Size Guide - Piercing Jewelry
Find the right size for your piercing, placement by placement.
Which thickness (mm) should you choose?
Lobe
Helix
Conch
Tragus
Daith
Rook
Anti-helix
Flat
Industrial
Nose (nostril)
Septum
Labret / Medusa
Smiley
Navel
Nipple
Tongue
How to measure accurately
The most reliable method is still to measure a piece you already wear and that suits you. If you cannot measure it (a piece you are unable to remove, for example), ask your piercer for the exact size of the one they fitted.
- Bar (labret, barbell): measure the post only, from base to tip, without the ends screwed on at each side.
- Hoop: measure the inner diameter, from one inside edge to the other. Do not measure the outside of the circle, that is the most common mistake.
- Curved barbell: measure in a straight line from one end to the other, not along the curve.
Jewelry thickness
The piercing standard is 1.2 mm, roughly the thickness of a paper clip. It is the gauge of most ear and face piercings. Areas under more strain, such as the nipple, the navel or the tongue, use 1.6 mm, which suits their healing better. 1 mm gives a finer look on the nose, the tragus, the rook or the septum, and 0.8 mm is reserved for fully healed piercings.
The most common mistakes
Forgetting the downsize. The bar fitted at the piercing appointment is longer than the final jewelry. Once the swelling has gone down, it has to be replaced with a shorter bar. At Obsidian, we take care of this at the systematic check-up, 2 months after the piercing in our studios in France. A bar that is too long catches, moves around and irritates the channel.
Underestimating how much swelling varies. The bar fitted at the piercing appointment is deliberately a little longer, to allow for the swelling of the early days, without being too long: an over-long bar catches and ends up irritating the piercing as well. Everyone reacts differently. More pronounced swelling, because you slept on that ear for example, can make the bar feel too short for a while. That is normal, it has nothing to do with the quality of the piercing, and your piercer will adjust the length if the discomfort settles in.
Switching to a hoop too soon. We recommend waiting 6 months before moving to a hoop, to limit the risk to healing. Cartilage that has not finished healing takes the change badly. Ask your piercer what they think of the state of your piercing. The lobe and the septum, for their part, take a hoop earlier.
Relying on the standards alone. The thickness of your cartilage, the curve of your ear, the depth of your conch: every anatomy is different. These recommendations are professional reference points, not universal certainties.
Healing: how long it takes, area by area
| Area | Estimated time |
|---|---|
| Lobe | 2 to 4 months |
| Helix, tragus, conch, anti-helix | 6 to 12 months |
| Rook, daith | 6 to 12 months |
| Nose (nostril) | 3 to 6 months |
| Septum | 3 to 6 months |
| Labret, medusa | 3 to 4 months |
| Navel, nipple | 6 to 12 months |
A piercing can look healed on the surface long before it is healed deeper down. Stick to these timings before considering a change of jewelry.
Materials: as decisive as size
On a pierced area, the material stays in permanent contact with your skin: the wrong piece can irritate it, slow the healing down or trigger a reaction.
ASTM F-136 titanium is our reference material, and the one we recommend for a first piercing. Biocompatible and nickel-free, it is the grade of titanium used for medical devices: the skin tolerates it well, even on a fresh piercing.
Solid 14k and 18k gold is biocompatible too and remains a lovely option on a fully healed piercing. Titanium is still the safest choice during the early stages, however.
So-called “surgical” steel, like most common materials, is not biocompatible: we do not recommend it for piercings.
Every piece we offer, we fit it and pierce with it ourselves, every day, in our studios in France. That is the most honest guarantee we can give you.