Body Jewelry

Body Jewelry Gauge

Gauge refers to the thickness of the body jewelry wire or stud. Most facial piercings are done with smaller gauges, such as 1.2mm. If you want a larger gauge for your facial piercing, most experts recommended stating with a 1.2mm gauge and then increasing it to 1.6mm.

Tongue, nipples and belly button piercings are usually done with a 1.6mm gauge. Genital piercings can range from 1.2-1.6mm for women and 2.4 mm for men (depending on what’s being pierced and the look you’re going for).

Piercing Jewelry Do's

When purchasing body jewelry, look to jewelry made from one of the following:

• Stainless steel. Stainless steel is a great metal for body jewelry. Few people have metal allergies to stainless steel, and it’s an affordable medal.
• Titanium. People with metal allergies, or who want to spend a touch more on their jewelry, can also wear titanium. Titanium can be colored to a variety of colors and is a common metal for piercing jewelry.
• Gold. Gold is also used to make body jewelry but should not be used for the initial piercing since body fluids from the healing process can degrade the medal and create an infection.

Piercing Jewelry Don'ts

The following metals should be avoid in your choice of body jewelry:

• Body jewelry should not be made out of sterling silver. Silver tends to corrode when it comes in touch with the sulfur in your body. It can become toxic.
• Piercing jewelry should also not be made out of gold-plated metal because the plating can flake over time, causing scratches and nicks in your skin. It can also create a great place for bacteria to breed and promote infections.

Types of Piercing Jewelry

• Barbells are one of the most common kinds of body jewelry. These are thin rods that are either straight or curve a little with little balls on the ends. The balls do not have to match each other either in color or size. In fact, some will actually have a jewel on one end of the bar (like in belly button piercings). Depending on the length and the thickness, barbells can be used in facial piercings (eyebrows and ears), belly button piercings, male and female genital piercings, and tongue piercings.
• Rings are another popular piercing jewelry. Rings are exactly what they sound like, small medal rings. Most rings have small beads on them for decoration. Rings are used just about everywhere in body piercings, including ears, eyebrows, lips, nipples, belly button, and male and female genital piercings.
• Horseshoes are a kind of ring body jewelry. Instead of closing in a full ring, a horseshoe has a U-shape (like a horseshoe) that ends in two balls.
• Labrets are similar to barbells, only instead of having balls at both ends, one end is flat, while the other is finished off with a ball. These are common for lip piercings and may also be referred to as Marilyn.

Fake Body Jewelry

Say you want body jewelry but don’t want a piercing; you can try fake body jewelry. Some fake piercing jewelry use magnets to keep the pieces in place, while others are designed to stick to your skin via suction (like fake tongue piercings).

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