By Meghan O'Neal
03/09/2021
Despite the fact that we live in the 21st century, some circles still hold stigmas when it comes to the way people choose to express themselves. This frustrating occurrence can often be seen when it comes to men’s jewelry.
When you search for body jewelry, it’s clear that women are the target audience. While there’s a strategy to this choice—around 72% of those who are pierced are women—it leaves men wanting. Where are the resources for pierced men?
With this short guide, we hope to provide some valuable resources to all of the pierced men out there and give them a go-to location for affordable men’s earrings and other body jewelry.
In spite of the plethora of piercing choices, there are key piercings that men gravitate toward.
Ear piercings are by far the most popular piercing for both men and women. A body jewelry staple, ear piercings are versatile, and they’re widely accepted, even in professional circles. With many ear piercing styles to choose from, you can really make your ear piercings match your personal aesthetic.
An estimated 16% of pierced men boast tongue piercings. These piercings exude a quality of rebellion and have associations with sexual pleasure, which may explain why it’s one of the more common piercing choices for men with body piercings.
According to the Statistic Brain Research Institute, 18% of pierced men have one or both nipples pierced. The nipple piercing, like the tongue piercing, can have associations with sex, but it’s also a piercing that looks awesome and can easily be hidden. This could make it a popular option among business professionals who love piercings.
15% of pierced men rock either the septum or nostril piercing. One of the facial piercings most commonly accepted by mainstream society, these can be fantastic if you want something that stands out and still won’t attract too much negative attention.
Another facial piercing, the eyebrow piercing is one of the most common among pierced men.
You don’t just have to choose the standard vertical eyebrow piercing. They come in horizontal and multiple variations as well.
While there are piercings that are more popular among men, this doesn’t mean that you have to limit yourself to the piercings that have arbitrarily been labeled as more “manly.” If you love the look of a gemstone coming out of your belly button, then you should rock it proudly! The body piercing world is all about personal expression, which means that any piercing type is game.
As mentioned above, you can wear whatever piercing and whatever style you love. Far be it from anyone to dictate your passions and personal style. That being said, there are certain styles that are more common among men.
Earrings really need no introduction. Men’s earrings can come in all sorts of styles. Most popular seem to be hoops or studs with gemstones.
The seamless ring provides a sleek, minimal look that allows the wearer to simply put the jewelry in and forget about it (besides a cleaning every once in a while). It can be worn in most ear piercings, eyebrow piercings, nipple piercings, nose piercings, and more, which may contribute to its popularity.
The straight barbell consists of a straight post with bead ends on either side. These ends can be solid metal or host decorations, like gemstones or black peacock pearls. They look fantastic in tongue piercings, nipple piercings, or some suitable cartilage piercings, like the industrial.
The curved barbell is made up of a curved post with ball ends, just like the straight barbell. This is worn in piercings like the eyebrow and some cartilage piercings.
A cross between a hoop and a barbell, the curved barbell is shaped like a horseshoe and features two bead ends.
This popular hoop style has a ball that can be removed to reveal a gap in the hoop where the jewelry is inserted into the piercing. The ball is then replaced, securing the jewelry. Like the seamless ring, it can be worn anywhere that hoops are suitable.
Stud jewelry is simply a prong with a charm or gemstone end. It usually has a ball backing or a flat backing. The one that you choose will depend upon your preference as well as the piercing location. These are usually worn in ear piercings and lip piercings.
The body jewelry world is filled with jewelry retailers, both online and in the piercing studio. The problem isn’t finding body jewelry but rather finding quality jewelry that won’t irritate your skin.
Many body jewelry retailers that you find will use materials that aren’t suitable for the body (such as stainless steel, metal that contains nickel, and non-biocompatible plastics). You can wear these unsuitable materials for years and have no problem, but over time, they may cause skin irritation and other complications even in healed piercings. It’s important that you find proper jewelry for your piercing.
When you visit a piercing studio, they will have a small selection of jewelry that’s okay for your piercing. These will usually be made of titanium. However, their selection typically isn’t very large, and your choices will be limited.
Another option that you have is to shop online. This will provide a much wider selection of jewelry with many different jewelry materials and styles to choose from. To determine whether an online retailer sells quality jewelry, make sure that their jewelry is internally threaded, contains no nickel, and uses materials suitable for piercings, like 14k gold, titanium, platinum, and biocompatible materials.
And now is the part where we talk ourselves up a bit.
FreshTrends is the place to come to when you want high-quality jewelry made from 14k gold and platinum. It’s our goal to provide the most beautiful materials at the lowest prices possible, allowing you to enjoy body jewelry that will last a lifetime without breaking the bank.
Our selection is growing all the time, so you can come back again and again to see what’s new. Additionally, our jewelry is handmade and created to stand the test of time. Check out our body jewelry collection, and you’ll see what we mean.
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