Though much of the focus in piercing is on where and how to place the hole, a vital factor for uneventful healing is having the right foreign object in your wound--the jewelry.
The more you know about body jewelry, the better your chances of getting a quality piece that will be safe for healing.
From functional to flashy, the choices for body jewelry seem almost infinite. Only certain styles and types, however, are suitable for healing. Without knowing what to look for, you can easily be seduced into getting jewelry that is inappropriate(or even harmful) to a fresh piercing.
Every element of the jewelry --its size, design,material, and quality--affect your chances of having a healthy piercing.
The Basic Body Jewelry Shapes
There are two basic shapes of body jewelry: the ring(a hoop) and the barbell(a post with a ball or other closure on each end).
Ring-Style Body Jewelry
1. Captive Bead Ring
A popular style of basic jewelry is the captive bead ring(CBR), also called a captive, captive ring, or ball closure ring(BCR). This metal hoop uses tension to hold a captive ball or captive piece(a removable bead or ornament) in a gap between its end. This piece is drilled with dents or holes into which the ends of the ring are seated.
The captive piece can be made of the same material as the ring or from a contrasting one. There are thousands of different beads and other captive pieces available in a range of colors, shapes, and designs.
A well-made CBR has s smooth circular shape and ends that are convex to ease insertion and hold the bead firmly. The tips should look even and finished-not like someone filed them in a garage with a handheld rasp.
The captive ring opens by forcing the hoop to widen slightly, which releases the tension on the bead,allowing it to come free. It closes by snapping the bead in between the tips, engaging the spring tension of the ring. For this jewelry to be closed securely. The gap between the ends of the ring must be slightly narrower than the captive piece it holds.
The CBR is a simple design that has several advantages: it is extremely versatile, secure when properly fastened, and easy to manufacture.
One disadvantage is that it is possible for the ball to fall out and become lost. The ring can follow, and your piercing can shrink--or even close. This type of ring can also be awkward for the uninitiated to handle and may take strength and dexterity to operate, depending on the gauge, diameter and quality. The CBR is made in other shapes and forms(such as square, teardrop, triangle,D-ring and so on), but these are best for healed piercings.
Be used as helix earring, daith earring, conch earring, and septum ring.
2. Fixed Bead Ring
The fixed bead ring( or simply bead ring) and the captive ring are almost identical in appearance; but, as indicated by its name, the bead is permanently attached to one end.
The jewelry twists open and closed for insertion and removal. On a quality piece, the bead is drilled so that the open end of the ring fits into it securely. When both ring and bead are the same material, you may not be able to tell the two styles apart without attempting to spin the bead. If it moves, it is a captive bead ring.
Fixed bead ring lack versatility, but one advantage of wearing them is that you can’t possibly lose the bead. This is one reason they are popular in gold, which is pricey. This style is mostly made in thinner gauges that are easier to manipulate for insertion and removal. Depending on its material, quality, and size, a fixed bead ring may require tools such as brass-jaw pliers for opening and closing. Another disadvantage is that bead rings are unsuited to frequent changes. The metal can become disfigured from overuse, and excessive opening and closing will cause brittleness and, ultimately, breakage.
After repeatedly bending a fixed bead ring, it can become harder to get it to stay securely shut. The open end of the ring may unfasten, pop out, and sit in front of(or behind) the bead. Also, you may see a small gap between the end of the ring and the bead even when it is closed. To redistribute the tension properly, open the ring slightly and carefully squeeze the ring together as if to make it smaller. Then, bend the ring as if to close it, but go further so that the open end passes over to the opposite side of the bead( if the end of the ring sits in front of the bead, bend it to the back, or vice versa). you should then be able to close it tightly.
Be used as helix earring, conch earring, daith earring, and septum ring.
3. Threaded Jewelry
Threaded jewelry that uses screw threads for their closures. These styles have male screw threads on one side. These fit into a female hole that is tapped(drilled out) with the matching thread pattern on the other.
The processes for creating these closures on high-quality barbells makes manufacturing them-and other threaded jewelry-costly and complex, especially when compared to captive rings. Threaded items tend to be either cheap junk or relatively expensive, well-made pieces.
An advantage to threaded jewelry is that the ends can be replaced with jewels, spikes, and other ornamental pieces. Some manufactures make jewelry with only one end that can be removed, but the sort with two interchangeable ends is far more versatile. Threaded ends can be switched safely, even while a piercing is healing.
A disadvantage of threaded jewelry is the possibility of an end unscrewing and the jewelry falling out. Wear quality products and regularly check the tightness of all threaded pieces to prevent this problem.
The threaded jewelry can be used as septum ring, helix earring.
4. Circular Barbell
This style functions the same way as a barbell-the end ( or ends) screw off and on, but it is manufactured in the shape of a ring. People may call it a “bull ring” or “horseshoe”.
The circular barbell is simple o insert and remove because no bending or tools are needed. And additional benefit is that the inside diameter can be adjusted by spreading or narrowing the gap between the balls. This is especially useful for areas in which a precise fit is required during healing. Your piercer can easily widen a circular barbell to form a C or U shape to conform better to your anatomy. A good circular barbell is costly when compared to fixed or captive bead rings, due to the expense of machining the threading.
The captive circular barbell is a useful style in which a captive bead is inserted to fill the gap between the two ends, forming a complete ring. This variations has three beads: two on the circular barbell, plus the captive in the center. The middle bead is secured by tension, the same way the bead is held in place on a captive ring. A bead of the right size that is inserted correctly will not fall out easily. This reduces the possibility that your circular barbell will catch on a partner’s jewelry or other object. It serves the added function of preventing the threaded ends of the circular barbell from unscrewing. However, it limits your ability to adjust the ring diameter, which becomes reliant upon the size of the captive bead.
