Your nose emits secretions frequently. When you mix that with dead skin cells and bacteria, you get awful smelling nose piercings.
The people that sell your nose piercings often neglect to tell you that this will happen. Let’s take a look at what causes this problem and what you can do about it.
Why do nose piercings smell especially bad?
Think about when you have a cold or flu – what comes out of your nose? Snot is a huge contributing factor to smelly nose piercings.
When you use a nasal spray to combat the stuffiness of your nose, the chemicals from the spray also build up on your jewelry.
If you have ever put any foreign substances in your nose, whether they are of the legal kind or illegal kind, those odors also get caught on your nose jewelry.
When you take the time to consider all these things, it’s easier to understand why nose piercings will smell.
More reasons nose piercings smell
Think about all those great smells you ingest into your nose. Coffee in the morning, fresh apple pie being baked, flowers blooming like crazy on a spring day.
They smell wonderful to you, don’t they? So, what is the problem?
The problem is each of those is a separate smell that accumulates on your nose piercing. Think of all the smells your nose takes in each day, good and bad odors.
The combination of all of them together is rather pungent.
Do all nose piercings smell?
What is meant by all nose piercings? In some cultures, it is prevalent to see people wearing nose rings of different sizes and materials.
Regardless of the reason for the nose piercing, type of piercing, or location, these are all nose piercings and therefore all require the same type of hygiene to keep them smelling nice.
Cleansing habits are important when it comes to mitigating the smell of any body piercings.
Are nose piercings the only kind that can smell?
No, definitely not. Piercings of the ears, belly, and any other body parts can also smell bad. The same kind of thing happens regarding the odor.
Your body’s skin needs to be kept moist in order to function properly. It keeps itself moist by secreting a substance called sebum.
Sebum is an oily substance that lubricates your skin.
The bad part comes when it mixes with your dead skin cells and any bacteria contained in the area of the piercing.
This is what causes the horrible odor. There is no way to prevent this from occurring, but you can keep the smell at bay by making sure that you are cleaning your piercings regularly.
Is the odor a sign of infection?
Not by itself. Unfortunately, it is normal for body piercings to smell bad, as we just discussed.
However, if the smell gets extraordinarily worse, you might want to have a doctor check it for infections.
Another sign of infection is if the pierced area still smells bad after a shower.
If it has the same degree of odor as before the shower, it is not likely to be caused by an infection.
Infected piercings are often warm and painful to touch, and the skin around the piercing site may appear red.
What are some ways to prevent the odor?
You might not be able to entirely prevent it. That said, there are things you can do to lessen it. Good self-hygiene habits are important.
You should clean the area at least once a day. Please note that a shower by itself will not help.
The pierced spot must be cleaned thoroughly at a separate time from the shower.
What you need to do is remove the jewelry and clean the piercing spot with mild soap.
This should be done in the shower plus at an extra time outside the shower once per day.
Excellent hygiene tips for piercings
Do not touch the area with dirty hands. Also, be sure to clean the jewelry. Putting dirty jewelry back into the piercing spot is practically begging for an infection to start.
Also, keep in mind that it is possible to clean the spot and the jewelry too often. Doing this can cause as much trouble as not cleaning it at all.
When you get the piercing done, ask the professional behind the counter to give you some cleaning instructions. You can also find these online.
The material makes a difference
What does this mean? Some people have sensitive skin. If you are not sure whether or not you do, it is best to find out before getting a body piercing at all.
You could be allergic to some kinds of jewelry materials.
If you are, the doctor ought to be able to tell you what kinds your skin will react badly to.
After all, this can cause quite a lot of trouble in addition to an awful smell at the piercing site.
Make sure you follow the doctor’s advice and get the correct kind of jewelry plug material.
When should you start the cleaning regimen?
Piercing experts say you should wait until the skin around the piercing site has healed. If it is your ears, it might not be for sixteen weeks from the piercing date.
For nose piercings, the healing time can take up to twenty-four weeks.
Also, note that navel piercings can take between six and eight months to heal. Oral and genital piercings should heal between six and ten weeks.
If you have always healed quickly from cuts and scrapes over the course of your life, it ought to factor into your piercing site healing time.
Ear piercings can smell horrible too
Really? Yes, really. Why? Hopefully, you are a person who cleans out your ears on a regular basis.
When you do, you have likely noticed that nasty ear wax that comes out on your Q-tips, right?
This stuff can also trickle down to your piercing site. If you are not cleaning that as often as you should, you will get a smelly odor.
Now, also think about body sweat and the smell of unclean ear jewelry that also accumulate at the piercing site.
Mix that in with the ear wax and you have a terrible odor. Cleaning out your ears alone won’t get rid of that. You must clean the jewelry regularly too.
If you don’t, not only will it continue to stink, but the site will become infected.
What about genital and other body piercings?
You know what comes out of your genitals. Imagine that smell building up on your piercing and its site.
Combine that with body smell and the smell of the soap when you shower. Now you have a powerful and rotten odor.
On to belly piercings. Although no horrible substances go in or out of that area, think about when you go swimming.
Chemicals from the pool water or saltwater at the beach build up on your belly piercings. Again, there is the factor of different types of body soap.
If you fail to take that jewelry out and clean it and the site really well, you will have a strong odor.
Parting thoughts
For your sake and the sake of all those around you, please keep all your body piercing sites and jewelry clean. Not only will you be avoiding infection, but you will smell fresher too.
