Cleaning Navel Rings

The most important advice you can get about navel piercing is how to care for the wound as well as the jewelry. It seems many women today wear navel rings, so they must be easy to care for, right? The can be, but any wound requires careful attention.

1. Only touch your piercing when you clean it.
2. The best place to clean your piercing is in the shower. Let the warm water fall on your stomach, just above the piercing (not directly on it, or the water pressure could irritate the skin).
3. While you loosen any crusting around the piercing with this "trickle-down" method, lather your hands with medical grade soap (anti-microbial soap with no fragrance is fine). Rinse.
4. Use a soaked Q-tip to gently brush away any dead skin or crusting from around the piercing.
5. Let air dry.

Some people find that a sea salt soak after the shower works well to speed healing, but many piercing professionals agree that any piercing should be left alone to heal on its own. Just keep it clean, don't agitate the navel ring and remove the crust from around it once a day as it heals.