by Snow Vandemore

Created on: March 13, 2009

Body jewelry has gained much popularity in the past few years and like tattoos, body piercings have become an acceptable lifestyle and fashion statement. Purchasing new pieces of body jewelry to add to your collection does not have to be confusing, if you use a body jewelry gauge chart to determine the correct size for your particular piercing.

Body jewelry thickness sizes run from 20 Gauge (GA,) the smallest size, to 00 Gauge (GA,) the largest size. Remember, the smaller the gauge number, the larger the thickness. The following is a list of the more common body jewelry gauge sizes and associated piercing locations:

16 GA - 20 GA: Nostril

16 GA: Rook

14 GA - 18 GA: Navel

14 GA - 16 GA: Industrial

Helix

Monroe

Snug

Tragus

14 GA: Daith

Labret

Medusa

12 GA - 16 GA: Eyebrow

The body jewelry gauge chart provided at www.tonguestud.com is exceptional, because it allows you to calibrate your computer screen with common objects such as a quarter, a credit card or a compact disc (CD) so that the jewelry gauge images on the page remain true. The site also provides gauge to fraction and metric conversions.

Gauge refers to thickness, but length refers to either (1) the internal diameter for rings or (2) the length from the inside of each ball for barbells. For a visual reference on diameter and length, www.tribalectic.com has an easy-to-read size and gauge chart on their website.

Here is some helpful information regarding the different types of body jewelry, their uses and how they are measured:

- Straight Barbells

The length refers to the shaft only, not including the balls. Tongue piercings are generally done with a 3/4 inch barbell, which can later be changed to a 5/8 inch barbell after the swelling has gone down and the piercing has fully healed.

- Curved Barbells

Used with navel and eyebrow piercings, curved barbells are measured by drawing an imaginary straight line between the two end balls at the closest point.

Navel piercings are generally done with a 7/16 inch curved barbell. After the piercing has healed, you may go to a 3/8 inch curved barbell.

- Captive Bead Rings

Captive bead rings are measured in diameter, which is the distance across the ring from inside to inside.

- Labret Jewelry

Labret Jewelry is measured a little differently than the other types of piercing jewelry, as there is a disk on one end of the shaft and a ball or spike on the other end. The length is the distance between the inside portion of the disk to the inside ball or spike.

The initial labret (or monroe) piercing will done with a 3/8 inch, but then can be changed to a shorter 5/16 inch after the piercing has completely healed.

Sources: www.tonguestud.com, www.tribelectic.com

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