i’m wondering how these people stay in business… it’s clear to me that nobody pays attention to the actual diameter of large gauge body jewelry, in any case.

i have recently bought what i assumed was beautiful jewelry from two different locations online, and after a month of going back and forth with the first one, i got a refund for half my order, because they kept sending me ear plugs that they claimed were 1 inch, but in reality were up to ⅛" too small. the second one looks like it’s going to be a similar story, although i just received the plugs today. one of them is close enough – .995″ – that i’ll probably wear it anyway, but the other one actually said “25 mm” on it, and from what i understand, is almost half a millimeter smaller than one inch.

it was, in fact, beautiful jewelry, but it was small enough that if i wear it for more than a day, my piercing closes up enough that i can’t wear the other jewelry i have, which is the right size. particularly the black tiger eye plug that i have, that i love… one inch, and because of the fact that it’s made of stone, there’s no fudging when it comes to putting it in. if my piercing is too small, i have to taper back up to an inch, or it just doesn’t go in…

the problem that i have been seeing consistently in a large portion of the body jewelry that i have looked at over the past 6 months or so has been that the gauge is measured at the outside edge of the plug, and it should be measured in the middle. thus, a 1″ gauge ear plug will actually be larger than one inch at the outside edge, by as much as .05 inch. that way, your piercing maintains at one inch, and there is a flare that protects your jewelry from falling out unexpectedly, which is what happens to me pretty regularly when i wear jewelry that i buy online, and most jewelry that is available in retail stores.

it makes me want to hurry up and get the lathe tools that are the only thing standing in the way of my being able to make (and, more importantly, sell) ear plugs that are the right size…