When you first get pierced, it may be difficult to tell what size your new piercing is. You just leave it up to the piercer. They know what’s best. However, you’re on your own once you leave the shop. What I’ve done in the past was actually text my piercer and ask her what size would be best for my septum. I had no idea. Was it 14g? 16g? What was the difference? I’ll break this down and also give you some helpful tips on proper body jewelry upkeep.
It’s important to know your piercing size. In order to choose the right jewelry for your specific piercings, be sure to refer to a proper size chart.
In some instances, it could vary. Perhaps you were pierced and have a non-standard size of gauge. Take a look at the jewelry in your piercing to see if you can tell what size it is using the aforementioned chart. You could also do like I did. Contact the person who pierced you and ask what size you have. I would recommend writing that information down somewhere so you can refer to it later.
Many piercings don’t necessarily have a “standard” size.” Especially cartilage and facial piercings. They can range in size from 14 gauge up to 18 gauge.
It’s also crucial to know what length is going to best suit specific piercings. For instance, a 1/4″ may be suitable for one person’s lip piercing. However, others could use up to 1/2″. Especially when buying jewelry online, you should figure out what size you have. You could find a piece online that you absolutely love. But imagine having it arrive and discovering it’s the wrong size! It’s no good to invest in an awesome piece of body jewelry if you don’t know your measurements for certain.
Whether you’re in the shower, at the beach, or getting ready for a night out, be sure to take special care of your body jewelry. Especially if it’s freshly pierced! The last thing you want is to feel your nose stud ripped out after drying your face off with a towel. No thanks.
Depending on your level of OCD (mine is fairly high), it would do well to develop a routine of checking on your body jewelry. Ensuring all the balls are still in place. Making sure that everything is where it’s supposed to be. I have both nostrils pierced, so one thing I’ve habitually done is to quickly brush my thumb and pointer fingers against my nostrils. It’s a constant fear of mine that I lost a nose stud after blowing my nose a bit too rigorously or getting it caught on my partner’s beard. To save time and money, make sure all your piercings are properly situated. It doesn’t have to be as constant as mine is. But perhaps just once after you wake up or once before you go to sleep.
Another reason why this is a good idea is because it prevents unwanted healing. When I worked as a waitress back in the day, it was their policy to banish all visible facial piercings. I only had one nostril pierced then so it didn’t demand a lot of upkeep. And even though I had had that nostril pierced for about three years at the time, it still tried to close up on me. It was not a fun time. Getting off a twelve hour shift only to discover that shoving a nose ring back into place is a bit more difficult than it ought to be isn’t the best experience. Depending on where your piercings are located, they could close up quicker than you think. Make sure that you aren’t losing or leaving out your jewelry for too long a spans of time.
In order to avoid potential scar tissue forming and the occasional pain that can be present during re-piercing sessions, keep an eye on your body jewelry.
The best thing to do would be to take your jewelry off before showering or swimming. This can lengthen the life of your jewelry. It will also allow you to not be thinking about your facial jewelry while washing your face. Sans facial jewelry, feel free to swipe that towel all over your face thoroughly! Another good thing for your jewelry would be to avoid over-tightening your balls. You know the feeling. You just want to screw on that one industrial ball a little bit… So you’re screwing and screwing and think it’s tight enough. Until suddenly it’s not. Oops. If your balls feel tight, leave them! They’re probably fine. If it continues to bother you, check on them in a day or two. If it’s loose again, retighten — carefully.
With fresh piercings or dangling jewelry, avoid wearing clothes which could cause irritation. If you have a lovely dangling belly button piece yet plan on wearing tight, high-waisted shorts, this clothing choice could snag or pull at your piercing. If you’ve just gotten a nipple or two pierced, be aware that putting on bras or other tight-fitting clothing could cause some discomfort if you aren’t delicate enough. But worry not. With time, you’ll be able to pull and tug at the pierced holes with ease. But even then, you must be careful not to pull at the jewelry in a way which will cause the piece to come apart.
Body and facial piercings aren’t high maintenance. It’s mostly the bit at the beginning which requires some routine aspect of proper care. But if you stick with it, you’ll be left with an awesome, healthy piercing. The piercing that took the longest time to heal on me was my tragus. It took months. It got inflamed once or twice. Mysterious bumps and cysts appeared. Despite having short hair, there was always something that ended up messing with it. Even after it healed, it still decided to be ornery. Just recently, I thought I had lost the tragus ball. But despite everything it’s put me through, it makes me proud to realize that with determination and persistence I can make even the stubbornest piercing hold fast. Sometimes it just takes taking care of an obstinate piercing to know what you are capable of. These piercings aren’t high maintenance. They just need someone to keep an eye on them from time to time.
When inserting your body jewelry, do so in a well-lit room. Preferably, do it on the floor that doesn’t have thick carpet. This way, you can easily recover small balls and settings should you accidentally drop them. If you must insert the jewelry over a sink, be sure to plug the sink’s drain. Otherwise, parts of your jewelry could get lost if they get dropped. As gold is a soft metal, and most body jewelry items contain threaded components that unscrew and tighten to insert the jewelry, it is important to know how to correctly use the threads without damaging them.
To insert, you should insert the piercing jewelry backing into your piercing from behind. Push the backing as far into your piercing as possible. Insert the charm, ball or setting into the backing and rotate right, or clockwise. This will tighten the front of the item and will require 5-6 complete turns to fully tighten. Be careful not to over tighten the charm, ball, or setting. This could potentially break the threads and damage your item. Remove front charm, ball, or setting from the backing by holding the backing in one hand and turning the former piece. You’ll turn it left or counter clockwise with the other hand. Rotate the charm 5-6 times to completely remove the charm from the backing.
Our standard segment rings are a great alternative to captive bead rings. A segment of each hoop can be unclipped, the hoop then inserted into your piercing, and the segment clipped back into the hoop to form a seamless circle. The segment is held in by tension. There is no clasp or hinge.
In order to sort out your segment ring, hold the segment ring with both hands. One hand should hold the segment piece of the hoop, the other, the hoop itself. Carefully pull in opposite directions with each hand. The segment should come right out. Be careful not to pull too hard or twist so you don’t damage the shape of the hoop. Once segment is removed, insert the hoop through your piercing. To re-insert the segment, insert on one side first, then with both hands pull open the hoop slightly, insert the segment and allow the hoop to close again.
We sell a variety of segment rings, septum clickers, as well as other piercing items that utilize our proprietary hinged mechanism. These items have a clasp on one side and a hinge on the other. This allows you to open and close the hoop or ring and insert into your piercing.
In order to open a hinged ring, grab the bottom of the hoop and gently pull up on the barbell portion of the clicker. It should unclasp and pop out. If you have trouble opening, shift your hand position so both are close to the barbell, and pull again. Closing the hinged item is quite simple. Align the clasp with the closure and close the hoop once is has been inserted or removed from your piercing.
Leave A Comment