A nose ring can add a little excitement to your face, a little edginess, a little style. You can use it to bring color to your look or to send out a certain vibe. But before you can wear a nose ring that looks great, you’re going to have to find the nose ring size that fits great.
Nose Ring Sizes
Nose rings are measured in more than one way. Body jewelry, including nose rings, is measured by the thickness of the jewelry, or the gauge. They can also be measured by the size of the ring, such as its circumference. Both of these sizes will have a huge impact on how the nose ring both looks and feels.
There are lots of different options for nose rings between all these different sizes. To get an idea of where to begin, measure your nose. You want to measure from the hole of the piercing to the bottom of your nostril. If your nose isn’t pierced yet, use a pen to make a small mark on your nose to indicate where the nose piercing hole will be so you can get a measurement.
Take the measurement in millimeters. Do you have thick nostrils? Add 1 millimeter to the measurement. If you have very thick nostrils, add 2 millimeters. This will give you a starting point for the diameter of your nose ring, or nose hoop. You may want a slightly larger ring for style purposes. You don’t really have a nose bone, as the nose’s structure is mostly made of cartilage, so you can put your piercing hole wherever you want.
To find the right size nose hoop, use our nose ring sizing chart.
Nose Ring Sizes Printable PDF Chart Document
Click here to open and download our nose ring charts PDF.
Nose Ring Diameter Sizes Chart
You can’t always try a bunch of different nose hoop rings before you get the one you want. But you can test different sizes easily with our nose ring size chart. Use a piece of twine or a piece of foil, rolled and twisted into a skinny cylindrical shape. Now, you can use the size chart to match the different nose ring sizes to the piece of twine, shaping the twine up to match with the sizes displayed on the chart. You can then hold this up to your nose to get a pretty good idea of the size of your nose ring to get nose jewelry that looks good with your face.
Typically, nose rings are measured by the inner diameter. This is what determines the size, so the thickness of the ring will add a little bit more to the overall length.
Nose Ring Gauge Sizes Chart
What about the thickness of your hoop nose ring piercing? How thick your nose hoop ring is, the gauge of the hoop, matters just as much as the hoop size itself. This will play a big part in how the ring looks, after all. Use your gauge size nose ring sizing chart to determine the right thickness. And remember, you can always go for a thicker gauge later if you want. Going thinner, however, is far trickier.
Cut a thick piece of paper that’s about half an inch wide to the length you got when you measured your nose. Now, use our gauge size chart to fold the piece of paper to fit the individual gauge sizes. Now, you can hold this up to your nose where your piercing will be. This won’t look the same as an actual nose ring or real jewelry, obviously, but it can give you a working idea of how the various gauge thicknesses will look on your face so you can pick out the right hoop.
The smallest size is 22 gauge. This is a very thin ring. The 20 gauge is about the same thickness as a standard earring post. From here, the gauge only gets thicker and thicker. The thickness you choose is entirely based on the look you want. You should also think about the pain of getting a wide piercing, though it is worth noting that this area of the nose does not require cartilage piercings, as the nostril is almost all skin. However, the needle will be the gauge that you pick so that’s worth considering.
A bridge piercing is a whole different animal. This sits up much higher on your nose than the nostril, going through the bridge across the top.
Nose Ring Gem and Ball Sizes
If you want to add a little extra embellishment to your nose ring piercing, a gem or ball is a great little touch. But how little or big should that touch be? The size of the ball or gem you wear on your nose ring does depend on the gauge of the nose hoop. You can’t wear a very large ball on a thin nose hoop, clearly. However, you can play around a bit with the size of your ball or gem to more carefully curate your look.
You can even get balls and gems in a few different sizes and try them on your ring, wearing different jewelry looks for different days. Use our gem/ball sizes chart to get a look at various ball sizes. You can compare these to your ring and your nose piercing and use it as a guide for choosing a gem or ball size that will work for you and your personal jewelry style. Remember that you’re striving for a wearable length of piercing jewelry, so don’t go too small or too big.
Nose Ring Length Chart
The length of your nose ring matters when it comes to wearing bar styles, as opposed to rings. Once you have a nose piercing, you can experiment with all sorts of different nose jewelry styles to show off your personal fashion sense, from a nose stud to a cool nose screw something far more elaborate. Use our nose ring sizing length chart to get a good idea of how long you want your bar to be. Remember, the bar will go through your nostril piercing. Our chart can give you a general idea of how long the bar will be compared to your nose but of course, the fit will be different when it’s a bar that’s actually going through your nostril piercing.
Remember also that the length of the bar will change once you add balls or gems to either end, which is how nose bars are worn. The balls could add several millimeters of length, depending on the size of the balls you choose. Nose jewelry can be complicated, sometimes!
Nose stud jewelry styles, such as a simple diamond nose ring, come in pretty standardized styles. Nose stud designs are made to fit most noses. As long as you get the gauge for your piercing right when you get a nose stud, it should fit just fine.
Complete the Look
After you choose your size and consider the gems or balls you want to add as embellishments, think about the type of metal you want. You can find nose rings in all types of materials, including sterling silver, surgical steel, titanium, stainless steel, 14k gold and yellow gold. Don’t forget to factor in price, though getting a piercing can be exciting. More expensive materials, such as real diamond and 14k gold, will cost more than your other options.
Download: Click here to open and download our nose ring charts PDF.
Related: Types of nose rings | Types of nose piercings
Sources:
- Rock Your Nose – FAQs Sizing
- Urban Body Jewelry – Picking the Perfect Hoop Nose Ring
