A Guide to Belly Rings - Buying for yourself or others

Sure they look cool but when your see a store filled with

hundreds of styles and designs, how do you know which one is right for

you or for the friend or family member that has belly rings as the only

item on their wish list?



What are the basics?



#1 - Material. Belly rings should be 316L surgical

steel. Stainless steel belongs in your kitchen, not in your

body. Titanium is also great however be careful with the

annonized types. These days you will often see sterling silver

belly rings being sold. Nothing wrong with that, as long as it is

design piece and not the insertion bar that is sterling. Another

material that is being seen more often today is PTFE and

Bioplast. These are synthetic materials that are non allergenic

and especially useful for pregnant women who wish to keep their

piercing thru thier pregnancy. I think the scariest piercing

pic I have ever seen was a very preganant woman whose body had

"absorbed" her belly ring. The outline of the ring could

clearly be seen under her skin.



#2 - Size. The standard production size for "fashion" belly rings is 14 gauge. A 14 gauge belly ring has a diameter of

1.64 mm or .064 inches. Some wearers occasionally stretch them

but to do so is to know that you are sacrificing most "fashion" looks

as I have not encountered a single manufacturer that produces them in

any size other than 14 gauge.



#3 - Length. The standard

length belly bar is 5/8. The great thing is that with most bars

this can easily be switched out. If you have fallen for a bar

with a 5/8" bar but require a longer or shorter one, simply ask your

seller if the bar is "double threaded". Basically this

means that both sides of the insertion bar are threaded and that the

existing one can simply be unscrewed from the design piece and replaced

with a different length bar (or a different matieral if you prefer the

PTFE or Bioplast bars). Although double threaded bars are more

common, be sure to check and make sure as some manufacturers solder the

design piece to the insertion bar (nothing wrong with that - it insures

against the design piece becoming unscrewed during long term wear and

being lost).



#4 - Style. there are a number of different styles of belly rings - here is a quick guide to each.





CBR or BCR

- depending on whether you seller is from the US or UK this simply ring

with a captured ball may be called by different names. The US

version is the CBR (captured ball ring) the UK version is the BCR (ball

captured ring). This used to be the most commonly used beginner

piece. Although banana bars have now become more popular, the

some of the design addions to the ball have kept the CBR popular

Spiral -

Plain and simple and most frequently seen in titanium these days, the

spirals are not seen as frequently these days but are still a good

holder bar when you want something clean and simple but not quite plain.

Standard Curved - a Standard

curved belly bar can be anything from a plain banana bar to a jeweled

bar to a much fancier bar. The onydefining factor is

that the design piece is on the bottom of the bar and does not

dangle or swing.

Standard Dangle - just like what it sounds like. It is a standard banana bar with a design that hangs or dangles from the base.

Reverse Curved - a Reverse

curved bar is a banana bar with the design at the top of the bar rather

than the bottom. These are especialy popular with people whose

piercing is at the top of the belly button rather than the bottom

but also with bottom pierced persons that want to "hide" their belly

button.

Reverse Dangle

- same as a standard reverse but the dangle design hangs from the top

rather than the bottom. The other advantage of these bars is that

they cover the not so interesting botton ball.

Reverse Hinged

- These are not as frequently seen but are beginning to increase in

popularity as more are seen. They are generally a "shield" type

design which hides all of the hardware and the belly buttom itself but

thanks to the hinge at the top of the insertion bar on the back, helps

the wearer avoid the ackwardness of trying to screw the bottom ball on when

it sits between the bar and your body. Simply flip the design

piece up, insert and close the bar and then flip the design piece

down.



Interchangable

- Interchangable deisgns are purhaps the most fun and "fashion

versitile". An interchangable design is not actually connected to a

belly ring. It is a shield type design with an insertion slot

wihich allows you to wear it with any standard jeweled banana

bar. The popularity of these lies with the fact that you can change the color anytime you want simply by changing to a

different color jewelled banana bar. It can be pink one

day, blue the next. You are limited only by your imagination and

on hand selection of jewel colors.



Hopefully you now know something about your belly ring choices

that you did not know before. the most important thing to remeber

though is that you should only buy from knowledgable sellers.



With the rapid increase in popularity of body piercing came with it

people with more dollar signs in their eyes than knowledge in their

brain. Don't be afraid to ask questions. If your selller is

not able to answer them, don't be afraid to pass that oh so adorable

belly ring up this time. Chances are that there is someone else

out there that not only knows their product, but also has something

just as cute, if not cuter.

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Orignal From: A Guide to Belly Rings - Buying for yourself or others