I just received a retainer that I ordered in the mail. I was wondering how one should wear a retainer. I mean, can I leave it in for a few days, weeks or do I need to put the retainer in when I need to down play the piercing only and then put metal jewelry back in as soon as possible? Will the retainer hurt the piercing or will the piercing get more easily infected with the retainer in?
Also, I am wondering about CBRs. Your site talks a lot about how screws are wonderful and pins studs suck but what about CBRs. Is there any thing wrong with getting pierced with one or having one in a healed piercing? I mean other than the obvious that it sticks out more and is more likely to get caught on something.
Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge. I really appreciate having a quick and honest source for piercing information.
We have been using CBR's for piercing noses for over 20 years. We had clients who insisted on the screw for religious reasons and we monitored them before we would use it on other clients. It seemed that the CBR was more likely to be problematic because you would want to turn the ring and this irritated the nostril tissues. We found that the nostril screw did NOT move around and therefore made healing easier for most people. This is why we never wrote anything about the CBRs because we still use them if a client desires this look.
Now for the retainer. We have seen a few of these items and we feel that they are not good to leave in the piercing as it will easily fall out. If your piercing is still relatively new (before one year old), then if the retainer falls out, you may lose your piercing. So we generally recommend leaving it in only when you need it there, otherwise, insert a piece of proper jewellery so that you do not lose your piercing.
Thanks for your compliments, we try to be honest in our answers.
