Nostril piercings- these piercings are among the most popular piercings we do, from modern times all the way through history. Piercing the nostril has been a common practice and tradition in cultures on nearly every continent, across much of recorded human history. Some of the most famous records of nostril piercings include the Bible, Mughal records, and even among victorian aristocracy. Nostril piercings are a piercing through the cartilage of the nostril, into the nasal passage. They can have a variety of placements from high up in the nose to right on the tip. Today, we are going to look at the classic, quintessential nostril placed roughly around the crease of the nostril. Nostril piercing are popular with both studs and hoops, and even decorative chains and charms. From big and bold to dainty and delicate, there’s no shortage of jewelry choices for this popular piercing. But there are some major considerations for piercing and healing to think about before getting your nose pierced!
Anatomy
Like all other piercings, anatomy matters for nostril piercings as well. Now nostrils are not anatomy dependent in the same way piercings like industrials are (where a large amount of folks simply don’t have the anatomy to support them.) I feel comfortable saying that almost everyone has anatomy that can support a nostril piercing, although their are some variations that may make piercing harder or more difficult to heal. Our nostrils are made of layers of cartilage, fatty tissue, connective membranes, and small muscles. Nostrils are in fact a deceptively complex part of the body to pierce. Often we write off nostril piercings as just cartilage, like your ear! But this is not the case. Nostrils are a vastly more complex anatomical structure with far more moving, working parts. They have more independent movement than the ear, more complex internal structure, and they have a very important job of filtering air along with dealing with the sinus. When we lump nostril piercings in with ear cartilage piercings as “just cartilage” I think we do a disservice to ourselves. You may notice a lot of folks struggle with healing nostril piercings (and we will discuss healing later in this article) and while there’s many factors to that, a big one is how complex nostril anatomy truly is!
How these different structures come together form the shape of our nose, and noses are some of the most varied anatomy person to person. Some folks have narrow noses, others have wide noses, broad tips and pointy tips, downturned and upturned, tall nostrils or short nostrils, deviated noses and noses that have been broken. There’s a huge variation of anatomy when it comes to the nostril. Fortunately, this anatomy usually doesn’t effect if we get pierced but where we get pierced.
Placement- To Crease or not to Crease
Placement for a nostril piercing remains one of the most debated subjects among piercers and clients alike. Directly in the crease? Right under it? Quite below it? Along the midline of the nose? Close to the face? Where is a nostril piercing supposed to go?!?
And, well, the answer is really wherever you want it.
The most popular and common placement for a nostril piercing is just a little below the crease, usually relatively centered in the nostril from the side. This still gives the visual effect of the piercing being in or near the crease which often is what “feels right” for a lot of clients, without actually being in the crease. Many piercers opt to avoid the crease because of the movement of the nostril as you flare it, especially smiling or emoting. This crease can also often collect oils and dirt which can also irritating healing. And often times jewelry doesn’t sit exactly as we want it to directly in the crease, studs may not lay flat and hoops may not sit snug.
However!
We don’t have one size fits all noses- or one side fits all anything! Our bodies are all totally different. On some clients, the most perfect, most aesthetically pleasing and functional placement is going to be directly in the crease. Some clients have barely any crease at all and where we pierce it is where a crease would be if there was one. Some clients have such short nostrils that to go below, even just right below, would be way too low. And some clients just prefer a placement directly in that crease of their nostril- that’s the look they want! There’s even some cultural and religious reasons for a placement like this.
Another consideration with placement is your future plans. Do you want to wear a snug fitting hoop as your goal? Your placement may end up higher or lower to give you the look of the hoop you want. Are you planning on wearing big, bold, chunky jewelry long term? Your placement may need to adjust to allow ends to sit flat and nicely. And if you want to rock a cute nose chain, we may move things more forward or back to let the chain rest well! When you have very particular jewelry goals in mind discuss them with your piercer! Often we can use size placement rings or example pieces to ensure that we are piercing you to allow for you goal.
