This post is a branch from another discussion. Feel free to post your opinions on the matter.

Personally, this method works best for my body and keeps scarring to a minimum.

Outside of jojoba massages and cleaning I find this is the best method for my lobes and THE best for my other non stretched fistulas!

I never specificlly wash my piercings anymore as it makes them over produce oils, so just a rinse in the shower does them. I don't sss either as it does the oppisite! I was so happy when my new piercer/shop had aftercare advice that jived so well.  :D     

ok - im gonna disagree here a bit...  the ultimate litha-method would be not-to-mod your body to begin-with...  since youve already decided to -mod-, then it seems counter-intuitive to completely litha afterwards...

it may not require an -excessive- amount of aftercare, but i think (especially some basic sss for -fresh- stretches/piercings) it will requre at least -some- aftercare...  once your body is -healed- of the mod, then id be fine with a general litha-attitude...

It's not counter-intuitive to LITHA or LIMA because the body has its own mechanisms to deal with tissue injury. I tend to take a hands-off approach for most mild bodily injuries in general.

Salt soaks have never done much for my piercings and I don't even bother doing anything for a fresh stretch. My immune function has been pretty good, so I let my body deal with the intrusion rather than overbearingly 'caring' for the area. I find that most people have issues arising from overcleaning/poking/q-tipping as opposed to when they leave it alone (bar clean shower water rinsing the area). It really all depends upon the person in question and their general ability to heal.

I always do some sea salt soaks for fresh piercings.  Usually just one a day, but sometimes twice a day.  And whenever I've used soap [on fresh piercings] I only use it once a day in the shower, but lather it up in my hands before letting it run over the piercing.  I've never rotated/twisted the jewelry.  It kind of makes me cringe when people talk about slathering various lotions and potions all over their fresh piercings, and when they poke/prod/twist/rotate/whatever.  But to each their own?

 And I always wash my lobes once, daily. 

i guess everybodys body -is- different...  ive found that -my- body (when presented with a fresh stretch/pierce) will try to heal-back to original-condition, rather than heal-forward to new-circumstances... 

i guess litha/lima would work if youve got a heal-forward-body and were just dead-stretching all your piercings...  even my original decade-old ear piercing tried to heal-back after 2 days which is how i started this mod-journey last november...  also, my experience is from the mod process that -i- took which was slightly too-fast (according to the guidelines)...  thankfully, ive now found that my heal-back body has accepted this earlobe mod at 0g - so i can now leave my jewelry out for a couple days at a time (tried that this week)...  heck, maybe my body has 'found religion' and become a heal-forward body after-all...  lol.

 I like the LITHA method in that it encourages people to keep their hands off of piercings and helps cut down on infection and irritation. What I DON'T like is the thought that you can just get a piercing and then forget about it. I think that a new piercing does require some care, whether it's a change in what you use as "soap," to how you sleep, etc. I think that some people like to get piercings because they look nice, which is an important factor, but they fail to realize the entire scope of what a piercing entails. It really can be a lifestyle change (i.e. not swimming with a new piercing), and seeing it as a "minor" alteration minimizes the effect it can have on one's life. I know that this isn't what most people automatically think of when they think of the LITHA method (and perhaps a slight digression ), but I think it's an important implication of telling people to "do nothing."

I personally advocate for sea salt soaks for fresh piercings because they've always been soothing for me and I like the idea of using them to help clean the piercing. Using them to help loosen any gunk and relax the skin is what makes them beneficial to me, although I'm not sure that plain warm water would be any less beneficial. On healed ear piercings, I will wash (lightly) with a mild soap in the shower, and my ears do enjoy a good emu oil massage, but I don't do anything special after stretches. I don't regularly change most of the jewelry in my ears so it's left alone except for in the shower. On body (nipple, now retired) piercings I prefer to just rinse with water and let any mild soap that happens to get on it do the cleaning. I have no problem with people who find that the LITHA method works well for them, provided they're still conscious of their piercing and are able to keep tabs on it (not just "forget about it").

I agreen with Axon.

