How To Remove Any Type Of Piercing At Home, According To Our Piercer

From modern tragus piercings and septum hoops to throwback bellybutton piercings and good old-fashioned lobe earrings, there are many ways to adorn yourself with body jewelry. While these piercings each have their own style and aesthetic, there's one thing they all have in common: At some point, you'll probably need to take them out.

Even if you take a 24/7, set-it-and-forget-it approach to wearing your piercings, certain occasions call for removing your body jewelry. Perhaps you have to take out certain piercings for a work event, maybe you need to clean your earring backs, or maybe you're just trying to switch one style of jewelry out for another. There's just one problem: Removing your own piercings can be awkward, tricky, and even a little risky if you don't take the right steps.

Of course, you can't just sit on your hands and resign yourself to keeping the same jewelry forever. To find out more about the ins and outs of piercing removal, we spoke exclusively to Charly Miner, the owner of the piercing studio Juniper's Precision. She gave us some insider guidance on taking out your piercings, from the when and why of doing it to tips on removing your jewelry safely and easily.

When it comes to safely changing your piercing jewelry, the first step is figuring out how to unfasten it. "Research your jewelry. Is it a flatback? Is it threadless or internally threaded? If a hoop, is [it] a clicker or a seam ring? Once you find these answers, then you can remove your jewelry," Charly Miner advised Glam, reiterating that you should do this "only if it's fully healed!"

Next comes the removal itself. Begin by thoroughly washing your hands and the skin around the piercing with soap and water. Gently detach the jewelry and slide it slowly from the piercing. If you're having trouble, nitrile gloves can help provide extra friction and grip. If any debris has built up in or around the piercing, clean it away before putting any new jewelry in place. For the best results, select pieces made with high-quality metals and clean the new jewelry with alcohol before inserting it.

All that said, Miner pointed out that removing a piercing is often the easy part — it's trying to get jewelry back in that's worse. If necessary, Miner recommends tapping a professional for help. "The best advice is [to] ask your piercer what they do when removing/installing that certain piercing you have trouble with," she exclusively told Glam. "Ask if you can purchase any tools ... that they use. I usually give my clients their tapers if they need help removing and installing their healed piercing jewelry." For those who don't know, tapers are — you guessed it — tapered tools that stretch your piercing site to help you remove piercings and swap in different kinds of jewelry at will.

Wondering when you can change your earrings after a fresh piercing? Before removing any piercing, you must first ensure that it's fully healed. This can take different lengths of time depending on the location of the piercing, from three to six weeks for mouth piercings to up to a full year for nipples or genitalia. When in doubt, follow your piercer's instructions about how long to wait.

However, taking out your body jewelry isn't always a matter of choice. Apart from the aforementioned everyday reasons, there are some specific times when removing your piercing may be the best way forward. For instance, if you're seeing signs that your body is rejecting your piercing, you may want to go ahead and take the jewelry out before it migrates and potentially leaves scarring.

As Charly Miner exclusively explained to us, pain or discomfort may be another red flag. "If it hurts so bad, take it out. It's not worth it," Miner told us. However, she also suggested that it may be safer to visit your piercer before attempting to remove the piercing yourself, adding, "If you see a bump on the site of the piercing, I would ... seek a pro instead of taking it out." And if the piercing seems to be infected, don't rush to remove it — it's best to leave the jewelry in place and sanitize the piercing site with a cleaning solution three times a day, according to Seattle Children's Hospital.