Ella Reid 31 March 2023
Body jewellery is measured by a number of ways, one of which is the gauge of the jewellery. The gauge refers to the thickness of the body jewellery. The higher the gauge, the thinner the body jewellery, and the smaller that gauge number, the thicker the body jewellery. Piercing jewellery can range in size from 22 gauge – 00 gauge. Here at Essential Beauty most of our gauges of our body jewellery is between 14 gauge and 20 gauge. See our visual guide here, and keep reading as we break this down further:
20 gauge:
20 gauge is our “thinnest” option for body jewellery, at only 0.8mm.
As a general rule, 20-gauge jewellery is best suitable for lobe and nose piercings. If this gauge is used in other piercing locations
18 gauge:
18 gauge is one of our standard gauges for piercings typically on the ear. 18 gauge is 1.0mm and is most suitable for the nose, helix, forward helix, lobe, tragus and conch.
16 gauge:
16 gauge jewellery is our most commonly used gauges, being slightly thicker than both 20 & 18 gauge at 1.2mm. 16 gauge jewellery is best used for the helix, forward helix, conch, tragus, anti-tragus, rook, daith, lip, vertical labret, septum & eyebrow.
14 gauge:
Finally, 14 gauge is our “thickest” gauge we offer in body jewellery at Essential Beauty. 14 gauge jewellery is 1.6mm thick and is typically suitable for body piercing areas. For nipple, tongue, and belly piercings we recommend 14 gauge. We also recommend this gauge to be used for the industrial piercing location on the ear.
The gauge of your piercing isn’t just for aesthetic purposes, it is also extremely important for the health and wellbeing of your piercing. When you get pierced, you are pierced at a certain gauge. The jewellery you choose for your body piercing needs to be the same gauge if you want to avoid the possibility of the piercing location rejecting your jewellery. If you’re not sure what is the right gauge for you and your piercing, ask our Piercing Experts in salon to help you out!
If you’re looking for new jewellery, there is no better place to start looking than Essential Beauty Shop. We have a fantastic range of jewellery for the ear, nose, face, and body. Some of our most popular styles include hinged rings, labrets, belly jewellery and barbells. Check them out now to achieve your own unique style!
If you have bought a new piece of jewellery, we would love to see it! Share with us any images you take via social media. You can find us on Instagram via @essentialbeautyau, on Facebook at Essential Beauty Australia and on TikTok at @essential_beauty. We can’t wait to see!
If you have any questions about how we measure other types of body jewellery, check out our full guide here.