i would make up my sea salt water... nice and warm like
then take 2 square cotton pads (you can use the rounds too, they are the kind from the cosmetic section) and dip them into your warm SSS
I then rolled them up seprately and stuffed one up each nostril
if i felt like the cotton pad wasn't touching the piercing I would apply light pressure so to get good coverage without pushing out all the SSS
I then "soaked" my septum this way for 10 mins 3 times a day
If I ever felt like the cotton was getting cold, or too much dripped out, I'd take out the the rolled up pad, and re-dip in the SSS, and re-insert
I never used cotton balls because I didn't like how loose the cotton was woved, with the pads the cotton is tight, and the warmth helps soothes a septum to happiness
EDIT:
as far as CBBs vs. retainers, (which i perfer the later) often piercers have to bend the CBB out of wack to be able to flip it up, some people have a problem with this mainly when they wanna wear it down... just a heads up