 I'm all for LIMA.  I've never found SSS to be especailly beneficial for me, but I used to do them because I was told to do so.  Nowadays I'll rinse them in the shower to get some crusties off and make sure they are shampoo free but that's about it. I'm all for letting my body take care of itself.  

harold:

i guess everybodys body -is- different...  ive found that -my- body (when presented with a fresh stretch/pierce) will try to heal-back to original-condition, rather than heal-forward to new-circumstances... 

i guess litha/lima would work if youve got a heal-forward-body and were just dead-stretching all your piercings...  even my original decade-old ear piercing tried to heal-back after 2 days which is how i started this mod-journey last november...  also, my experience is from the mod process that -i- took which was slightly too-fast (according to the guidelines)...  thankfully, ive now found that my heal-back body has accepted this earlobe mod at 0g - so i can now leave my jewelry out for a couple days at a time (tried that this week)...  heck, maybe my body has 'found religion' and become a heal-forward body after-all...  lol.

 

 

I'm confused as to what you mean by healing back? Are you prone to migration?

 I've been using the LITHA method for healing my conch punch and its healing WAY quicker than my old conch piercing.  I only use sea salt soaks if a piercing is irritated.  They dry me out a bit too much to use regularly. 

snickypie:

harold:

i guess everybodys body -is- different...  ive found that -my- body (when presented with a fresh stretch/pierce) will try to heal-back to original-condition, rather than heal-forward to new-circumstances..

I'm confused as to what you mean by healing back? Are you prone to migration?

 

uhm - no ?  idk - i assume that if i -did- get a surface piercing (like a belly-button) that it would-indeed migrate out of my body...  but i have no experience with that...  however, when ive gotten my ears pierced/stretched or have other 'minor' tissue damage, then my body will try to heal BACK to its original shape (ie - itll close-up the hole - even on my over-10-yo regular-pierced-ears).

apparently, some peoples bodies seem to 'accept' that the hole/pierce/stretch is now part of their body/anatomy - and will heal FORWARD around the intrusion (ie - they do not have their holes close-up). if your body works this way (healing-forward) then maybe litha is a good idea...

i think i have finally hit that -point-of-no-return- with my 0g earlobes and will not have to worry about them ever closing-back-up completely...  altho - to be fair, im not interested in really trying that hypothesis...

anyways, healing -back and -forward are just two phrases i made-up to describe what i was thinking about:  the body either closing-up around the hole or not...

jellybean:

I personally advocate for sea salt soaks for fresh piercings because they've always been soothing for me and I like the idea of using them to help clean the piercing. Using them to help loosen any gunk and relax the skin is what makes them beneficial to me, although I'm not sure that plain warm water would be any less beneficial.

 

on my stretching-journey, i found that warm-water was -not- the same...  theres a bit of a sting/soothe to the salt that seems to activate my healing-process better...  if i had any future 'angry' piercing conditions, then id go back to sss as well - because it truly does seem to make a difference...  when i used just plain-water, my body basically ignored-it and the stretch still bothered me. having the salt-in-solution actually did provide the soothing-effect to promote my healing better.

now, to be fair - i got some initial internal-scarring from my decade-old pierced ears when i was using the -incorrect-for-me- tho -recommended-by-mall-shop- cleaning procedure of hydrogen-peroxide...  but if id used litha-method back then, i think idve never had the piercing heal well - because my body needs some sort of aftercare routine to truly heal...and sss (once id read-about it online) seemed to work great for me...

When I get a new piercing, I clean it, usually just in the morning and at night with Satin.  I did sss when I got my navel pierced (just soaked a papertowel in it, so I guess it was more of a compress than a soak), but sea salt has not touched any of my other piercings.  Once they're healed, I don't touch them except to dry them off with a Q-tip after I shower, simply because I can't stand having wet ears.  I always did this before I had piercings, too.  As for fresh stretches, I don't do anything.  Just stretch, and leave them alone.  I feel like I've done enough to my ears with the stretching..they need time to relax...lol

 LITHA works for me for the most part. I do tend to follow the aftercare instructions unless I KNOW that they are just bad for me.  However. I agree that cleaning/caring can be over done but that SOMETHING should be done while healing even if it's just rinsing.