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How to measure Body Jewelry

Knowing how to measure body jewelry is essential for anyone in the industry. Since it is such a fundamental skill, any person involved in body jewelry will know how to identify the size of any piece of body jewelry without problems. However, a lot of body jewelry professionals struggle with giving an easy-to-understand explanation to their customers about the sizes. For this reason, we at Piercing China have made a complete guide on measuring body jewelry and identifying the dimensions of all the standard body jewelry types. This should enable any body jewelry enthusiast to determine the correct size of their current piercing to purchase their new jewelry with the correct size from your shop.

Measuring the thickness or gauge of body jewelry

Since modern threaded body jewelry originated in the US, the standard thickness measurements of body jewelry are based on the American wire gauge scale. 1.6mm and 1.2mm, 14g and 16g are considered the standard gauges for size for most body jewelry. Below is a small table with the most commonly used sizes and their applications. 20 gauge is widely considered as the standard size for nose rings. Of course, each specific piercing has its size requirements, and also different lengths may be required by different persons since all humans are anatomically different from each other.

Gauge Size in mm Standard Application
22g 0.6mm Silver and gold nose rings, nose hoops, and nose studs. Smallest gauge or size used for body jewelry
20g 0.8mm 20 gauge is a standard size for ear studs in silver and stainless Steel. Smallest size for threaded body jewelry
18g 1mm 18 gauge is a non standard size for eyebrow piercing, lip piercings, tragus, and helix piercings
16g 1.2mm Eyebrow piercing septum piercings, tragus, and helix piercings, standard size for fake plugs
14g 1.6m Belly button piercings, nipple piercings, septum piercings, and helix piercings for industrials
12g 2mm Larger than 2mm is referred to as big gauges and is used for stretched piercings.

For the gauge size scale, the smaller numbers of the American wire gauge correlate with the larger sizes, this can be very confusing for customers used to the metric system.
Professionals will generally use calipers to identify precisely the dimension of a piece of body jewelry. Digital calipers are the best choice for quickly identifying the size of a piece of piercing jewelry. A cheap digital caliper costing around 10$- 15 USD is sufficient for measuring body jewelry as a consumer. And you can carry it easily around with you when shopping for new jewelry as well. If you are a piercing professional, you should be looking for better-quality ones. A good price range would be around 30 – 45 USD.
When using a digital caliper, you only have to make sure to zero the caliper before using it. For this, first, close the caliper completely and then press the button with the zero label. To verify that you have done this correctly, open the caliper once to halve its maximum opening size and then close it completely again. If it now displays 0, then this caliper has been zeroed correctly. When you measure the post of the body jewelry, you must place it between the tips of the caliper same as the red dot in the picture to the right.
If you want to know the thickness of some jewelry at your home quickly, you might also try the trick people in the body jewelry industry use, which is to use a reference barbell post of 16g (1.2mm). The way this work is that human fingertips are very sensitive, and we are able to feel the difference between 16g (1.2mm) and 14g (1.6mm) on one side and 16g (1.2mm) and anything smaller than 16g (1.2mm) on the other side. For this, simply put the reference barbell post together with a post of unknown size between your thumb and index finger. And after that, you will see if the reference post is the same size, smaller or larger than the jewelry post you are testing. Note this will not work in a reliable way to differentiate sizes of 18g (1mm) or below and is best used only as a quick reference for personal use.

How to measure body jewelry thickness or gauge with a caliper

Measuring the ball sizes of body jewelry

The digital caliper is the best choice for measuring body jewelry's ball size. However, since balls are inherently round, it can be tricky to precisely position their widest part between the tip of the caliper's jaws. Even any machinist would be shocked, but for an inexperienced user, it's easier to place the ball you want to measure in the back of the jaws, like the red dot in the picture to the right. Here the jaws do not have a knife edge but a flat surface that will support the ball perfectly.

Measuring ball size of body jewelry

Measuring the length of body jewelry

This depends on what type of body piercing jewelry we want to measure since every kind of jewelry is measured in a slightly different way according to their shapes. And to make it even more confusing, silver and steel jewelry are often measured differently. We will try to make it as easy as possible for you so that you will be able to gauge the length of your body piercings from now on with confidence, ensuring a perfect fit into your piercing. One thing to note is that new piercings will need jewelry with a slightly larger length to accommodate for the swelling during the healing process.