And this goes double if you are planning multiple nostril piercings. If you know your goal is two cute hoops, pairing your nostrils up across either side, or you want to stack these with low or high nostrils, tell us that too! When we know we can plan ahead and determine placements that can allow for you to build off of them with other piercings. Where I like to place nostril piercings on the nose varies greatly between doing a single stand alone nostril or a project featuring multiples.
Another common question with placement is which side should I get it on. And again- it’s about the side you want it on! A very common decision maker is your “selfie side” or your better side you usually like to show in photos. Many folks want their nostril piercing to be visible, so they choose the side they favor or photograph towards. Others may go with the part of their hair if they have a side part, either with the part to accentuate it or on the opposite side for balance. Speaking of balance, some folks may choose to balance out other features on their face like an existing piercing, a mole, freckle, or birthmark by doing the nostril on the opposing side. Others may choose to accentuate or even distract from that by doing it on the same side. Some clients may have deviated noses or asymmetrical with one side being more visible from the front. In that case, one nostril may be more visible than the other, wear jewelry differently than the other, and there may be a better side for your goals. Some people choose a specific side based on cultural and religious beliefs, and others are influenced by cultural icons and celebrities to mimic their piercing. There is no right or wrong side, and it’s about what works for you, your goals, your anatomy, and how you want your piercing to look. I have been piercing nostrils for over a decade and it’s been a pretty even split between left and right this whole time. So do whatever side is right for you!
Initial Jewelry
Initial jewelry for a nostril piercings is, in my opinion, one of the largest factors in this piercing healing well and the experience you have with it. This is largely because we have quite literally dozens of choices for styles of initial piercing jewelry, and these styles all vary quite a bit. We are going to break down all the different styles, and what I do and don’t like about them.
First up, the nostril screw. This traditional design for nostril piercings dates back quite literally hundreds of years. A length of gold wire has a gem or design set into one end of it. The nose is pierced, the wire inserted, and the extra length coiled up inside the nose out of the way. This style was easy and intuitive to make, and over hundreds of years we have refined it to a sincerely great product. Modern nostril screws are often made of implant grade steel or 14k gold, and still come in a long, unbent shape. A piercer will take a look at your nostril, which side it is (left or right), how thick your nostril is, and where the piercing will rest, and bend up the shape of the screw accordingly. We then pierce you, and install this piece. Often it’s bent up with a right angle at the base of the post, and a loop behind that, sometimes referred to as a corkscrew.
And honestly, I don’t mind piercing clients with screws- if this style is what they actually want for an initial piercing. See, one of the biggest pros of nostril screws is that they are relatively easy to change in and out on your own. There’s a small learning curve but most folks get the hang of it quickly. But if they are easy for you to put in on your own….then they are also easy to remove. Nostril screws are notorious for getting caught on pillow cases, towels, rings, hair, you name it, and getting yanked out. Nostril piercings while they are healing are prone to closing extremely quickly so when our jewelry comes out easily, its a recipe for a piercing that ends up closed. And trying to put screws back into unhealed piercings is often a fairly uncomfortable experience.
The other key is like I mentioned above, nostril screws are designed to be bent for the individual nose in question. After all, we all have different nostrils- some of us have thicker noses and thinner noses. Some have narrow nostrils and others wide. Some folks are getting a higher or lower placement. Unfortunately the vast majority of modern nostril screws on the market come pre-bent into a one size fits all style that does not fit all, or even most. If you are purchasing a nostril screw, regardless if its to be pierced with or for a healed piercing, your piercer should be bending it up to suit your nose and piercing. It should always be fitted for you!
Beyond those two elements, a lot of clients find nostril screws uncomfortable. It is quite a bit of metal up inside the nose, and it can collect boogers and debris and become fairly unpleasant. The screw can get quite built up and be hard for some people to keep clean. And it can rotate around (especially the pre bent ones) and look like a little metal booger sitting up in your nose. That said this style has been worn for literally hundreds of years, and when bent properly for your nose by an experienced piercer, they are absolutely safe to wear and some folks do find them quite comfortable. I personally prefer to install these in healed nostril piercings, for all of the reasons mentioned above.
