Young piercings have an odor. Normal?

[InchoSnail]

Hello!

My earlobes were pierced at 12g about two months ago (May 21) and I feel that I am healing fairly well—no discomfort, no bleeding—but I do have a couple of worries.

Every night I loosen the o-rings a bit to prevent them from being lodged into my piercings which has happened before. One night, maybe a week ago, after readjusting, I noticed an odor on my fingers. I wash my hands and touch at my ears again to find that my 'lobes were the source of the smell. I normally use H2Ocean aftercare spray on them once to twice a day and clean them in the shower (just in case this information helps a bit). Is the odor normal? Also, during random times where I curiously touch at the area around the piercings, I've noticed that it's a bit moist. Could this—lymph maybe— be the cause? I know that a smell occurs once the stretching process begins, but I've never stretched.

I've read in another topic on this forum that switching out current plugs with wooden ones may help draw out the smell, but I believe that my ears aren't healed enough for organic materials just yet. I'm also very leery about using oil (another tip I've read while here) considering the age of my piercings. I guess I'm a bit overprotective of my ears, but I'm kind of at a loss for what to do.

It's not necessarily something that others can smell, but, at the same time, it's not a great feeling to know that a part of you doesn't smell too great and believe that there's little you can do about it.

All in all, is it normal for new piercings to have an odor? Are there ways to prevent it/keep it at bay?


Thanks so much for your time, attention, and patience. Any help and insight will be greatly appreciated and loved.

~Incho

[corazon_de_oro]

It's totally normal. Even old piercings can smell from dead skin cells. A solution for this is to take out your jewelry in the shower or at the sink and rinse it with soap and water. I also use Naked oil (from bodyartforms.com or other jewelry shops) and it smells really good, so it will cover the smell a little.

[InchoSnail]

Thanks tons for the reply! I must admit that up until recently I've been afraid of taking out my jewelry for fear of the holes closing. So... yeah, that explains much. I'm going to have to look up that Naked oil you mentioned. Thanks again.

[ViolentJayne]

also try some screw on plugs , rubber o rings give some people ( like me ) alot of trouble they can trap in smell and chap the ears ... its something you might look into