Piercing placement and jewelry style are extremely important decisions when considering getting your belly pierced.

Depending on your shape, the style of jewelry – whether ring or bar – could be the one you must always wear.

Most of the jewelry you will find in shops or online are curved. Curved bars are the preferred option for most. However, if your belly is flat and your navel not too deep, then the bar is best.

If your belly button is deep, a vertical piercing using a ring is possible. Use a ring with a diameter of 7/16 or 1/2 inch. A 3/8 inch ring can be used if you have a perfectly defined, petite, lobe-shaped navel. Your piercer should be able to tell you which is right for you.

A bar should be used if you are only piercing your lower-navel. It is also important to ensure your navel jewelry is ling enough to accomodate any tissue expansion (an extra 1/16 to 1/8 inch is usually adequate).

Whichever is right for you, there are hundreds of choices of belly rings available. The recent explosion in the popularity of belly piercing means you can get almost any style or color in either ring or bar.

Share your piercing advice or stories with others by leaving a comment below.

According to the Association of Professional Piercers, anyone getting a piercing has the following rights:

A Piercee’s Bill of Rights

EVERY PERSON BEING PIERCED HAS THE RIGHT:

-To be pierced in a hygienic environment by a clean, conscientious, sober piercer wearing a fresh pair of disposable medical examination gloves.

-To be pierced with a brand new, completely sterilized single-use needle that is immediately disposed of in a medical Sharps container after use on one piercing.

-To be touched only with freshly sterilized and appropriate implements, properly used and disposed of or re-sterilized (where appropriate) in an autoclave prior to use on anyone else.

-To know that piercing guns are NEVER appropriate, and are often dangerous when used on anything — including earlobes.

-To the peace of mind that comes from knowing that their piercer knows and practices the very highest standards of sterilization and hygiene.

-To a have a knowledgeable piercer evaluate and discuss appropriate piercings and jewelry for her/his individual anatomy and lifestyle.

-To be fully informed of all risks and possible complications involved in his/her piercing choice before making any decisions.

-To seek and receive a second opinion either from another piercer within the studio or from another studio.

-To have initial piercings fitted with jewelry of appropriate size, material, design, and construction to best promote healing. Gold-plated, gold-filled or sterling silver jewelry is never appropriate for any new or unhealed piercing.

-To see pictures, be given a tour of the piercing studio, and to have all questions fully and politely answered before making or following through on any decision.

-To be fully informed about proper aftercare, both verbally and in writing, and to have continuing access to the piercer for assistance throughout the healing process.

-To be treated with respect, sensitivity and knowledge regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, ethnicity, ability, health status or piercing choice.

-To change her/his mind, halt the procedure and leave at any point if the situation seems uncomfortable or improper.

A recurring subject in the mails and comments received on Belly Button Rings Guide is the endless fight between parents and teenagers who want to get a piercing, even though the children in question are almost always under the legal age. Parents and piercing do not mix!

The teenagers always believe that their parents are too strict, and the parents are of the view that their children are being rebellious. Parents often believe that body piercings are a sign of ‘badness’ in their children.

It is a difficult situation. Piercings come with responsibility. They need to be cared for – sometimes for up to a year. Many teenagers do not possess the patience and maturity to care for their piercing for so long and will ignore aftercare advice, or only follow aftercare guidelines for a short period. Of course, this is not true in cases – but unfortunately is true in many.

Often times, the teenager may not be physically mature enough to get a piercing below the neck. As the body matures, the piercing may migrate and end up in a very undesirable position.

Legally, nipple or genital piercings are illegal for anyone under the age of eighteen. Parents or piercers who allow this practice are very lacking in judgement. A piercer who performs these procedures on a minor is committing a sexual offence. As a parent, allowing a child to get one of the aforementioned piercings, could result in a charge of reckless endangerment against the parent.

As a parent, you should never judge a child negatively just because they want a piercing. It could just be a phase, or it may be a good opportunity to figure out why they want the piercing – it will help you understand and communicate with your child. If they want it so badly, it can also be used as a bargaining chip for better grades or some other desirable behaviour.

