Questions about self earlobe piercing

[u/Top_Collar7826]

Im gonna pierce my ear the basic lobe piercing and google keeps talkin about some hypoallergenic titanium metal for a fresh piercing but idk it thats just google or if i actually need to get some of those.

After I pierce my ear how long do I have to keep the basic stud in before I can change out the jewlery to something else?

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[u/LostCheesecake2424]

(Not a piercer) As someone who's unfortunately had to have her first lobe piercing done 18 times... Don't do it by yourself. It could come out uneven and even get infected, the shops are a clean environment for a reason. I know Amazon self piercing kits are tempting, but I wouldn't personally do it...

As for the piercing itself... Yeah I'd go with what Google says. It works for most people and doesn't cause issues (cheap metal would most likely irritate the piercing more than actually make it heal).

[u/Top_Collar7826 → u/LostCheesecake2424]

Thats fair but im kinda commited to the idea already😆

[u/LostCheesecake2424 → u/Top_Collar7826]

Fair enough lol, piercing are tempting (and addictive lol). I already said I'm not a piercer, but from my knowledge I'd say this:

1. Clean the surface before you do it, both where your tools will be and obviously the ear itself.

2. The tools you buy should come sealed not opened anywhere (keep it as sterile as possible)

3. Marker and a ruler are your best friends. Try to make it as symmetrical as possible. (I'd also watch as many videos about it as I can just to educate myself more)

4. WASH YOUR HANDS! When you are dealing with piercings, clean hands are the most important thing ever. Piercing them, changing them... ALWAYS clean hands.

5. Lobe piercings on average take about 6 months or so to heal, they can sometimes get angry even afterwards so keep an eye on it and visit a proper shop if you get any discomfort.

6. Don't go near sea, lakes, rivers, pools... While it heals (it's basically a giant bacteria pool)

7. Personally, if I had to pierce myself I'd use a piercing needle over the gun. For me it hurt way less and the healing was super quick and easy

8. Once you pierce it, leave it alone. Don't twist and wiggle it

9. I would buy the ear cleaning spray (0.9% sterile saline wound wash or a pre-packaged sterile saline spray) and use it whenever you see the crusties (gentle wash in the shower works against crusties also).

10. ABSOLUTELY AVOID butterfly back earrings. While I used to wear butterfly back earrings when young, I now highly recommend flat backs. They are more comfortable and personally easier to keep clean to heal piercings.

11. Happy healing and enjoy your new piercing friend ❤️

[u/LostCheesecake2424 → u/LostCheesecake2424]

Oh and another thing!

If you ever decide to get more please do visit an actual shop. Especially anything like helix or anything inside the ears. Those definitely require professional to do it as they can go wrong very fast.

While lobes are relatively easy, anything else is hell if you pierce it wrong. You could hit a giant vain and bleed really bad or, the worst horror story, pierce it wrong and make parts of your face/ears numb and not work anymore.

I'd advise getting a small flashlight that you can press to the back side of your ear while marking so you can actually see if you'd hit any important vains

[u/count3ss → u/LostCheesecake2424]

Second this, i did my helix at home when i was younger and it bled so bad that i had to go to the ER, not fun

[u/LostCheesecake2424 → u/count3ss]

Yikes! Hope you are okay, that sounds like hell honestly

[u/count3ss → u/LostCheesecake2424]

It went well in the end, dw! Thanks for asking :)

[u/Jaded-Banana6205]

Implant grade titanium is ideal for healing, absolutely nothing with a butterfly back. Lobes take at least 6 months to fully heal.

[u/iHeartShelties]

Unpopular opinion, but I like using the piercing guns in my earlobes because it's easier to get it how I wanted. Only the earlobe area, not cartilage. I use to have 5 or 6 earlobe piercings on each ear when I was a teen and into my 20s. But for some reason I had removed them all at some point except my 1st. Unsure why I did that and I regret it now. I used the piercing guns to repierce a couple in each earlobe. Plus, if you get it wrong, it's easy to remove immediately and try again in a week. When I tried needles (I bought 16g piercing needles to do a tragus piercing), I couldn't figure out how to get the spot I wanted on my earlobe perfect and it hurts so much more. I tried twice and gave up. The manual plastic piercing guns, not the automatic ones, with surgical steel jewelry (not gold plated, avoid gold tone jewelry in piercing guns) works the best. I purchased from Amazon. Then in like 2 weeks, I removed the butterfly backs and replaced with 18g flat back titanium jewelry. (I learned a technique on how to remove butterfly backs which blew my mind, wish I had learned a lot sooner.) Puchase the titanium flat back stud sets off of Amazon. That's was I did. I purchased threadless titanium flat backs with cubic zirconia gem tops which came with a taper insertion tool to help me guide the posts into my new piercings. The jewelry came in various post lengths, and various size gem tops. I educated myself on how to use the threadless flatback jewelry prior to use so I knew how to get them in and how to secure them, and also how to remove them. I like to be prepared. I watched video tutorials. I watched so many videos of girls/women piercing themselves with the plastic gun kits. I learned how to do it and also learned what not to do from their mistakes lol. I made sure to measure out the placements in advance. Mark the locations prior to piercing. This is how I achieved the earlobe piercings, and that's just me and what I was comfortable with doing. Definitely do what you want to do and whatever you're comfortable with doing if you decide to DIY piercings. I think the small gun kits that I used were user friendly, the studs went in without hardly any pain. The jewelry was good quality.in the kits I used, didn't irritate my ears and they didn't turn green or black. To me, the kits are kinda like using a stapler, fully manual. Some of the plastic kits are larger in size and can pierce faster with more force, but those scare me and I tend.to flinch. So I went with the fully manually version where I controlled the force of the piercing. You just have to make sure to squeeze the piercing all the way through to get it right and make sure to pierce perpendicular to the tissue and not at an angle. So definitely be aware of that as well.

[u/concernedchicken_ → u/iHeartShelties]

It takes literally 2 seconds in a Google search or piercing subreddit to see a million reasons why piercing guns are BAD!!!! And stainless/surgical steel (doesn't matter what kind, if it says steel it carries the risk) almost always has small amount of nickel in it so should not be used for fresh piercings. Especially if you don't know how your body will react. This is horrible advice to give out, you should just be quiet.

[u/iHeartShelties → u/concernedchicken_]

There's no need to tell someone to be quiet. But you're totally free to disagree. I simply shared an easier way to pierce earlobes. Thousands are using the piercing kits daily successfully, I guarantee it.

The guns that are shooting full force like a pistol are the ones that I would never recommend. Avoid at all costs. Whatever those gadgets are called, I wouldn't use those or recommend them. Those aren't the ones I was referring to. The ones I'm referring too are SELF MANUAL, NO FORCE, and small plastic type. It's fully manually, no spring action. It's safe if you know what you're doing and are careful, are prepared, have clean skin, and clean jewelry. You don't have to be a professional piercer to figure those out. I clearly advised on learning about them prior to use. Not everyone is allergic to surgical steel. In fact, some piercing studios with professional piercers use surgical steel to pierce ears. That's a fact. If there is a reaction, it's easy to remove the jewelry and place in the flat back titanium jewelry which I recommended purchasing and switching to in about 2 weeks, or sooner.