I decided to get my nose pierced. I wanted it done so badly... for years! It's been 3 days since I've had it. I hope all goes well with it and it doesn't reject. I've been following the piercers advice--clean it 3xs daily with the salt she gave me. I'm thinking about getting my helix done next. I wanted it done in high school, but I'll wait awhile before I decide.

I'm pinging you guys because you responded to my post :)

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Looking good! Congrats on the new piercing! =D

Congrats on getting your nose pierced!

A word of advice about taking care of it though - cleaning it 3x a day is very likely to be too much and will do more harm than good. Since it's quite fresh I would soak it once in the morning, once at night, and once you hit about 2 weeks you can switch to doing it once a day. And then after a while (4-6 weeks) I would suggest just cleaning it when it gets crusty. (I assume your piercer told you to mix sea salt into warm water, soak a cotton bud, and hold it on your piercing?). I have a forward helix piercing and it was super stubborn. I got sick of babying it after about 10 months (yikes, I know) and decided to leave it the hell alone - it healed up surprisingly fast after that lol.

She told me not to use cotton or a q-tip because they leave behind fibers and will irritate the piercing. She told me to use a paper towel and just clean around it.

I wash my hands thoroughly and sometimes I put my finger in my nose, push it out a little and clean around it. Not sure if I should be doing that.

Our piercer recommends getting saline solution from the store cause the proportions of salt and water are perfect for healing, but if you're doing well with the mix you're using then keep going with it. If you have pets at home, make sure you clean your bedding and pillowcase every week so you don't get pet hair/dander into the healing piercing. If you use hairspray make sure to cover the piercing before you spray.

As for the helix, that's really just a fancy name for an upper ear piercing (it's marketing, some places will charge more for a fancy name). Our piercer insists on never doing all 3 at the same time, because the swelling is so difficult to deal with it's really impractical. She recommends doing 2 then 1 (or 1 then 2)with appropriate healing times between.

It's so cute!

I have a helix (if that's what I'm understanding it to be - upper ear, cartilage) and that was a pain and a half to heal. Even keeping it clean and hair free.

Oh! When/if you go get your helix piercing, don't be surprised if you get a bump. They'll come and they'll go and most times, they're completely harmless unless there's obvious signs of infection.

That looks so cute ^_^

I've been considering doing a septum for a while, but I'm not quite sure if it fits to my face, lol. My lip piercing is already big enough for my face :P

My nose is red and it has a bump on the skin (not around the piercing). I went back to the shop today and asked my piercer about it and she thinks a keloid is forming and told me to make a salt paste. She also wanted to switch out the stud for a hoop, but none of the hoops fit me because I have thick cartilage. Only one hoop fit and I hated it. It stuck out of my nose major big time, so she switched the stud. I still had to pay for it.

It really looks good! c:

love it! i just got my tragus done about 6 weeks ago, I'm looking to find some new jewelry for it!

yaay! it looks great! do you have any future plans for jewelry in it? might be a bit soon to ask but i always get excited with new piercings, eheh! i had both my nostrils done in the same sitting~ i had a keloid form on my right nostril as well just under the piercing, i think mine was from my glasses falling down and bumping it or getting caught in the boyfriend's iron nose when we smooched. ;_;" my piercing artist suggested massaging bio oil on it once it's healed and that would reduce any potential scarring.

Congrats on your new piercing! It's great that you've been doing salt soaks, just make sure it's non-iodized sea salt that you're using. It should be 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt in 8oz of water. Too much salt in the water can cause dryness, but so can overuse. Once or twice a day is fine. It's great that you're keeping fibers away from it during cleaning, but also try to keep makeup and harsh face cleansers away from it too. It'll keep it from getting too irritated. Emu oil is approved to use on healing piercings to help reduce irritation, so you could try that for the bump near the piercing.

