Depending on where you live, cold and flu season is either just about to get started or getting ready to finish up. But what comes before and after cold and flu season? Allergy season! So whether you’re in the northern hemisphere or the southern hemisphere, here are a few quick tips on how to deal with nose piercings when you’re all runny and stuffy and sneezing a lot.
- Gentle – You are blowing your nose, not applying a tourniquet. So, when you squeeze your nose to blow it, don’t pinch it like you’re trying to pull it off. Just enough light, gentle pressure to make clearing it possible. Gentle touch, folks. Gentle touch.
- Clean – Try to keep the inside of your nose clean to avoid gunky buildup on your piercings. Saline spray can be a great help with this, so long as you are only using pure saline in there. You don’t want to dry your piercings out, and you don’t want to irritate them when you irrigate them. No added ingredients, just pure saline.
- Materials – Porous materials can harbor bacteria. If you want to be extra-careful, replace your stone, silicone, or acrylic nose jewelry with something solid like titanium or glass.
- Style – If your jewelry keeps snagging on your hanky, consider changing up the style. A smooth, circular ring in your nostril might be better. Or perhaps consider changing out your septum pincher for a horseshoe. Irritation bumps can happen even after your piercing has healed, so constantly yanking on the jewelry is still a no-no.
- Retainers – If your piercing has healed fully and you feel a particularly nasty cold coming on, you may want to consider replacing your jewelry with the lowest-profile retainer you can find, at least temporarily. The one downside to this is that you need to have one on-hand already as going to your piercer if you are contagious, is a terrible idea. So, if you have a fully healed piercing and are comfortable changing your own jewelry, consider ordering a retainer or two in advance.
- Prevention – Try not to get sick in the first place. Remember to wash your hands frequently, keep your hands away from your piercing, and remember that social distancing is still a perfectly acceptable practice. It’s so much easier to avoid a cold than it is to try and deal with one once it’s too late.
As the seasons change, you may find yourself with an unfortunate head cold. If you have a pierced nose, this can make such a cold twice as miserable. Hopefully, this advice should make things a little bit easier for you so you can rest and recover without having to worry about your piercings as well. Happy piercing….and stay healthy!
