Piercing jewelry guide

Gauge: how thick the pin is

The gauge is the thickness of the part that goes through you. The smaller the number, the thicker the pin: a 14G belly ring is twice as thick as a 20G lobe stud. Your piercing has settled around whatever went into it first, so the easiest way to find your gauge is to read it off the jewelry you are wearing now.

The table counts the sets in our catalog at each gauge, so you can see what you will find once you know your number.

Bar length: the part inside the ear

The bar, or post, runs from the front of the stud to the back. On a flat back stud a 6mm bar suits a thin lobe or a helix, and an 8mm bar leaves room for a thicker lobe or a tragus. Too short and the back digs in; too long and the stud tilts and catches on your hair.

The gem size on the front tells you how a stud looks, not how it fits. A 3mm stone can sit on a 6mm bar or an 8mm one.

Backs and closures

A butterfly back, the classic friction back, slides onto a straight post and sits behind the lobe. It is quick to change and the easiest to lose. A flat back is a disc on the end of the bar. It lies against the skin, so it stays comfortable when you sleep on that side, and for the helix and the tragus it is the usual choice.

Threadless, or push-in, studs hold the top on a pin bent slightly inside the bar. Internally threaded studs screw the top into the bar. A leverback earring closes with a hinged hook, and a clicker hoop closes with a hinged segment that snaps shut.

Nose studs: L-shaped, screw and bone

An L-shaped stud has a straight bar with one right-angle bend. It goes in easily and holds well enough for most noses. A screw, or corkscrew, stud curls behind the nostril and is the one that stays in best, at the cost of a fiddlier fit. A bone stud is straight with a small ball at the end: the easiest to put in and take out, and the easiest to lose.

Nose hoops close with a hinged segment or a small ball. Measure a hoop by its inner diameter: 8mm sits snug against the nostril, 10mm hangs a little lower.

Placements on the ear

The lobe is the soft lower part, and the upper lobe is the second and third holes above it. The helix runs along the outer rim, the tragus is the small flap in front of the ear canal, the conch is the inner cup, and the daith and the rook sit in the folds above the canal. Our shop by piercing page lists the sets shaped for each one.

Fresh piercing or healed piercing

Our sets are for healed piercings. The Association of Professional Piercers sets out what belongs in a fresh one: steel to the ASTM F-138 standard, implant-certified titanium to ASTM F-136, niobium, solid 14k or higher gold and a few more, in a gauge and length that suit your anatomy. It rules gold plated and gold filled jewelry out of a new piercing, because the plating can wear off.

The American Academy of Dermatology advises leaving the starter earrings in for at least six weeks, night included, cleaning the piercing once a day with a mild fragrance-free cleanser and water, and keeping hydrogen peroxide and antibacterial soaps away from it. Until the person who pierced you says the hole has healed, the starter jewelry stays.

Metals on sensitive skin

Nickel is one of the most common causes of an itchy rash under jewelry, and earrings and earring backs are among the usual culprits, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. The academy advises jewelry that is nickel free or made of surgical-grade stainless steel, 18 to 24 karat gold, sterling silver or platinum.

Each set here names its metal as we list it. If a piercing turns sore, red or swollen, or starts to ooze, take the jewelry out of the conversation and see a dermatologist or your piercer.

If a figure here disagrees with a product page, the product page wins: both come from the data behind the TORNITO collection.