Teenagers may also use the same advice. Teenagers often know what their parents answer will be! If you feel you will be shot down, be ready with as bargaining chip of your own. Offer something in return. This shows a level of maturity that may be respected by your parents. If your parents refuse no matter what, it is better to respect their wishes. Try not to rebel by trying to pierce yourself or get too angry. It’s not worth it in the long run.

Feel free to comment on, or rate this story below.

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Two of the more common and undesirable outcomes of piercing are piercing rejection and piercing migration.

Piercing migration occurs when your jewelry moves from its original position, and settles and eventually heals in a new location.

Piercing rejection occurs when the jewelry is completely expelled from the body.

Piercing migration occurs for a few reasons:

• When unsuitable skin is pierced
• Not enough skin is pierced
• Jewelry may be too small in diameter
• Jewelry may be too thin in guage
• Jewelry may be of poor quality.

These problems are more common if you piercing is done by an inexperienced piercer.

Piercing migration and Piercing rejection may also occur if:

• You use harsh aftercare products – read more about piercing aftercare here for more detailed information.
• You follow poor health habits
• You experience physical or emotional trauma during the healing phase.

Sometimes your body may reject a piercing for no apparent reason. Sometimes placing a foreign object through your skin is the simple reason the piercing is rejected. Make sure to see an experienced piercer when getting your piercing done and be sure to follow piercing aftercare guidelines strictly. Piercing migration or piercing rejection will be much less likely in these conditions.

If you have ant comments or questions, feel free to comment below.

Do you have navel piercing? Great! You can submit your navel piercing story to this website and get FREE body jewelry!

All you have to do is  write your unique belly button piercing story, take a picture of your belly button and submit them using my NEW website HERE!

To qualify for the prize, your belly button piercing story has to meet the following guidelines:

Please make the piercing story at least 300 words long;

You can describe how you decided to get the navel piercing, how you went to the piercing studio and what was the whole navel piercing procedure was like.  Was it painful or just a pinch? Who was with you? What type of ring did you choose? Add some interesting moments. Remember that other Belly Button Rings Guide’s readers will  rate your story!

The person in the picture has to be you and your belly piercing has to be visible. Don’t worry if your face is visible in the photo – it will be cropped so it wont be visible in the photo.

Please make sure you provide a valid e-mail address so that I can get in touch with you after your navel piercing story has been submitted!

Read ALL Belly Button Piercing Stories HERE!

Follow these tips and your navel will heal quickly!

Proper belly button piercing aftercare is needed to heal your “brand new” navel piercing. The faster your new piercing heals, the sooner you can try new belly rings!

There are three stages in the healing process:

Stage One: The Inflammatory Stage. Your new piercing is an open wound. Bleeding, swelling and tenderness are all expected.

Stage Two: The Growth phase. This can last several months when you get a Belly Piercing. In this phase, your body reacts to heal the wound. ‘Crusties’ are common to this phase. Crusties are formed when some discharge from your new piercing dries and forms a crust on your jewelry. Never pick at crusties with dirty fingernails. During phase two, your body seals the channel of the piercing. Your piercing is considered healed at the end of this phase but may still be quite tender and will still need care.

Stage Three: The Maturation Phase. The channel of the piercing matures and becomes scar tissue. You may find that your piercing moves from stage two to three and back again many times before it heals fully. If a piercing is mistreated it can regress very quickly and you may find yourself back at square one.

As discussed, crusties, formed by a clear discharge from your piercing, are common. But do not confuse this clear discharge with pus, which is a thick, colored(yellowish-white) and foul-smelling substance. Pus is often indicative of infection.

One other normal piercing secretion is called sebum. This is often mistaken for pus but is recognizable by the fact that it is more solid, or cheese-like. It too, is foul-smelling. It is naturally produced by the body and is not a sign of infection.

BASIC PIERCING AFTERCARE

There are many things to consider with a new piercing. You must be committed to your piercing and follow the instructions given to the best of your ability.

1. Hygiene
2. Good health
3. Avoid trauma
4. Soaking in saline
5. Cleaning your piercing

HYGIENE

• wash your hands before touching jewelry
• change bedding and towels at least once a week
• don’t sleep with your pets
• avoid exchange of body fluids in the affected area
• use disposable paper products to dry piercings
• your own sweat won’t affect the piercing as long as you clean it correctly

GOOD HEALTH

• get plenty of rest
• eat a healthy, balanced diet
• drink lots of water
• avoid emotional stress where possible
• avoid excessive alcohol or caffeine
• don’t use recreational drugs
• don’t smoke – smoking causes narrowing of the blood vessels, which inhibits oxygen circulation in the blood, and lengthens healing times considerably.

