different people and different piercings. Lobes, for example, are usually okay to clean for 4 months and then be done, but currently it's the middle of October. We're going into cold and flu season. Colds, covid, the flu, all of these things can slow down your healing and make your piercings be crusty for longer than you anticipated.

You take something with a longer heal like an industrial (I tell people to expect a 12 month heal on that one, but not unheard of to be longer) and then throw beanie season and a cold on top of it? You're going to be fighting bumps for a while with that combo. Your own personal health: Did you know that certain conditions can slow down your healing process, even if you're in perfect weather for healing a piercing? Diabetes, autoimmune issues, POTS, PCOS, all of these can naturally slow down your healing journey. That's just the tip of the iceberg for conditions that can slow you down.

All of this to say, I'm not trying to talk you out of a piercing. On the contrary, I want you to feel more like you in your body! It's yours, please decorate it as you see fit. I want to give you as much information as I can to help you make an informed decision. I don't like telling you guys no to piercings, I really don't. I've been on the other side of that; I've been told no for piercings before due to anatomy. It freaking sucked! I want you guys to know the pros and cons of choosing to do a piercing with not ideal anatomy. I will try to talk you out of it. That is a part of my job.

But that doesn't mean you can't get a piercing! It's always a great idea to come in with a backup piercing. For example, I went to get my eyebrow pierced for the 5th or 6th time this summer. It had rejected all times before (probably due to me getting it on the side I sleep on and some brow maintenace) so I went in fully expecting to be told no. My backup piercing was a R lobe piercing in case I didn't have the anatomy/too much scar tissue to be pierced. (In case you were wondering, I got about 3 months out of the eyebrow piercing before I decided to retire it due to migration again.)

So book that appointment! Be excited for the possibilities! But have a backup just in case :) Happy healing, and I'll see you later!

<3 Bree