Reviewed guide

Why Doesn’t Tribal Expression Recommend Homemade Salt Water?

The short answer

Do not perform “home chemistry” on a fresh piercing when properly manufactured aftercare is available. Home-prepared salt water can have inconsistent concentration, non-sterile preparation, contaminated containers or water, and inaccurate measuring — it is very easy for a home solution to be incorrectly formulated.

Home chemistry has too many failure points: concentration, sterility, containers, and measuring are all easy to get wrong.

For parents

The salt-water soak is a long-standing piercing tradition, and a carefully prepared sterile saline has legitimate uses. The problem is the homemade version.

Tribal’s answer

Do not perform “home chemistry” on a fresh piercing when properly manufactured aftercare is available.

What can go wrong with homemade salt water

Inconsistent concentration — too much salt or too little salt from batch to batch
Irritation and drying from over-concentrated mixes
Non-sterile preparation
Contaminated containers
Contaminated water
Inaccurate measuring

The real lesson

It is very easy for a home-prepared solution to be incorrectly formulated — the margin between helpful and irritating lives in exactly the measurements a kitchen does not control well.

What to use instead

The recommended hypochlorous-acid aftercare. If saline is ever wanted, use a properly manufactured sterile saline product — see our saline page.