BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Body Art Chlorine and Piercings..

I am just dying to get into the swimming pool, since the heat has started to become unbearable ..but someone told me that I should avoid cholorine because of my new piercing..is this true?

If it is true..why should chlorinated water be avoided and how long do I have to wait before it's okay to swim?! Thanks!

i have not heard of avoiding chlorine. i have several piercings and i was told that as long as i cleaned them regularly they would be fine.i swam 3 days after my last piercing and i cleaned it after and it was fine. im not an expert or anything but if it was that bad then i think u would have been told when it was done.

Yeah, very good point..the guy who pierced me gave me a pamphlet of after care, etc..and it doesn't mention chlorine whatsoever.

The only reason I'm asking is because I have a friend who has many MANY piercings and everytime she's pierced, her piercer tells her to avoid chlorine but never says why or for how long..maybe it just has to do with the certain areas she's getting pierced?! I don't know, but thanks for the reply :rolling:

It depends on the piercer, but the ones that I've been too have said to avoid clorine and hydrogen peroxcide (sometimes they put it in hot tubs instead of the clorine), and alcohol. If I remember right when I had my navel pierced (don't have it anymore though) I had to wait a month or so before going in clorine of any kind, which wasn't a big deal for me. But I would go back or call your piercer and talk to them, and see what they say about it.

Hmm..that leads me to believe that perhaps chlorine would have the same effect on a new piercing that alcohol would and dry it out, maybe..?!

That's what I thought, that it would dry it out. Because if I remember right you're supposed to stay out of the ocean also for the same amount of time. So I would say your best bet is to call your piercer and ask him.

I spoke to him and he doesn't think it'll hurt anything..but like you said every piercer is different, so I'd like to get some more opinions. My piercer also told me my piercing would only take 4-6 days to heal, which I found hard to believe, so I'm not sure I necessarily believe him when he says much of anything! <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

When mine was new, he told me to avoid pools, but if I HAD to be in one to cover the piercing with a bit of Neosporin & wash it real good when I got out. Hope this helps! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

That helps alot, thanks! But now I'm running into a different issue LOL..they seem to never end..

I bought some jewelry the other day to change my original stud with something new and tinier..the gauge was perfect, but the jewelry wasn't long enough and it didn't go through the hole inside my nose! It was just a tiny nose stud..a bone I guess they're called..but I put the original stud that I was pierced with, back in, so the hole wouldn't close! So I'm just going to go directly back to the piercer and have him suggest what would be good and let him pick out something that is the perfect length and gauge! ARGH! Issues are neverending!! <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

With a fresh piercing, the chlorine in the water can actually burn the tissues depending on skin sensitivity or if there is a strong/high chlorine content in the water.

Also, "public" bodies of water have higher bacteria content and can cause all sorts of reactions in both fresh tattoos and piercings. Remember, a piercing is considered a deep tissue wound medically, and some of the healing considerations are well worth it.