That’s because I am a big fan of the labret post. This is a post with a small flat disc on the back and a gem or an adornment on the front. For the vast majority of people this is much more comfortable then a nostril screw. There’s only a small metal disc on the inside of your nostril rather then a large hook of metal. There’s less area to get caught up on boogers, and you don’t see it up your nose the way you can a nostril screw. This style tends to be more secure, so especially for a piercing that’s still healing you don’t have to worry as much about things getting yanked out. Because threads are pretty strong attachments, you can wear big, bold, decorative ends with no issue. And these actually aren’t new either- we’ve been putting this style of jewelry in nostrils for hundreds of years, with versions of this piece tracing back to Asia and the middle east. Traditionally these were often made by taking a sheet of gold and rolling it up. A decorative element was attached to one end, and the other had a disc which screwed into the hollow gold tube. That’s right, we’ve been using internally threaded jewelry for our noses for hundreds of years.
I’ve actually had the pleasure of installing a few of these traditional pieces and the craftsmanship is unparalleled! However, I must admit screwing the disc onto the inside of the post in the nose is a unique challenge, and not easy to do even for a piercer. Modern labrets screw on the outside end, which is significantly easier. It’s also lower risk, because the part inside the nose is solid. No risk of a disc coming unscrewed and being inhaled. But, since many folks like smaller dainty jewelry, screwing those teeny tiny ends into a post is a huge pain. And when clients want to wear a post that’s a perfect fit, it’s a special kind of challenge to get a good grip to screw these ends into. And while this is more secure than a nostril screw, the general day to day movement and motion of your nostril often leads to these loosening over time, and you have to check to ensure the tightness of the threads from time to time. I do see plenty of clients who find threaded jewelry too difficult to change themselves or are frustrated with threadless ends coming loose. For those reasons I typically only use threaded jewelry initially if there’s a particular piece the client is getting that has to be threaded because of its size or style. And this is because we’ve fixed just about all of the above issues with threaded nostril jewelry.
This is thanks to threadless body jewelry. Patented in 1997 by Neometal Body Jewelry, this design uses an incredibly clever tension locking mechanism to secure ends into an internally tapped post. Because this system uses tension, we don’t have to worry about things coming unscrewed over time. It requires a forceful yank or tug to remove ends from the post. While there is no jewelry that’s truly guaranteed to stay in no matter what, threadless tends to fair incredibly well in nostril piercings. And the tension setting is modular- we can set something with a very tight closure for a fresh piercing to ensure if you snag it during healing it stays put. Then, once healed, we can adjust that closure to be easier for you to change in and out on your own. Threadless body jewelry was literally designed with the nostril in mind. Nostril screws could have the teeny tiny little gems on the end but they came out easily and were often uncomfortable. And threaded labrets were more comfortable and secure, but small ends were a huge pain. Threadless took the best of both to create a comfortable style of jewelry with minimal presence in the nose both visually and physically, allowed us to use the small delicate gems and ends that were becoming popular, and was very secure to hold up during the healing process. No jewelry style is 100% perfect, but in my opinion threadless jewelry comes pretty damn near close. It’s for all of these reasons I find that clients usually have the best success healing with threadless style jewelry.
But that’s just the style- what about other jewelry factors for initial piercing?
Size matters when it comes to initial jewelry and this goes a few ways with nostril piercings. First- gauge, or the thickness of the post. 18g is the minimum size I suggest for an initial nostril piercing. Any thinner and it can cause something called the cheese wire effect where if it’s caught or snagged it can actually cut or tear through the skin and cause a lot of irritation and potentially scarring. However, cartilage, weather its on the ear or the nose, often heals better with slightly thicker jewelry and many piercers favor 16g for nostril piercings. I do find 16g can often be more stable, and if you have specific jewelry goals in mind or struggle with healing, this may be a better bet for you. However, I don’t see enough of a difference between healing with 18 or 16 to only use one over the other. I just ask that you don’t go any smaller then 18g!
Size also matters when it comes to the decorative end on the outside! While many folks want the smallest, daintiest piece they can get, this is still a fresh piercing we are talking about. With small ends, if this is yanked or snagged hard enough, they can pull through the piercing channel. As a general rule 2mm-2.5mm tends to be a sweet spot for initial piercing where even if you do accidentally snag it, it won’t pull through. Some studios may not offer smaller than 2mm for initial piercing. I personally will use smaller ends, however only after a discussion of risk and informed consent with clients who truly understand the concerns with smaller pieces and can be responsible for them.
