Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Body Piercing Guide

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Body Piercing Guide<br /><br />We are going to kick off this series of articles covering the basics, and of course, the basics include terminology. No this is not just plain boring terminology; however, it is important to understand the terminology to understand the other articles in this series that will rely heavily on the terminology that this article will cover. Please keep in mind before ever considering getting a piercing that you find a good reputable piercer who you feel completely comfortable with. Remember that eventually your life will rest in this persons hands. If they are careless with their practices, you could end up with either a major infection, or else Hepatitis if the studio does not properly maintain their equipment, and only use needles once. Never, ever use a studio that reuses needles, no matter how well they claim to sterilize the needles. Insist on only single use needles for any piercing that are done to your body.<br /><br />While we review some of the important terminology, please remember these are the technical terms for the process, and placements. Please also note, you should never determine for positive fact the position of any piercing you want without speaking over the final placement choice with your piercer. Individuals and their bodies can effect the proper placement of a successful piercing. Also, please note: the human body is not meant to be used as a pincushion as some people are attempting. Some piercing will migrate out of place, no matter how good and experienced the piercer is, and no matter how well you take care of the piercing. Some people experience this normal body reaction with piercing.<br /><br />We are going to start with the types of jewelry and work from there, this is something very important since the proper jewelry can determine whether a piercing is successful or whether is becomes so badly infected that it must be removed.<br /><br />Acrylic, this is a plastic material that is derived from acrylic acid, commonly known by the name Perspex. This is what many types of jewelry are made from, however no initial piercing should ever; use any type of acrylic jewelry, as it is not able to be cleaned properly for a new piercing to heal successfully.<br /><br />Alloy, this is a mixture of various metals, usually has different qualities from the metals it contains. Any form of gold other than pure gold would be classified as an alloy. Any gold that is 14 carat or higher makes an excellent choice for an initial piercing.<br /><br />Copper, a reddish colored material, often used as a component of gold alloys. This alone should not be used for a piercing at all, many people are unable to use plain copper, however used as an alloy with gold most people have no problems at all.<br /><br />Crystal, this is a highly transparent and brilliant type of glass used as a replacement for more expensive gemstones in jewelry. This is not under any circumstances recommended for any piercing that is not fully healed.<br /><br />Gold, this is a heavy bright yellow metal that is often used in jewelry. Pure or fine gold is very soft and weak, so for jewelry it is mixed with other metals such as silver, copper, nickel, and palladium. Another spin off of gold jewelry is gold plated, this is not recommended for initial piercing, however for healed piercing will do just fine at a much lower cost, however the piece will not last as long before breaking or becoming damaged compared to a solid gold piece.<br /><br />Karat, this is the measurement used to describe how much gold is in a piece of jewelry. For example 9 karat gold has nine parts gold to 15 parts of other metals. While 14 karat gold has 14 parts, gold to 10 parts other metals. Final example is 18 karat gold, which has 18 parts gold to six parts other metals.<br /><br />Nickel, this is silvery white metal that is used to strengthen and prevent corrosion. This alone is not typically used in jewelry; however, it is a component of surgical stainless steel, which is a very popular jewelry choice both for new and established piercing.<br /><br />Niobium, this is a white superconductive metal that is chemically inert and thus suitable for piercing. This is a rare metal to find jewelry in, and makes the jewelry a bit more expensive.<br /><br />PTFE, this is a plastic with a waxy texture made by polymerizing terafluoroethylene. It is non flammable, inert, and extremely smooth. This can be used in new or established piercing; typically, this is a lightweight material and makes it ideal for almost any piercing placement.<br /><br />Silver, a brilliant grey white metal. This is used extensively in jewelry both on its own, and mixed as an alloy with gold. This is also suitable for new and established piercing.<br /><br />Stainless Steel, stainless steels are alloys of iron with other metals, containing other elements such as sulphur, and carbon, sharing the common properties of not rusting and being able to be polished. Most contain nickel and in contact with the skin will release significant quantities of nickel. This will then cause an allergic response.<br /><br />Surgical Stainless Steel, the term surgical stainless steel, refers to stainless steel that releases very little nickel into the body; this reduces the amount of allergic responses. ASTM 316LBMF138 97 Grade Implantation Steel is the only acceptable form to use in new piercing and is designed to comply with the European Nickel Directive.<br /><br />Titanium, this is a very strong corrosion resistant white metal that is very lightweight. This is awesome for tongues, and other piercing where you do not want a large amount of weight. This is the primary material that I personally prefer for my tongue piercing and will rarely wear anything else.<br /><br />White Gold, An alloy of find gold, fine copper and either palladium or nickel. White gold made with nickel is cheaper, commoner, and will cause more problems with people allergic to nickel.<br /><br />Yellow Gold, this is the normal standard gold that most people are used to seeing. This is an alloy of fine gold, fine copper and silver. More silver is used then copper, making the color yellow instead of pink or a rose color.<br /><br />Now that we have established the types of material for jewelry, we will briefly go over the types of jewelry.<br /><br />Barbell, this is an item of jewelry consisting of a rod the bar, which penetrates the piercing and ends the bells, which holds the bar in the piercing. This is common and standard in tongue, navel, and eyebrow amongst many other piercing.<br /><br />Barbell Length, this distance between the internal aspects of the ends. In a curved barbell, it is the shortest distance between the balls at the ends.<br /><br />Captured Bead Ring, a ring made up of a bent rod clasping a dimpled bead that completes the circle. Special ring opening pliers are required to open up the ring and release the bead.<br /><br />Circular Barbell, A barbell bent into a circular shape, typically has a gap between the ends just less than a quarter of the circle described by the barbell. This type of jewelry is used in septum, nipple, Prince Albert and many other piercing.<br /><br />Curved Barbell, A barbell in which the barbell is curved, commonly used in eyebrow, nipple, and numerous genital piercing. Also called a bent barbell.<br /><br />Finally, a brief description of the different thread types for jewelry before we wrap up this installment of the body piercing series.<br /><br />External threading, threading on jewelry that is exposed on the outside of jewelry, external threading damages by cutting or scrapping cells from the inside of a piercing, this is particularly a problem in new and unhealed piercing. Most barbells are externally threaded. If the threads are on the barbell itself then it is externally threaded.<br /><br />Internal threading, threading on jewelry that is concealed, internal threading avoids damages when changing or inserting jewelry, if the threads are on the balls, and not the barbell then the jewelry is internal threaded. This is most common on large gauge jewelry.<br /><br />This concludes the beginnings of this series on body piercing; we have covered in this segment, the types of jewelry, the materials of jewelry as well as the threading types. Please once again remember how important selecting the correct piercer is to the success of your piercing. Your piercer will determine how happy you are with the end result, make sure you are comfortable before letting them use the needle on your body.