As for jewelry, any metal used in the jewelry should be biocompatible. Stainless steel, or surgical steel as its sometimes called, is generally not biocompatible unless it's a certain grade such as ASTM F-138 due to the nickel content in lowers grades. If your initial jewelry is made of steel, the nickel content could be causing problems if you have a metal allergy. This is why the Association of Professional Piercers recommends using titanium jewelry as it's biocompatible and can be used by everyone since it's rare to have an allergy to it. Definitely switch to titanium if you aren't already wearing it. It'll be great to get a titanium labret stud when/if you get your helix pierced too as it's notorious for taking long to heal and having minor problems like bumps and being irritated. It took forever for mine to heal, but it was also constantly irritated from a cheap steel ring.

Which brings me to my next suggestion: don't use rings in a new piercing. Wait until it's healed before you switch jewelery unless it needs to be downsized due to the initial swelling having gone down. Then let your piercer change it so it's sterile. There are a few piercings which can be pierced with a ring initially, such as daiths, but nostrils and helixes generally heal better with a stud until the fistula has formed and healed. It also makes it much less likely that you will snag your jewelry on something, especially with a helix because rings are a magnet for hair. But in general, rings move a lot which can irritate the forming fistula as well as drag dirt and crusties into the healing piercing, causing irritation and possible infection. However, once it's healed, you can wear a ring or stud, whichever you prefer, without worry.

Try not to use cheap jewelry of questionable origin. It tends to be low quality, externally threaded jewelry with high nickel content. They also don't label jewelry very well, as steel cannot be anondized so it should not be any color other than a silvery metal. Anything advertised has steel but that is colored has a coating on the metal that can flake of in your piercing and irritate it. I've been there, it sucks. Titanium can be anondized different colors, except for red and black. Titanium advertised as red or black is coated with something that will also flake off. Good jewelry is more expensive but definitely worth it. Companies like Anatometal, Industrial Strength, and BVLA( and others) have been making quality jewelry for quite some time. You can find out more information on the Association of Professional Piercers website, safepiercing.org.

If you have any questions, feel free to ping me! I'll do my best to answer. None of this is meant to cause worry, it's just general info on what could be the cause of bumps and irritation. Sorry for such a long post, but congrats on a great piercing! It looks awesome!

Looks cute~

I've had like... A lot of piercings (nostril, septum, eyebrow, spider bites, nipples, smiley, annd currently stretching my ears to 1/2 inch) and I always do it on impulse aha.

I'll only buy jewellery from a piercing/tattoo shop, or from a jewellery store. I would never buy something from Clarie's or Ardene's. I also have trouble with my ears and I've had my ears pierced since grade 4. I can't just wear any junk earrings... it has to say sensitive ears on the package.

I don't understand why anyone would cheap, especially for the nose or any other body piercing.

My piercing gets crusty, usually in the morning and at night. I still clean it 3xs daily like she said, for two weeks. My two weeks will be up this Saturday.

I am excited to get new jewellery when everything's healed up (that's if it doesn't reject). My mom says my nose is looking better. The swelling has gone down a bit

That's a lot of piercings! I always wanted my nose done... for years! Mine wasn't an impulse decision.

I want my double holes in my ears re-pierced, but my first piercings got infected (for two years) and so did the second ones. I actually had to take the second ones out. I'm kind of leery about having them done again, but I want them so bad, along with my helix.

It looks so cute! I would love to get my nose pierced, but with my allergies (both to metal, mainly nickel, and seasonal) I'm not sure it would be a good idea. I have three piercings in both ears though, and they're okay. I'm sure I'd just have to go to a really good place to get it done and make sure I only use sterling silver.

I have year round allergies and I did some research and basically everything said that it's impossible for your nose ring to get infected by blowing your nose.

I'm not really worried about seasonal allergies. I'm more worried about my allergy to nickel/other metals. I'm thinking I might do it though. I can always take it out. I just got my hair cut really short, so I'm thinking it would look really cute now especially.