BEAUTY
The Hygienic Reason Why Your Bedtime Routine Needs To Include Cleaning Your Earring Backs
By A. R. HOPKINS
There isn’t a lot of conversation about good piercing hygiene, but you should actually be cleaning the backs and posts of your earrings at least once a week since earrings can collect product buildup, skin oils, and bacteria. Dirty earrings can lead to infection, so here’s how to keep your earrings and piercings clean and healthy.
To clean your earrings, apply saline solution or antibacterial soap (or witch hazel or rubbing alcohol if you don’t have sensitive skin) to the earring back, and rub away residue with a cotton round or swab. Wipe the front and back of your ear piercing with the cleaning solution before moving on to the earring post, then repeat the process on the other side.
If you regularly clean your earrings and you’re still experiencing signs of infection like redness, rash, swelling, oozing, or severe itching, you may have a metal allergy. You can usually resolve these symptoms by removing your earrings or switching to a different type of metal, but if the symptoms persist, you should seek out medical treatment.