To do this the person would need to have what is known as an “outie” navel where the belly button is actually sticking out. Not many people have this and so the piercing is often made through the upper rim of the navel instead.

Many celebrities such as Britney Spears and Janet Jackson have made the navel body piercing as popular as it is today.

It is particularly favoured amongst teenage girls who are looking to stand out. However, unfortunately many people rush into getting their navel pierced and they do not fully understand what the piercing involves. This is when infections can develop.

What You Should Know

The navel piercing might be the most common type of piercing available today, but there is still a lot of misunderstanding surrounding it. One of the main things that you may not be aware of is the healing time that the piercing needs before you experiment with different belly rings.

Navel body piercings are well known for their likelihood of developing an infection. However, this is easily avoidable if you respect the healing time and if you help the piercing to heal. Using a mild antibacterial soap on the piercing each morning in the shower will help to cleanse the wound.

The piercing itself is done usually with a sterilised clamp. The clamp is situated either below or above the navel and then the sterilised needle is pushed through the skin to create the piercing. This is then followed by the navel jewellery that the client has chosen. Typically for their first navel jewellery, clients tend to opt for belly bars or a simple belly ring. Ideally you should avoid nickel based navel jewellery when you have just had your navel pierced as this does tend to cause an allergic reaction for many people.

Overall navel body piercings are popular and they do tend to boost confidence. However, they do need to be cared for properly if you are to benefit fully from the piercing. There are so many different belly rings to suit all tastes that you can choose from once the piercing has healed. So if you do look after the piercing properly you will soon be able to benefit from a wide range of belly rings!

Body piercing aftercare guidelines are universal for most of the body piercing types except the oral body piercings – it’s due to the unique location of these body piercings.

The first body piercing aftercare guideline to remember – don’t take the body jewelry out until the fresh piercing hasn’t undergone the first healing stage called ‘primary healing’.

The pierced hole is most vulnerable and prone to infections during the initial healing stage and I guess it shouldn’t pose you any problems with keeping the initial body jewelry in.

As for the best materials for the first time piercings – they are surgical grade stainless steel, titanium and Bioplast. These materials are very body friendly and will provide ideal conditions for healing. And if you have any allergy towards metals, Bioplast should do the trick.

The second body piercing aftercare recommendation – use common sense when handling your fresh piercing. This includes washing hands before touching the piercing and avoiding sexual contacts when you get a genital or oral body piercing, for example.

Remember – there are many infections that can get into your fresh piercing like bacterial and viral infections and also parasitic infections. The last ones can result from swimming in open waters while the piercing hasn’t fully healed yet, like seas and rivers. So bear this in mind, too – while the piercing is healing, no swimming!

A universal body piercing aftercare advice for most fresh body piercing is soaking it with saline solution a few times a day. The reasoning behind this is the healing properties of sea salt solution. Its chemical consistence is similar to that of your body fluids, and on top of that by soaking the fresh piercing with the saline solution you will wash away any excess body fluids that are drying up around the piercing hole. This in turn will prevent bacterial build-ups in the piercing.

Some body piercers advise that good body piercing aftercare includes using antibacterial products as well. For example – antibacterial soap that can be gently applied to the piercing while taking shower and then washed off.

However, this can also lead to destroying the healthy bacteria that resides on your body around the fresh piercing. And you certainly don’t want this to happen, do you?

The most interesting approach to body piercing aftercare is LITHA. Can you guess the meaning of this abbreviation? Common, try!

Are you giving up? OK – let me tell you!

Leave It The Hell Alone! As you can imagine, this body piercing aftercare principle is very simple – just leave the piercing on its own and allow your body deal with it!

If it seems to be too extreme, just think about this. Let’s say, you got slightly injured and have a wound. You cut yourself and applied a plaster on the cut. Then ask yourself now – would you remove the plaster and clean the wound a few times daily just to facilitate the healing process?

Well, most likely – not! So this is exactly what the LITHA method involves – leaving your body alone and assuming that a healthy and strong human’s body should be absolutely fine with healing a comparatively small wound.