This goes the other direction as well. While I love, truly love big bold pieces in nostril piercings….they really often aren’t the best for initial piercing. 3-4mm ends is often the largest folks will use in a nose. With prong settings, 3mm and 4mm can be quite tall and stick up off the nose. If you don’t mind tall jewelry then you’ll love the look, but they can get caught and snagged more often. Larger than 4mm with a prong setting is best kept for healed piercings only. You can of course to a cabochon cut gem, a disc, pave setting, and any matter of larger, flatter styles to wear big ends in nostril piercings. And these pieces are stunning but they are also a major amount of work to keep clean during healing, and also can sometimes catch and snag more. I’ll use large ends like this on clients after a discussion of the risks and responsibilities needed. So if you love jewelry that’s really really small or really really big, ask yourself if you want to deal with the process of healing with those pieces and the potential risk of a more difficult heal, or if you want to compromise on something easier for healing to start and get your goal piece once you heal. And please respect piercers who don’t want to pierce you with either end of the spectrum to start- it’s because we see the issues very small and very large ends cause and we don’t want you to deal with that.
Alright! That’s it!
Everything you need to know about initial nostril jewelry!
Just kidding. Hoops! Let’s talk about it.
Arguably one of the most debated topics when it comes to initial nostril jewelry- to hoop or not to hoop. Personally, I am fine using a hoop for initial nostril piercings- in certain circumstances. This is because what I mean when I say “a hoop for an initial nostril piercing” and what a client means when they say “I want to be pierced with a hoop” are usually not the same thing. See, new piercings are just that, new piercings. They need time to heal! Part of that healing process often includes swelling. Another part of the healing process includes secretions and debris that need to be cleaned away. In order to accommodate for that healing, we need to use a ring with a diameter that is large enough to have room for swelling.
When we use a ring that is a snug or tight fit, there’s no room for swelling, cleaning, and healing. This can cause those dreaded irritation bumps to form, or worse it can actually cause the hoop to migrate through the nostril. We talked about that a bit earlier with cheese wire effect. This is a bigger concern with hoops than it is with studs. That also means if I’m piercing someone with a hoop initially it’s going to be a thicker gauge to be stable enough for healing. Most clients when they ask for a hoop are picturing a dainty, snug or mostly snug fitting hoop. They are not picturing a thick, oversized hoop with a bead on it (because as I discuss in this blog post, we don’t want to put simple seam rings in initial piercings). So a lot of clients don’t actually want the hoop they would need for initial healing- they want the cute tiny hoop they’d get once healed! And if that’s the case, then I always suggest starting with a stud. Why?
Healing with hoops is often harder. Even when we size them appropriately, even when they are thick enough to be stable, they are just trickier for many clients to heal with. They get caught and snagged, they move around more, and they often fair worse than studs when dealing with bouts of swelling. Climate can also play a large role in this, and humid areas or areas with constant weather cycles may see more swelling that can make hoops even trickier to heal with.
Now like I said above, I am happy to use a hoop for a clients initial nostril. If the client is aware it’s going to be larger for swelling, a thicker gauge for stability, probably more difficult to heal with, and I am not concerned about issues with excess swelling due to climate, health conditions, allergies, etc. The fact of the matter is this is really only about 5-10% of my clients if that. The vast majority of folks don’t want to deal with a potentially more difficult heal and also frankly don’t like the look of the chunky hoop that is appropriate for initial piercing. If your goal is that dainty, tiny, delicate little hoop then get pierced with a stud that’s going to be easier to heal and more your style, let it heal, and then swap for your perfect hoop. However if you are someone who likes the aesthetic of a thicker, more oversized hoop, if you are ok with your piercing being a slightly larger gauge, and you are prepared to deal with healing it, then let’s go! It’s no secret I am a fan of chunky jewelry and big hoops, and my first nostril piercing was done with a 14g captive bead ring (which I swapped for a stud about 5 months in because I was 14 and absolutely not responsible enough for healing with a hoop. Oops!)
