All body jewelry items need to be properly sized for the perfect fit, since placement, needle gauge, size and shape of facial features, and general preferences all deviate from person to person. So here are the basic sizing measurements that you’ll want to know for the different types of body jewelry:
Barbells
Both curved and straight barbells will have a length measurement, and a gauge measurement. Gauge is the thickness of the part that goes through the piercing, and as the number gets smaller in this case, the size gets larger.
Length for these items will be the measurement of barbell length in between the two tips of the piece. For best results, this needs to be measured while both decorative tips are on and securely fastened.
Barbell items include those that are used for tongue rings, surface piercings, belly rings, eyebrow rings, industrials, and some other ear piercings.
Post Jewelry
Post jewelry (or “studs”) will also have both length and gauge measurements, and will be measured in the same way, by the distance between the respective ends.
This type of jewelry is used for tragus piercings, helix piercings, and other ear piercings, as well as for labrets and monroes.
Circular Body Jewelry
Circular items, like ball captive rings, segment rings, nose hoops, and horseshoe rings, will have a gauge size measurement, but in this category instead of length, you’ll want to know diameter. Diameter is measured as the distance across the widest part of the item from inside edge to inside edge.
Diameter measurements may also be pertinent for items that contain rings anywhere in the general design, like the open portion of shield style nipple piercing jewelry.
Plugs
When it comes to plugs, the main measurement will be the gauge size. For this type of jewelry, gauges can be confusing, because they start as normal numbers, but change to inch and millimeter measurements after hitting 00.
There are several styles of plugs (straight, single flare, double flare, tunnels…) but to get an accurate size measurement, you’ll want to measure the portion of the item that will actually be in the stretched piercing. For example: single flare plugs will be measured at the thinner end, and double flare plugs will be measured at the thinner portion in the middle.
