Luckily, there’s a super easy way to prevent—or get rid of—that funky smell if you notice it. You should clean your old piercings in the shower and let warm water run over it, says Maria Tash, owner of Venus by Maria Tash, a fine jewelry and piercing spa in New York City.
Keeping this in consideration, why does my piercing smell even after I wash it?
Cause of the Smell
Sebum is secreted by the sebaceous glands in the skin. … Mix sebum with some dead skin cells and a little bit of bacteria, and you get some really potent smelling piercings! The discharge is semi-solid and smells like stinky cheese. At its worst, you can even wipe this thick discharge off your plugs.
In respect to this, is it normal for your piercing to smell?
The main reason piercings smell is a buildup of dead skin cells around the piercing and jewelry. The dead skin cells mix with oil naturally produced by the body and form a semisolid discharge. This happens with either mature or healed piercings, and is not usually a sign of infection.
Why do piercings get crusty?
Crusting after body piercing is perfectly normal—this is just the result of your body trying to heal itself. 1? Dead blood cells and plasma make their way to the surface and then dry when exposed to air. While perfectly normal, these crusties do need to be cleaned carefully and thoroughly whenever you notice them.
Why does my earring hole smell weird?
Clean your piercings
Your skin secretes a natural oil called sebum which can mix with the dead cells in your piercings and cause a buildup. This buildup serves as a great environment for bacteria to thrive and hence you end up with a foul smell.
How do you clean a healed piercing?
A little soap in the shower is all you need. Even healed, avoid using a loofa around these piercings, because a good snag can cause irritation even years after a piercing has fully healed. Mild soap and water is all you need!
Why do my gauges smell like death?
The reason your ear gauges smell bad is because they’re sitting in your ear. Your skin sheds almost every hour on the hour and all of those dead skin cells are left sitting on the gauge. Thus the stinky smell. To prevent this, a strict cleaning regiment is needed.
How often should you clean healed piercings?
Here are some tips on how to clean your ears and your earrings, and how often to do so: At a minimum, clean your ears and earrings once a week. You can use a gentle saline solution to clean your ears, and a cotton swab and warm water and gentle soap to clean your earrings.
Why do my earrings smell like cheese?
“Ear cheese” is a natural part of having pierced ears and it’s caused by a build-up of oil and dead skin cells you’ve shed. … If your piercing is newer, you’re more likely to experience a smell because your body may still be reacting to being punctured.
