Quality practitioners use quality jewellery.
Quality jewellery means your piercing will heal faster and hurt less during healing. Externally threaded, poorly polished, and low-quality materials will hinder your healing process. Jewellery used for fresh piercings should be made out of the safest, hypoallergenic materials. Reputable professionals and AUPP members use jewellery that meets the following standards:
Steel (316LVM) that is ASTM F138 compliant or ISO 5832-1 compliant
Titanium that is:
- Ti6Al4V ELI – ASTM F136 compliant or ISO 5832-3 compliant
- Ti6Al7Nb ELI – ASTM F1295 compliant or ISO 5832-11 compliant
Solid 14 karat or 18 karat yellow, white, or rose gold that is nickel, lead, and cadmium free.
Gold jewellery for fresh piercings may not be:
- Gold plated (unless solid 14 karat gold plated with a higher karat or solid yellow, white or rose gold or rhodium.
- Gold-filled.
- Gold overlay/vermeil.
Solid unalloyed or alloyed platinum that is cadmium, nickel, and lead-free.
Unalloyed Niobium (Nb) that is ASTM B392 compliant.
Glass that is lead-free such as Fused quartz, Borosilicate or Soda-lime
All threaded or press-fit jewellery must have internal tapping (no threads on the exterior of posts and barbells). The first and most widely stated benefit for the use of internally threaded and threadless jewellery is these designs of jewellery do not have sharper edges of threads that pass through the piercing channel in externally threaded jewellery use, this allows for the safe transfer of jewellery in a fresh/healing or healed piercing with a lower risk of damage or irritation to the piercing. Another common benefit is that internally threaded jewellery is often countersunk, meaning that the ball, gem or end makes a much closer and tighter connection with the bar.
For body jewellery purposes, surfaces and ends must be smooth and free of nicks, scratches, burrs, stamps, hallmarks, polishing compounds, and other potentially harmful residues.
Metals must have a consistent mirror finish on surfaces that frequently come in contact with tissue.
Some wonderful companies making jewellery to these standards include but aren’t limited to:
