Why is it important to use high quality body jewellery?
High quality professional body jewellery isn’t the same as regular jewellery, in fact its composition, design and finish are very different. Body jewellery goes IN or THROUGH the body, this is similar to a dental or medical implant such as the two bolts I have in my toes!
Body jewellery MUST be well polished, specifically on the wearable area. By that, I mean the part that actually passes through the body or sits inside.
When you get a regular piercing a wound is created, the jewellery passes all the way through the wound and out the other side (obvious, I know). For the piercing to heal, skin cells need to work their way from both sides down through the hole (fistula) and line it with skin, a skin tunnel if you will. Once the fistula is completely lined, the piercing is considered healed. It’s worth remembering, that skin tunnel is much more fragile than normal skin, it’s easy to break the skin and damage it by forcing poorly made jewellery in it.
Now, let’s look at, say, a normal tragus piercing…
The process from being pierced to the fistula being fully formed and healed is likely to take between 9 months and a full year. Often, it may seem healed way before then but that’s unlikely; remember we heal from the outside in so you may look healed way before you actually are.
Everyone is of course different and you can’t really control how well your body heals wounds, apart from having a healthy lifestyle and so on. However, the biggest factor with piercings not healing is poor quality jewellery often mixed with poor aftercare, which encompasses negligence, out of date practices and touching it to name just a few.
Remember we talked about those little skin cells trying to line that hole? Well imagine you have a small cut or scratch – that healing process is super quick; your body takes just minutes to close the wound and maybe just a couple of weeks to be completely healed. The difference between a cut and a piercing is the insertion of jewellery and the deliberate act of preventing that wound from closing.
That pretty piece of jewellery during normal day to day movement is passing though the tissue and as it does so it’s rolling, knocking those little skin cells around. It’s also going to be moving dried bodily fluids and anything else from soap to make-up in and out that hole. This movement causes damage and this is why the old advice of turning your earrings is outdated. Sadly, some well-known high street shops still give this advice today, incorrectly.
Low quality body jewellery is incredibly dull and on a microscopic scale resembles a little nail file. It’s not hard to imagine it filing away at those little cells slowing the healing process dramatically and making the piercing inflamed, which in turn causes soreness and pain. It can double or triple your healing time and in fact, your piercing may never heal. This increases the risk of infection massively.
Often the poorly finished surface is rough enough for dirt to stick to it and bond, this makes it hard to clean and provides a breeding ground for germs. Incidentally having poorly fitted jewellery can further exaggerate irritation and can lead to embedding and huge amounts of discomfort and pain.
Wearing correctly fitting body jewellery is really very similar to shoes; wear the wrong size and it’s pretty obvious it’ll start hurting and cause lasting damage. A professional piercer will check your anatomy and discuss with you the correct fitting jewellery as just like shoes, your jewellery may be significantly smaller or bigger than someone else’s.
Polishing body jewellery takes a long time, it’s usually done by hand as it is a skilled job. It’s expensive because it’s a dirty job with associated health hazards – that’s why so many manufacturing companies just don’t bother and sadly, by doing so, they demonstrate either not understanding the importance of it, or that they simply don’t care.
The difference between wearing a professionally fitted and polished piece of jewellery, made of a suitable material designed to go inside bodies that won’t rust or corrode dangerously is dramatic. Piercings heal faster and it’s safer to insert and remove, reducing the chance of damaging your piercing.
Other immediately obvious benefits of smooth and mirror polished jewellery include it not allowing dirt to stick to it so easily. This often means anything dried just falls away or can be easily rinsed off. Oh, and of course, it looks sooooo much nicer!
Don’t scrimp on your body jewellery, it really is worth investing in quality. Always stick to materials such as IMPLANT grade titanium (there are other grades of titanium that are not as good) or if you want gold, then never under 14K (9K gold has hardly any gold in it, so the other metal alloys within the composition can cause irritation). Most reputable body jewellery suppliers will only sell to professional piercing studios and not sell online. Buying online carries risks as you just don’t know what you’re getting. Invariably the jewellery and materials used are of poor quality, so could mess your piercing up and they will generally fall apart and tarnish very quickly. It just isn’t worth the risk. Treat your piercing well and adorn it with beautiful things! Pictures of Lily sell a wide range of quality jewellery to suit all tastes and budgets.
