Getting pierced: what to expect

A piercing is quick, but healing is not. Most of what determines the outcome happens after you leave, and a lot of it is decided by the jewellery that goes in on day one.

Needle, not gun

We pierce with a single-use sterile needle. A piercing gun forces jewellery through tissue by blunt pressure, which causes more trauma and cannot be sterilised properly between uses. A needle makes a clean channel and heals faster and more predictably. This is the standard everywhere piercing is taken seriously.

Jewellery is not an afterthought

Implant-grade titanium is what we use for fresh piercings. Cheaper mixed metals are the most common cause of irritation that people mistake for a badly done piercing. Sizing matters too: initial jewellery is fitted longer to allow for swelling, and is downsized once that settles. Skipping the downsize is how you end up with a crooked or migrating piercing.

Realistic healing times

Earlobes take roughly six to eight weeks. Cartilage, including helix and conch, takes six to twelve months despite feeling fine much sooner. Navels and nipples are similarly slow. Feeling healed and being healed are different things, and changing jewellery too early is the most common setback we see.

Aftercare is simple

Sterile saline spray twice a day, and otherwise leave it alone. Do not twist it, do not use alcohol or hydrogen peroxide, and do not let hair products or make-up sit on it. Sleep off it where you can. That is genuinely the whole routine.