How do I stop my piercing from smelling?
Clean your piercings
- Cleaning your piercings regularly with warm water and soap can help prevent these buildups and keep your piercings fresh and clean.
- If you are already suffering from a case of nasty smelling ear piercing then you can wash your earlobe under warm running water, using an anti-bacterial cleanser.
Is it bad if your piercing smells?
It is totally normal (albeit kind of gross), but it does not mean that you have an infected ear piercing or that you are reacting to your earrings. The smell comes from naturally occurring oil, bacteria, and dead skin cells.
Does a smelly piercing mean infection?
Infected ear piercings Bacteria can also infect healed ear piercings, especially if the piercing is unclean. Infected ear piercings sometimes smell bad. Pus, dead skin, and other drainage from the infection can stick to earring posts and backs. This can cause a bad smell to linger.
Why do earring holes smell so bad?
Your body secretes a substance called sebum as part of its normal everyday work. 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.
What is the gunk on my earrings?
To be honest, you probably aren’t going to like the answer. It’s a build up of dead skin cells, sebum (oil), and any hair and beauty products that land in your lobe area. It builds up into a greenish-brownish-grayish paste, and starts to get stinky as bacteria builds up, giving it its distinctive cheesy whiff.
How do I get rid of the smell from my ear piercing?
Disinfecting. Rub alcohol or hydrogen peroxide on the area behind the ears, especially after ear piercings. Be sure to follow your piercer’s directions for aftercare. Disinfect and clean earrings regularly as well.
How do you treat smelly ear wax?
Soften the wax with an eyedropper of baby oil, hydrogen peroxide, glycerin, or mineral oil. A couple days after the wax has softened, use a rubber syringe to spray warm water into your ear. Tip your affected ear up when spraying the water. Then tilt it down for the water to run out.
Why do my earrings smell cheesy?
And it all stems from oil and bacteria. “These cause ‘ear cheese,’ aka an accumulation of rancid oil—oil that gets exposed to air—dead skin cells, as we’re constantly shedding, bacteria, and sweat. It’s more common in people who do not change their earrings much and who sweat a lot.” (Me.)
What can I soak my earrings in to clean them?
Make an earring cleaner solution of one-quarter cup of ammonia and one cup of water. Place the earrings in the solution and let sit for 20 minutes. While they soak, prepare another bowl with warm water and a half-teaspoon of liquid dish soap.
What happens if you never take out your earrings?
Wearing the same earrings for a long time without cleaning the piercing can cause bacteria to become trapped. This may lead to an infection. Signs of an infection include: redness.