However, some piercers and studios simply won’t offer hoops for initial nostrils. If that is the case, please be respectful of that! It’s done out of an abundance of care for clients and wanting things to heal well. A studio may have seen too many clients who were very unhappy with the aesthetic of the larger hoop and asked for it to be changed. They may have seen too many issues with healing hoops. You may be in an area where climate makes swelling a major concern for piercings, and hoops that much more difficult to heal with. A piercer may not have experience using hoops initially and not want to cause you harm or issues. Please respect that these policies are in place to make sure you have a smooth and easy healing process, and happy healthy piercings.
And to wrap this section up, a few notes on styles I just never ever suggest for nostrils. First up:
Butterfly Backs- these are bad for a few reasons. One, we have the closure on the inside of the nose and it’s not a super secure one- this means a risk of inhaling the backing. No thanks. My other issue is how much debris, mucous, and just stuff those backings collect and buildup with inside the nose.
L-bends- these are even less secure than nostril screws, and even more prone to spinning around, causing irritation, and hanging out looking like a booger sticking out of your nose. This style is great for fully healed piercings that need to be taken in and out super easily- but again they are some of the least secure styles and absolutely not a great idea for a fresh nostril. These also like nose screws should be bent to your anatomy- avoid the one size fits all pre bent ones.
Nose bones- these work by forcing a large ball of metal at the end through the nose and leaving a smaller wearable channel inside the nose. In a fresh piercing the piercing will heal around that smaller wearable and often times these pieces come stuck in the nose when used in fresh nostrils and can be very unpleasant to have removed. A modern labret is a significantly better, safer style with the same minimal jewelry inside the nose.
D-rings- lots of folks assume a D ring will solve the issues of a regular hoop in a nostril because the wearable is straight. For a fresh nostril, the corners of these d rings can often pull into the piercing channel and this can cause a ton of irritation and issues. Often to be large enough to have room for swelling means this is even more likely to happen. While some clients enjoy wearing them in healed nostrils, more often then not I see folks complain about them rotating or not looking like an actual hoop. If you want to experiment with this style you can- but I suggest it for fully healed piercings only.
Healing Expectations
Now we understand a bit about the anatomy of the nostril, placement we can consider, and what jewelry we might get for our new piercing. But what about actually healing the piercing…what about the dreaded nostril bumps! Let’s get into it.
Nostril piercings on average take about 6-9 months to heal, up to a year. Some folks, due to anatomy medical conditions, lifestyle, climate, or jewelry choice may find that it takes a full year or even a little longer for this piercing to be fully healed and comfortable. This is pretty normal and if you are someone who is a slower healer when it comes to your nostril piercing don’t be discouraged- a lot of us are. Thanks to my psoriasis and seasonal allergies my nostril took about 15 months to fully fully heal.
I have a blog post here that discusses how healing actually occurs in piercings which is very helpful when it comes to nostril piercings, if you are curious about specifics of the actual healing. I have another here that discusses aftercare methods.
Many clients will have a fairly uneventful healing process for their nostrils. They’ll get them pierced, probably snag them a few times on pillowcases and shirts and glasses while you adjust to having it there, and then before you know it it’s healed and you are changing it in and out without issue. We love to see it!
But, many clients (myself included) will have a bit of a …bumpier ride.
That’s right- the nostril bump. Almost everyone either has experienced this or knows someone who has- getting a little bump or irritation on your nostril piercing at some point during the healing process. I actually have an entire very in-depth article on these bumps and how and why they happen here that I strongly suggest you read. But, I wanna give you some nostril specific tips in this blog post.
The first is to consider the basics. Have you caught or snagged this recently? Nostrils are a pretty high traffic area that can get a good bonk or snag somewhat often. These can absolutely cause the piercing to become irritated. If you did, and that’s the cause of your bump, then some extra TLC and care & some time and patience is all this needs to heal right up. What about being sick recently? A cold or the flu? Maybe seasonal allergies, or even seasonal weather change (winter runny noses are the worst!)? When you are sick, and your nose is sick, then your piercing understandably is going to be all grumpy too. Swollen sinuses, runny noses, and constantly blowing your nose will all make your healing piercing get a little grumpy. Focus on getting yourself feeling better- your piercing can’t recover until you are recovered first!
