All of Elysium's advice is spot on. One thing i would really push as an apprentice peircer, is sea salt over regular salt.Regular salt has iodine, and constant iodine washes can cause irritation. The more natural the salt the better..in fact, if you live near a CLEAN ocean, even salt water from CLEAN body of water can be immensely helpful.(emphasis on CLEAN - if its polluted thats a whole other story)

Peircings close up at different rates for everyone. For example, my ears almost never have rings in them, I can go years without putting any in and they stay open. I can go about a day with my lip ring out, and i havent tested being without my madonna for any significant amount of time, ive only had it about eight months. Typically for me oral peircings tend to close extremely fast, whereas others do not. But its different for everyone. Its generally a good idea to always keep SOME kind of jewellery in - because if it does semi close and you have to punch it through unless you are using a hollow peircing needle or having it done professionally in a studio with one, you are causing mild tissue damage because of the blunt force. You can get clear acrylic studs though, for all types of peircings that you literally wont even notice.