Jewelery Gauges

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Friday January 11th, 2008 @ 9:45 PM

Filed under: Lip/Cheek

Alrighty. I have a healed labret piercing(14ga) and a healed Monroe piercing(16ga). I recently moved out of the province so I had to find a new place to buy jewelery. When I did I bought two studs, one supposed to be a 14ga and the other supposed to be a 16ga. I came home, cleaned them and went to put them in when I discovered that both of them were the wrong size! The stud that was supposed to be a 16ga was slightly larger than the one I had in. That wasn’t a huge problem so I put it in and the piercing was a little sore and red for about a day. But the other one that was supposed to be a 14ga was the same size! Way smaller than the one I had in my labret before! So, both of them were bigger than a 16ga, but smaller than a 14ga. What’s up with that? Is there such thing as a 15ga?

In essence, yes there IS a 15ga, but most jewelry suppliers never make the in between gauge size. This is often a result of inconsistent polishing techniques, either they mass tumble polish or even if it’s polished by hand, they can either over polish or under polish the jewelry. Thus giving the jewelry a inconsistent size, which ethically the jewelry suppliers should be checking to ensure its the proper gauge and length before sending them out to the wholesale buyers.

This is why I personally prefer dealing with only the best (highest quality) jewelry manufacturers nowadays, as they guarantee the correct gauge, length, diameter,etc that is ordered.

Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | Leave a comment | Trackback