Cog Gears Steampunk Pocket Watch

It’s a good idea to clean the jewellery on a regular occasion to prevent build up and possible infection. Cleaning body jewellery is easy when you keep your hands clean, use soap and water and clean the site before replacing the jewellery. Pieces with trickier designs or harder to clean debris can benefit from boiling or light scrubbing. Cleaning your body jewellery is easy and can give your piercings a long, problem-free life. Each person and piercing is different and will take a different amount of time to heal. Please follow instructions from the piercing professionals where you acquired your new piercing for more information.

Performing Routine Cleaning

Wash your hands. Anytime you touch your jewellery, it’s possible you are transferring germs to the piercing site. While you should avoid touching it in general, it is especially important to only handle body jewellery with clean hands when you are about to clean it. Use a basic antibacterial soap and dry your hands with paper towel or a clean towel. A towel that you already dry your hands on frequently can have bacteria that has accumulated on it.
Remove the piece of jewellery. If the piercing has been in place for a long time without being removed, be sure to take the jewellery out slowly as it might be stuck to your skin. You don’t want to damage the piercing by pulling the jewellery out too quickly.
Soak in warm water with an antibacterial cleaning solution. Take a clean cup or bowl and fill it with warm water. Squirt or pour a small amount into the water. Swirl it around to make sure it is mixed in together. Place the jewellery in the water and allow to soak for about 3 minutes.^[1]
- Perform this soak on a regular basis to keep the jewellery clean and keep the piercing healthy.
- A good alternative to antibacterial cleaning solution is, boiled water and salt.
Rinse the jewellery in hot water. You want to make sure that all of the cleaning residue is off the piece of jewellery before putting it back in. If not washed off properly, it can dry your skin and possibly cause irritation if it sits in the piercing for a long time.
- While you are rinsing, it is good to inspect the piece of jewellery and make sure there is no dirt or debris left on the piece. If there is, further cleaning will be necessary. This can be made easier by using a cotton bud.
Dry the jewellery before putting it back in. Either allow the piece of jewellery to air dry or gently dry it with a paper towel or gauze pad before putting it back in.
- If you plan to clean your jewellery regularly, you could cut paper towels into small squares and store them in a sealed plastic baggie for drying purposes. Since jewellery is small and doesn’t need a whole paper towel, you can avoid waste doing it this way.
Clean the site of the piercing. Now that you have a clean piece of jewellery, you need to make sure the site of the piercing itself is also clean. You can use a little more antibacterial cleaning solution and water and dip a cotton bud in it to gently swab the piercing area. It is good to do this every couple days anyway to maintain a clean piercing.
- It's best to avoid the use of rubbing alcohol when cleaning jewellery or piercings because it can cause damage to the jewellery.
- Allow the piercing to dry before replacing the jewellery.

Place jewellery in boiling water. If you don’t want to use antibacterial cleaning solution, or you already did and the piece needs further cleaning, boil a small pot of water and place your jewellery in it for about 5 minutes. This acts both to loosen any dirt or debris on the piece and kill bacteria and sanitize the piece. Remove from water with a clean utensil like tongs or a fork to avoid burning your hands.
- Dry with paper towel or gauze as you would with basic cleaning.
- This is a good cleaning method for intricate pieces that accumulate more dirt than basic pieces.
Soak oral pieces in alcohol-free mouthwash. If you have tongue, cheek, or lip piercings, you may not want the taste of antibacterial cleaning solution in your mouth. You can soak these in mouthwash to give them a good clean as well. It is good to follow the other steps from the routine cleaning section.
- To clean oral piercings, it is also good to swish your mouth with mouthwash to keep the piercings clean. Or use cooled boiled water with salt to rinse in your mouth. This will help clean the pierced area.
- It is important that the mouthwash is alcohol-free because alcohol can damage some jewellery.
- DO NOT SWALLOW THE MOUTHWASH OR SALTY WATER.