AVOID TRAUMA

• do not play with your new piercing
• do not change the piercing too quickly or unnecessarily
• handle your piercing very lightly when cleaning
• try to wear clothes and underwear that will reduce or minimize friction
• take care of your piercing during physical activity such as exercise.
• Do not expose your piercing to hot tubs, pools, oceans or lakes – they are a breeding ground for infection. A Nexcare Waterproof Bandage or Tegaderm Tranparent Dressing can be used to protect the piercing.

SOAKING IN SALINE

Apply salt solution on your fresh navel piercing every day. Just soak some cotton wool with saline solution and place over your navel for 5 to 10 minutes once or twice a day. If there’s some crusting on the belly ring, remove it gently.

You can make saline solution at home – dilute about 1/4  teaspoon of non iodized sea salt to 1 cup of clean, warm water and apply on your piercing twice a day. Or you can buy a saline solution at a drugstore or on the Net.

Don’t forget to soak your piercing with saline solution after your piercing seems to be well healed and there’s no puss coming out and crusting doesn’t form.

CLEANING YOUR PIERCING

• Do not use alcohol, bactine or hydrogen peroxide to clean the piercing under any circumstances. Stick to the following, proven, inexpensive methods and you will be fine.
• Use a mild, antibacterial soap to clean the piercing once or twice a day, preferably in the shower. Clean your hands and the rest of your body before cleaning your piercing. This will also loosen any crusties or other dirt around the piercing. Use cotton swabs or gauze pads to remove any stubborn matter – try to avoid using fingernails.

Belly ring materials that improve aftercare

Your piercing will secrete fluids for some time and they will crust on your belly ring. You’ll clean it with belly button piercing aftercare sticks or saline solution, of course. But it may become infected anyway and you should choose a belly button ring that can reduce the likelihood of infection. Bioplast is a material proven to possess such qualities and you can get bioplast navel ring in great colors and styles. Gold, Titanium and Stainless Steel are also popular choices for first-time piercings.

Another option for the first time belly button ring is PTFE material. This material has a non-stick surface, in other words, body fluids don’t stick to it, thus improving the quality of belly button piercing aftercare.

PTFE is a white material and doesn’t come in colors, unlikely flexible plastic that cannot be used for initial piercings. Some sellers mistakenly sell flexible plastic as PTFE, so watch out – real PTFE doesn’t come in colors! PTFE material is used for piercings for pregnant women because of its flexibility and you can buy the shaft separately and choose the endings that you like.

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Belly Button Piercing

You might want to know how to hide a navel piercing for various reasons; perhaps your school doesn’t allow it. Maybe your parents do not approve, and you do not want them to know. If you are someone who works in an office where body piercings are not allowed, then you need to know how to hide a navel piercing. While you might not be able to hide it forever, you can certainly keep your piercing secret for some time!

The most sensible way to hide a navel piercing is to wear a clear navel-piercing retainer. This retainer is a cushiony, soft rubbery plastic material in the shape of a banana barbell that is fitted into your piercing in place of your belly ring.

What you do is buy a clear navel piercing retainer. Make sure it is pre-packaged, pre-sterilized to avoid contamination and infection. Also, it is very important to remember that you should not change your belly ring until the piercing is completely healed.

You can either do it yourself or go to a professional piercer. Your piercer will wear sterilized latex gloves before dealing with your piercing. He will then check to see whether your belly piercing is fully healed. Then, he will deftly remove the old navel jewelry. This is done by unscrewing the top bead and then sliding out the barbell from below.

The clear navel piercing retainer is now removed from its sterile packing. The ring is removed and the bar is pushed into the piercing from the top downwards. Then, the ring is pushed back onto the transparent bar.  There! Your belly piercing is hidden! It will not only keep your belly piercing intact for as long as the jewelry is out, but also hide it.

So there you are! Now you know how to hide a navel piercing!

For those looking at how to hide a navel piercing, there are good quality clear navel retainers made of the body-friendly Bioplast material that is flexible and invisible.

