I Am Bad At Healing Piercings

I have a confession to make. I’m a bad healer. I know, I know, I do this for a living, I work as a piercer! I should probably be amazing at healing my piercings…right? But well….I’m not. And really, it's a combination of factors. I start off so well. The first few days I’m diligent with cleaning away the crust, being mindful of the piercing, and trying to leave things alone. I’m equipped with saline and travel pillows and all the things. But then after those first very few good weeks….I slack. I have a busy day at work and then plans with friends after, and I get home and I barely have the energy to take my makeup off, let alone clean my piercing. I fall asleep without thinking of it….and this happens more often than I’d care to admit. I travel often for work and it’s already so hard to sleep in hotel beds and on friends' couches that adding a travel pillow into the mix or trying to avoid my ear piercing seems impossible on top of that. And god, you’d think since I literally work in a studio I would be perfectly on time with my downsizes when I need them but it's often something I only remember at midnight when I’m getting ready to go to bed. Shit, I should downsize this. And it’s forgotten come the next morning, I’m so busy focusing on my clients at work that I forget the needs of my own piercings.

And really, I think I got this way because once upon a time I was the perfect client. This was before saline was widely suggested, so I had a little bin in my bathroom with a gallon of distilled water, noniodized sea salt, my measuring cups, and good ol’ dial gold soap. I was meticulous. Every piece of aftercare I was given I followed to a T. I rearranged my entire bedroom so it was easier to sleep on the side I wasn’t healing, I cleaned my piercings religiously, I downsized exactly to the date I was told to. And even with all of that…I still wasn’t very good at healing.

I can’t say I’ve ever healed anything except for maybe surface piercings that haven’t gotten a bump on it at least once or twice. My high nostrils had bumps for quite literally over a year before they settled down. I was so careful, so responsible, so diligent. And still….my piercings were irritated. When I was younger my psoriasis was less managed, and I often got flare-ups around healing piercings. Dry, scaly skin would build up on the back of my ear, around my bridge, in the corners of my nostrils. My piercings always produced more of those delightful crusts than the average person's. I stayed swollen longer, often waiting a month or two past average to downsize. And as far as overall healing time? Forget it. I don’t think I could heal an earlobe faster than 6 months, and every cartilage piercing I have ever had has taken at least a year to heal, if not longer. Every time I've even stretched a piercing besides my lobes I have swelled up, gotten weepy and crusty, and had issues. My body heals slowly- acne takes weeks to resolve, surgical incisions are still scabby months later, and bruises fade slowly.

Like I said, I’m a bad healer.

But you know what? All of my piercings have healed. It may have taken a year (or two or three). It may have been a long and bumpy road. Sometimes it’s taken more than one attempt. But the piercings that I wanted (and had the anatomy for) have all eventually healed.

It’s so hard sometimes when we are bad healers. We see people around us, friends and family, or even people online who can get piercing after piercing and they heal them all perfectly, without a single issue. Everything just heals well for them. And we are sitting here doing everything in our power to try to heal the same piercing we’ve been fighting with for months. It can make you feel like a failure, make you feel like you aren’t ‘meant’ to have piercings. But I say it always: there is no one size fits all in piercing. Everything is dependent on an individual person, their anatomy, their lifestyle. From the piercings you can get, to the jewelry that needs to be used, to yes, even how your piercings heal. Everyone's experience is going to be unique to them. Some folks do naturally have an easier time healing. Either their bodies are great healers, or it’s very easy for them to naturally keep up with the aftercare of piercing. And some folks….well, they don’t. Some folks will have a harder time healing, their bodies and immune systems and medical conditions will make things harder. And they also may have a lifestyle that makes it hard to maintain the aftercare. But don’t let being a bad or a slow or a difficult healer discourage you. With a reputable piercer to help guide you through the process and plenty of time and patience, you will still heal, and you will eventually have happy and healthy piercings. After nearly two years of bumps on and off, my high nostrils are now perfect. After ages of fighting with my industrial, I now forget it's even there. And after years and years of feeling discouraged, ashamed, or even embarrassed of how my piercings looked when they were healing, it now doesn’t bother me. I know my body is going to take its time. I know my body has a lot working against me when it comes to healing. And I know I could be more diligent with my aftercare. All those things combine to make healing tricky. And that's ok. Because I have faith that my body will heal, and I’m just grateful to be on this journey with my body, whatever that journey looks like. I’ve stopped putting the expectations of other people on my body- I need to heal like this and in this timeframe and these ways. I’ve stopped demanding my body heal like someone who doesn’t have psoriasis, doesn’t often travel for work, and doesn't take HRT. I’ve started allowing my body to heal, whatever that looks like for me. Slower, crustier, bumpier. It’s ok. Because it will eventually heal.

So to all my fellow bad healers out there- it’s ok! I know it's frustrating and I know it can be disheartening, but I promise it’s ok. Your body will heal, with enough time, patience and energy (and maybe even having to remove and re-pierce or try alternatives). But with a good piercer, good practices, and plenty of patience and grace, I have no doubt your piercing journey will be just as successful as mine.

Happy (slow) Healing. <3