How you measure organic body jewelry depends on the style of jewelry you’re measuring. The sections below cover how to measure the size of plugs and tunnels in different shapes, as well as organic body jewelry in other shapes like spirals, talons, hooks, pinchers, and so on. If you’re interested in purchasing organic body jewerly after determining the best size for you, visit our Organic Jewelry section.
Round Plugs and Tunnels
Gauge: To determine the gauge, measure the diameter of the plugs or tunnels at the middle of the wearing surface.
Wearable Area: Here’s where you should measure the wearing surface of plugs that fit you well to find out your ideal wearable area:
- Double Flared Plugs – Measure from flare tip to flare tip.
- Single Flared Plugs – Measure from O-ring to flare tip.
- Straight Plugs – Measure from O-ring to O-ring.
Tear Drop Plugs & Oval Plugs & Tunnels
To get a quick idea of what gauge teardrops and ovals are, measure them top to bottom and then side to side. Add these measurements together and divide by 2 to find your gauge (i.e. Height + Width/2 = Gauge). This method is quick and easy, though it may be a millimeter or so off as it does not take into account the different shaped curves of tear drop and oval plugs and tunnels.
To measure teardrop plugs and oval plugs more accurately, you must measure the circumference of the wearable area. As an example, take a 3/4″ teardrop plug [19mm] and a piece of string, and run the string around the actual wearing area by holding one end of the string and looping it around the entire wearing area. Mark off with a pen where the string comes back around and meets the end. Now measure the string’s length on a ruler, and you have the circumference–a 3/4″ [19mm] plug is 60mm in circumference, for example.
Here is an easy-to-use Circumference Calculator you can use to check the size of any teardrop, oval, triangle, round, or other odd-shaped plug by entering the circumference measured the way we’ve outlined above.
Spirals, Talons, Hooks, U-bolts, Tapers, Pinchers, Twists, Etc.
Gauge: Measure at the largest/thickest part of any organic body jewelry in these shapes. The largest diameter is always where the jewelry is worn in the ear, septum, etc., so that’s the area you should measure if you have a piece organic jewelry that fits you well and want to know the measurement so you can purchase other organic jewelry in the same size.
If you’re looking to purchase organic body jewelry for the first time, find jewelry in the size you normally wear. When you put it in, the thickest part of the jewelry should sit inside your piercing.