Navel body piercing has always been exotic and fashionable…

But of the various types of navel body piercing, however, the sexiest and most attractive is the double navel piercing.

The navel has always been voted one of the most attractive features in a woman and there is no better way to make it look even more gorgeous than with a simple navel piercing or a double navel piercing.

You have probably seen a lot of celebrities wow their fans with sexy belly button piercings. In fact, Alicia Silverstone is credited with making belly button piercings famous in Aerosmith’s video – Cryin. Well, these days just about everyone can go in for one and the good news is that it is neither expensive nor very painful!

The navel piercing is done through the rim of the navel, at the skin fold. Some people prefer one on top and one at the bottom of the belly button, where the top is at the top ridge of the navel and the bottom is the inverse belly piercing on the bottom ridge of the navel. This naturally depends on how much skin is available. The double navel piercing is often joined with a single barbell to give you a navel industrial piercing.

When you get your double navel piercing done, ensure that you get it done with an experienced piercer. Make sure that safe first time piercing materials are used because you want to avoid the risk of infection. Also ask your piercer about how to take care of the piercing to help it heal fast. Experts will advise you to go with a PTFE barbell that is flexible and safe.

Double navel piercings just look fabulous! Just take care to see that it heals properly. It can take as much as a few months to a year to completely heal after which you can have fun trying different kinds of jewelry. Bananabells are very these days and look quite erotic. In fact there’s plenty of choice in belly button jewelry when you get a double navel piercing done and you can enthrall everyone with different types of jewelry!

If you’re getting bored of the usual navel piercings  have a look at this. Navel industrial!
To put it simply it’s a multiple navel piercing project where two navel piercings are joined together using a single barbell.

You can have either one or even two navel industrials in your belly button. If you go for the second option, your piercings will resemble a cross.

But as you can imagine, the belly button is subject to quite a wide range of movements. After all it’s the waistline and when you lean forward or sit down the skin folds around your navel push together. So it would be a wise idea to insert separate belly button rings in both (or four if you go for a double-navel industrial) fresh belly piercing holes.

If you want to go for a single barbell straight away, it would be wise to choose at least some flexible belly industrial piercing - PTFE barbell is the best option for this purpose. You can cut it to size and then screw the balls on. The shaft is self-threading and the piercer won’t have any problems with getting it done.

By the way, read this navel industrial piercing story. The piercer did something I wouldn’t have done – he just bent a simple barbell and inserted it into the fresh navel industrial project! The girl was very happy with the piercing though, and it seems the healing process was OK.

However, I warmly suggest if you go for a navel industrial piercing, get at least this PTFE barbell inserted. But, of course, you can also go for separate belly rings in each hole while the piercing heals, and insert the industrial barbell when the fresh navel piercings have properly healed  in about a couple of months.

When you are on your search for first time belly button rings, there are many things that you have to consider. The material is one of them and it is so important to choose the right material for your piercing.

Many people make the mistake of choosing the most attractive ring for their first piercing. However, if you do this then you could end up putting yourself at risk of a nasty infection. Just as when you have your ears pierced, you will usually be given a simple design to wear until the piercing has healed.

However, if you would like to choose your own belly ring then you can; you just need to follow some basic rules.

What Belly Button Rings to Look For

When searching for the perfect first time belly button rings, you need to look for certain materials. One of the most common is Bioplast and it is ideal because it has a non-stick surface. It is not uncommon for crust to form after you have had your naval piercing. If this isn’t cleaned then it can cause an infection. Some belly button rings attract the crust and it sticks to the surface, making it hard to remove. Bioplast navel rings eliminate this problem and they are more hygienic to wear.

Another good material to choose is titanium. One of the best things about titanium belly rings is that they are quite light to wear. Stainless steel is a good material to opt for, but unfortunately they can be slightly heavy. So if you are not used to wearing a belly ring then it could be a little too uncomfortable. Also there are many fake stainless steel rings out there which could cause a reaction to the skin. This means that you have to be extra careful when choosing stainless steel belly rings.

So when you do choose your ideal first time belly button rings, make sure that you choose from the materials above. So many people do not realise that their first ring is an important one. You cannot just choose any old design as it could cause problems. Overall if you follow the advice above you will end up having the best belly ring to suit your needs.