Measuring the length of body jewelry

Measuring Eyebrow Bananas or also called Micro barbells

For the standard eyebrow banana or micro curved barbell, the thickness is measured in the center of the banana post. The standard thickness for all eyebrow bananas is 1.2mm 16 gauge. Ball size should be measured from side to side of the ball perpendicular to the threaded hole. Do not unscrew the ball and measure with one jaw of the caliper on the threaded hole since the ball is flattened around the hole, which can distort your measurement.
The length of the eyebrow banana is the most important measurement since items sold under the same reference code by the manufacturers will typically have the same gauge or thickness and ball sizes but vary in length and colors in the case of anodized items. To measure the length, use the small jaws of the caliper. Then hold the banana with one hand and open the caliper slowly until the caliper's jaws precisely measure the length of the post in one direct line from one ball to the other. The caliper jaws should roughly touch the banana where the red dots are marked in the picture below.

Measuring Eyebrow Bananas or also called Micro barbells

Measuring belly bananas, also called belly rings or Belly Button Bananas

For belly bananas, also called belly rings or belly button bananas, the thickness or gauge is measured the same way as for eyebrow bananas or micro curved barbells. So you should measure in the center of the post. The standard thickness or gauge for belly bananas is 1.6mm or 14g. The ball size for belly bananas differs for the top and the lower ball. Typical size combinations are a 5mm top ball with an 8mm lower ball or a 5mm top ball with a 6mm lower ball. The length of belly bananas is measured in the same way as eyebrow bananas. This means along a straight line between the two extremities of the visible post. Depending on the shape of the jaws of the caliper you are using, you might encounter that they interfere with the balls. In this case, it can be helpful to place the belly banana on a flat piece of paper and use a sharp pencil to mark the position of the measurement on the paper. After that, you can easily remove the piece of body jewelry and measure it with an ordinary ruler.

Measuring belly bananas, also called belly rings or Belly Button Bananas

Measuring Ball Closure rings also called captive bead rings

For ball closure rings, also called BCRs, the thickness should be measured on the ring opposite the ball. Even in the body jewelry industry, people refer to the length of ball closure rings in the options on a website or when ordering via phone. What is actually meant here is the internal diameter of the ring. To measure this, the small caliper jaw should be positioned so that you measure along the lines of the picture on the right, which are marked with length. The diameter of a ball closure ring should also always be measured with the ball in place since when the ring is not holding the ball, the inner diameter will decrease by up to 5% of its normal size.

Measuring Ball Closure rings also called captive bead rings.

Measuring Circular Barbells, also called Horseshoes

For circular barbells, sometimes called horseshoes, the thickness or gauge should be measured at the top, with one of the caliper jaws going through the item and the other jaw coming over the top. To measure the size or length of a circular barbell, you should measure its inner diameter using the caliper's small jaws. The position for this measurement is illustrated in the picture to the right. Pay attention to measure precisely in the horizontal axis across the item since if you measured diagonally, you would get the wrong dimension because circular barbells are not perfectly round.

Measuring Circular Barbells, also called Horseshoes

Measuring Straight Barbells

The correct way of measuring all types of straight barbells is to measure the gauge or thickness at the center of the barbell post. The length is then measured along the post between the two balls. If you have a barbell post without balls, you can also get an idea of the length of the complete item once assembled. The method for this is by simply taking the distance between the two threaded parts of the post. Usually, the measured distance, however, will be about 1mm or 1/16" greater than the assembled barbell's length. The reason for this is that quality body jewelry balls and attachments are normally slightly countersunk to ensure that no part of the threading is in contact with the body perforation. For the balls of a straight barbell, you should always measure their size perpendicular to the threaded hole to get an accurate reading on your caliper.

Measuring Straight Barbells

Measuring Labrets

Labrets have five dimensions that define their characteristic:

  • Thickness or gauge of the post: This should be measured at the center of the post.
  • Ball Size: Measured like all other body jewelry, in the center of the ball perpendicular to the post.
  • Length: Length is measured as the distance along the post between the ball and the base plate.
  • Disk Diameter: Disk diameter is an important dimension; however, when labrets are being sold retail online, this is not often disclosed and also not standardized between different manufacturers.
    The most common size is between 4 - 5mm in diameter.
  • Disk Thickness: The disk's thickness is crucial for the final labret's quality. If the disk is too thin, then the edge of it will be quite uncomfortable if worn as a lip labret.
    The optimum labret disk thickness is between 0.75mm and 1mm for lip labrets application and 0.5mm when used as a helix or tragus labrets.

