How to Find out the Size of the Nose Stud I Have

Nose piercings are a another form of self-expression. When it comes to piercing your nose you can do so with several different pieces of jewelry: a nose ring, a nose screw, a nose bone and a nose stud. A nose stud is a piece of jewelry that has a a straight rigid shaft without a ball on the end. You can bend the stud into an "L" shape to hold it in place inside of your nostril. When it comes to getting a nose piercing, you might not know what size of nose stud you have. Luckily, there are surefire ways to find out.

• 1

  Dip a cotton swab in rubbing alcohol and sterilize all around your nose stud post and hole. Dip a cotton ball in rubbing alcohol and sterilize the end of the ruler that you'll be using. Put on a pair of latex gloves.

• 2

  Stand in front of a mirror and hold a ruler up underneath the stone or metal ball on the exterior of your nostril. There are four major width of nose stud balls or stones: 1.5 millimeters, 2 millimeters, 2.5 millimeters and 3 millimeters.

• 3

  Look at the diameter of the stone or ball on your nose stud as dictated by your ruler. This is the size of your nose stud in milllimeters.

• 4

  Inset your finger into your nostril and gently push the shaft of your nose stud against the interior side of the nostril. This will push your nose stud upwards, making more of the post visible to you on the surface of your nose.

• 5

  Lay the millimeter side of a rule just under the post, still standing in front of a mirror. Posts come in three sizes of thickness: the thickest is 18 gauge, which is 1 millimeter of thickness, the next is 20 gauge which is slightly less wide at .8 millimeter of thickness and the last is 22 gauge which is .6 millimeter. You should be able to determine is the post is exactly 1 millimeter wide, slightly less, or almost half the width of a millimeter. This will tell you the size of the post that you have.