Measuring Guide for Body Jewellery

Body jewellery- Belly bar sizes and how to measure your piercing and your body jewellery.

Measuring your body jewellery isn't really that hard, although most people seem to think this is a daunting task. The basics are as follows:

• Belly bars are available in different sizes, this size relates to bar length. The bar length has nothing to do with your clothes size or body size. Most piercers pierce belly buttons as 10mm piercings, but as this is only done with eye judgement, it does vary. Some piercers do however do longer belly piercings. Also, some belly button piericngs grow out, so the bar length you will need may become shorter, Most high street retailers only do belly bars with 10mm long bars. We stock belly bars with bar lengths from a short 6mm , 8mm, 10mm and some with extra long 12mm bars. We do also stock plain curved belly bars in 14mm and 16mm , and can do most other sizes that you may need, but not all belly bars are made with bars that can be taken off and changed for a different size.
•  Remember that our bodies are all different, and also remember that they tend to change a tiny bit all the time, so maybe you tongue bar is usually 12mm long, but then also remember that when you are eating it will swell up a little, and it will also swell up a little when you are asleep, so always leave a little margin for this.
• We will only cover the basics of body jewellery sizing, and there are so many body piercing we could not possibly mention them all.
• Most body piercing jewellery(except for stretching jewellery) is either 1.6mm thick or 1.2mm thick, if it is a different thickness , you will probably know what size you are anyway.
• Nearly every single belly button piercing (navel piercing) is done with a bar that is 1.6mm thick (this thickness is also known as 14 gauge).
• The tricky part for belly button piercings is the length of the bar, this should be measured with balls screwed on, and the straight line distance between the balls should be measured in millimetres. It does not have to be exact, but the bar should have a little gap so it does not fit too snugly, this lets air circulate around your body piercings..most people are pierced as a 10mm belly piercing, so once it heals, they can wear the most common size, a 10mm long bar. This is not always the case though, and we sell a large number of other belly bar sizes in double jewelled surgical steel or titanium bars (6mm,8mm,10mm,12mm). If you are still unsure after measuring your bar, why not take it along to your local body piercing studio and ask them, that way you will get the correct answer (most of the time..) if they cant tell you clearly what size you need, then walk out and don't go back there ever again!!
• Nearly all tongue piercings are done with a bar that is 1.6mm thick (as above). The most common tongue bar lengths we sell are 12mm,14mm and 16mm, with 16mm being the standard size most tongue piercings are made with, but again, not all..to measure your tongue bar just acrew both ball on and measure the length in mm of the bar that you can see...we sell tongue bars from in bar lengths of 10mm to 22mm.
• Eyebrow piercings nearly always done with a thinner bar or ring, usually 1.2mm thick , measure the straight line distance between the balls, usually 6mm or 8mm for most eyebrow bars.
• Ball closure rings are available in lots of thicknesses, and are easy to measure, just measure the inside diameter of the ring (the straight distance between the sides of the ring.)
• Labrets are usually 1.6mm, 1.2mm or 1mm thick,  again very easy to measure..just the length of the straight part of the bar that you can see with the ball screwed on!
• Scaffold or industrial ear piercing bars are measured by measuring the length of the bar that you can see, its best to screw the ball on then measure it, otherwise not including the thread on the bar. Usually anything from 30mm to 40mm, but w do stock longer and shorher bars.
• Ear cartilage piercings are usually 1.2mm (16 gauge), most widely available are 1.2mm x 8mm long.
• Other body piercings can vary , but the norm is 1.6mm for belly button piercings and tongue piercings, and 1.2mm for most other body piercings. (MOST not all, and this of course excludes piercings that you have stretched..if you have done this you reaklly should know what size you are!!))
• OK, so now you're even more unsure, as your body piercing isn't mentioned above...a 2p coin is just about 1.6mm thick, so if your body jewellery is a lot thinner than this, it is probably 1.2mm thick.....probably...it just may be even thinner, tragus studs, ball closure rings and some other  body jewellery is available in even thinner sizes too, if you have an even thinner gauge piercing, then you would probably know what size it is. If you are unsure about your size, then your local body piercing studio should be happy to help, and will be able to measure it and let you know exactly what size you need.