o At Piercing China, all our labrets, unless mentioned otherwise, have a disk diameter of 4mm and a disk thickness of 0.8mm

Measuring Labrets

Measuring Spirals or twister barbells

When measuring spirals or twister barbells, the thickness or gauge can be measured all along the spiral post. The term length refers to the inner diameter of the spiral and not the diagonal distance between the two sides of the spiral, which are at different heights relative to each other. In the picture to the right, the red line shows the incorrect length measurement of a spiral. So to measure the length or inner diameter of a spiral, open the inner (small jaws of the caliper) to approximately 6mm or 1/4". After that, put the spiral over the two jaws. Then hold the spiral so it's facing at a 90-degree angle to the caliper. Slowly open the caliper until both jaws make contact with the spiral, but without the spiral, shift its position due to the force of the jaws being opened.

Measuring Spirals or twister barbells

Measuring Segment rings

Segment rings are probably the easiest body jewelry type to measure. You can measure the thickness or gauge almost anywhere around the ring's circumference. The only spot you shouldn't be taking the thickness measurement is the spot where the hinge is located. This is because, at this location, you could encounter some slight deviation from the standard size. As for the length or inner diameter, you should measure the ring's inside diameter, leaving an equal distance on both sides of the ring to the opening.

Measuring Segment rings

Measuring Fake Plugs

The common standard for fake plugs is that the surgical steel post connecting the two disks has a thickness of 1.2mm or 16g. You can easily verify this with a caliper by measuring the gauge of the surgical steel post. The length refers to the wearable area or length of the fake plug. This wearable length is typically identical for all sizes. The standard size of the wearable area is 6mm. However, since the post of any fake plug is just a standard 1.2mm 16g surgical steel post, any professional piercer should offer to change this to 7 or 8mm if the anatomy of the earlobe of a customer requires this.
The size of a fake plug refers to the diameter of the two disks of the fake plug. In most cases, these are referred to in the metric sizes of 3,4,5,6,8,10,12mm. If the fake plug has O-rings, the size should be measured without the O-rings to get an accurate measurement.

Measuring Fake Plugs

Measuring Flesh Tunnels and Plugs

Flesh tunnel ear gauges and plugs are usually sold under one code by design, and customers can choose the size. This size refers to the size of the hole of the stretched ear lobe in which the flesh tunnel will fit. This means that to know the size of any flesh tunnel, you should measure the outer diameter of the center part of the item. The other important dimension of a flesh tunnel is the wearable area. This is the width of the earlobe through which the flesh tunnel will fit. To measure this on a flesh tunnel, measure the distance between the two elevated flares on both sides. The inner diameter of the hole, as well as the total length of the flesh tunnel, are two dimensions that are important for its aesthetical appearance but do not define its suitability for a specific customer.

Measuring Flesh Tunnels and Plugs

Measuring Tapers and Spiral ear expanders

Straight taper size or gauge should be measured roughly 5 – 10mm or 5/16" from the blunt big end to ensure the correct gauge measurement.
When measuring organic hand-made tapers or spirals, there usually is some slight difference depending on the position of the taper in the caliper jaws. To get the most accurate measurement, wrap the taper's jaws with one layer of electrical tape to prevent scratching the piece of jewelry in the next step. Then place the taper in the jaws of the caliper and slowly turn the taper 180 degrees to measure the thickness at a different spot around the circumference. Small size variations are a hallmark of high-quality organic body jewelry.
When measuring spiral tapers, you should always measure at the thickest part of the spiral, as marked in the picture. Once you have measured there, turn the item 90 degrees and measure again at the same spot. After that, you can easily calculate the average thickness between the two using a calculator.

Measuring Tapers and Spiral ear expanders.

Measuring Dermal Anchor Tops and Base Plates

Here you have a drawing of the different dimensions for a dermal anchor base plate. These should only be implanted by professional piercers with experience. Accordingly, the consumer only should need to know two sizes. This is the threading size, which is usually a 1.2mm 16g internal thread, and the size of the top part. For dermal anchor top parts, the threaded top parts from one supplier might not be fully compatible with the base plates threading of another supplier. For this reason, end customers should always try to buy the top part for their surface piercing at the piercing studio where the dermal anchor implantation was made.

Measuring Dermal Anchor Tops and Base Plates.