Depending on your anatomy and the size of the jewelry, this style could get a little heavy for a fresh body piercing. If it becomes uncomfortable, simply remove the middle bead during healing.
Circular barbells cannot be manufactured in the thinnest gauges because of the threading. Other than the design featured described, no practical distinctions exist between these different rings. They may be worn interchangeably on all piercings that use ring style jewelry.
5. Segment Ring
This is a hoop style, which is divided into two parts, the original is the totally
separated parts, when you use it, you should connect the parts to the fixed half hoop through the two ends joint. This disadvantage is that the short part is easily lost, and can not work after a long time open and close using.
So the advanced hinged segment ring is coming, the click part is connected with the hoop and can be joint just through the click act, no matter you open or close, the short part is always connected with the hoop, not worry about lost. Also the click design, make it much easier for open and remove when wearing, very popular in current.
Also, the hinged segment ring take too much work and high technique to make sure the clicker part can have a long time using, must be tested open and close for hundreds of times.
Some variations are made on the base of the hinged segment hoop ring, be input with the CZ gems, the stone or diamonds to bring more charming to the body jewelry and are more beautiful.
Bar-Style Jewelry
This basic body jewelry style includes many straight and curved versions of a post with two ends.
1. Straight Barbell
The second most common body jewelry style is the barbell, along with its variations. The basic barbell is shaped like the classic dumbbell found in a gym: a straight bar post with two spherical ends.
Barbells are a good choice for piercings in areas where ring-style jewelry would be unwieldy. Uncomfortable, or unsafe. Straight barbells are suited to tongue piercing, nipple piercing, and a number of male genital piercings.
In order to fit properly, a barbell worn in a new piercing must be long enough to accommodate tissue changes such as swelling or development.
A bar that is too short can cause discomfort, swelling, embedding, and healing problems.
A post that is too long can catch and cause trauma, which also leads to trouble healing. Often a longer post is used at first and then downsized to fit more snugly once healing is complete.
The ball size of a barbell is also critical to its fit. The balls must be big enough to avoid becoming embedded but not so large as to be irritating or to cause the jewelry to be pushed away from the tissue.
2. Curved Barbell
The terms banana bell, L-bar, bent bar, curved barbell, and simply curve all refer to a barbell that is shaped to form approximately one-fourth of a circle. it should be a manufactured piece with a smooth, consistent curve.
This popular variation of the straight barbell is suited to areas like the belly button and eyebrow piercing, where a ring can be obtrusive, but a straight barbell doesn’t conform well.
3. Jeweled Navel Curve(JNC)
This bejeweled variation is designed for vertical piercings. A set crystal or gem is affixed to the bottom of the post; this allows the stone to face forward when the jewelry is in place. Only the top can be interchanged with a matching or contrasting stone, ball, or other threaded end.
The smaller gems are safe for wear in some fresh piercings, but the version with large gem is too hefty for healing.
Good quality is extremely important. If the stone falls out( a common problem with lower-end products), dirt and germs will lodge in the cavity left by the missing gem, increasing risk of infection. The entire piece of jewelry will need to be replaced.
4. Threadless Jewelry
The majority of bar-style jewelry is threaded, but an alternative type is the threadless”snap-together” barbell petented by NeoMetal.
This design has a special pin coupling on the removable end. The slightly bent pin straightens out when inserted into the hole in the barbell post. This produces a spring-tension force that holds the two pieces together.
Threadless jewelry is available in gauges smaller than most threaded jewelry, and it is well suited to facial piercings. The tiny sizes may be referred to as mini-barbells.
The threaded variety is superior for oral piercings, which undergo stressors such as eating and chewing gum. Other-wise, both closure styles are usually acceptable if they are quality products.
5. J-Curve
Also called a j-bar, this style looks very much like a jeweled navel curve when it is worn, and it is suited to the same areas. Generally both ends are threaded, so it it more versatile.
The J shape projects the lower end of the jewelry forward, allowing the ornament on the bottom to be more visible, which is especially useful for piercees with a deep navel.
6. Surface Bars
This modified barbell is designed for piercings on flat areas of the body.
It is shaped like an open staple, with a straight bar post between two short legs or uprights. Often the legs are at right angles to the bar, but for some areas, one or both may have a different angle. The bar post should rest at a uniform depth under the surface with the upright at 90-degree angles to the tissue.
This should reduce pressure, distortion, and irritation during healing. Bars used for Christina piercings have only one upright leg. Discs, gems, or other threaded pieces screw onto the ends of the bar.
An accurate fit is crucial; the jewelry must be the perfect length to encompass the tissue between the entry and exit of the piercing, and the barbell ends must not sink into the skin, nor should the legs protrude more than a millimeter beyond the surface.
There are also the dermal tops and anchors as the surface bars, there are two parts, one is the anchor base, which will be set below the skin, the other is the dermal tops, appear on the skin. Because the anchor is sink into the skin, so the material safety is very important, it is better the implanted Titanium which is no harm to skin and can help with wound healing. For decoration, the dermal tops are designed with jewelry input.
Other Shapes
Although captive rings, barbells, and their variations are appropriate for the majority of piercings, some areas of the body require jewelry that is designed or adapted for the anatomy.
One example is the nostril screw, a modified post style with a corkscrew tail that rests against the inside of the nostril.
Another style is the labret stud or flat-back barbell, which is popular for wear in orofacial piercings. This is a short barbell with a flat disc on one end to reduce contact with the teeth and gums.