And then consider some other factors. What jewelry were you pierced with- did you opt for something ideal for healing like a high quality implant grade titanium labret post, or did you get the “one size fits all” nostril screw made of….maybe steel? Did you decide on the extra large and sparkly gem that gets snagged a bit more often or did you play it safe with something smaller and less likely to catch. Did you opt for the hoop, and the healing challenges it might bring? Like we discussed above some jewelry styles can effect how this piercing heals, and you may be experiencing a bump as a side effect of this jewelry style, material, and quality.
Perhaps there is an issue with aftercare that could be causing this irritation. Often clients, accidentally, end up getting products like makeup, face wash, and skincare into their nostril piercings that can cause the piercing to become very irritated. The use of certain substances inside the nose can also cause irritation bumps to flare up. Sometimes its an external factor like wearing a mask or a scarf.
Whatever the cause, if you have a bump or an issue with your piercing it’s important to get back in touch with your piercer so they can help you determine the cause of the irritation and how to treat it. If it’s grumpy because you snagged it, it likely just needs some patience and time to recover. If it’s irritated because you have a low quality, “one size fits all” L bend or nostril screw in, you likely need to get better quality jewelry. And if its becoming irritated from your makeup, you may need to change your routine to allow it to recover. Your piercers job isn’t over just because they did your piercing- a huge part of our job is then helping you heal that piercing!
Hoop, Please!
The followup question whenever we discuss healing a nostril is always “When can I change jewelry then!” And for many, this is because their goal was a fitted hoop but they opted to heal with a stud first, and they wanna know when they can get that goal piece! So, let’s get into it, changing jewelry and getting your goal piece!
Like I mentioned above most nostril piercings take 6-9 months to fully heal, but it's’ not uncommon for it to take longer for many people. The timeframe to change your jewelry out is when your piercing is fully healed, which means this answer is variable person to person. Someone who heals really easily and really well might be changing things in and out at that 6 month mark, and getting the snuggest cutest hoop. Someone who maybe heals more slowly or had a bump they had to be patient with going away might be changing their jewelry at around the 9-12 month mark. And someone who had a very hard time healing, fought bumps on and off the entire time, or just has a more sensitive nose, they might be waiting a year and a half or even two years to ensure everything is very very well established and fully healed before changing things.
An important thing to remember is that there’s different definitions of “healed” when we talk about piercings. But essentially, there’s a few ways a piercing can be “healed”. There’s as soon as it’s no longer an open wound, and there’s skin along the inside of the channel. A lot of folks consider this healed, even though this skin is very fragile and can very very easily be damaged or broken. Then there’s once tissue maturation occurs, when that fragile skin become stronger and more stable. Think of when you skin your knee or elbow- theres the healed where you have shiny pink skin that’s pretty tender and fragile and just a small scratch will break open. And then there’s the healed as it become thicker, more durable, and starts to return to skin color or scar color. A lot of times when we say a piecing needs to be fully healed we mean not only is it no longer an open wound, but the tissue is stable and strong and healthy.
For some people, this process takes much longer than others. I am one of those people- I have an autoimmune skin condition called psoriasis that effects the skin on my body. My piercings heal slowly, and often with irritation bumps and issues. Even once I do get piercings to that fully healed place, it often takes me even longer to begin wearing decorative jewelry or hoops. I’ll change something out, get a bump, and have to immediately swap back to something simple. This is because my medical condition effects how my tissue matures and stabilizes after a wound, and for me this means it takes a lot longer. And this isn’t limited to psoriasis, many medical conditions such as EDS, Eczema, diabetes, PCOS, acne, and more can effect someones ability to heal.
I think as an industry we have this mindset of get a piercing > heal a piercing > get your goal jewelry, and that it needs to look like this liner, easy process. But that just isn’t the case for a lot of us. For many of us, the process looks more like get a piercing > get a bump > heal a piercing > change jewelry > get a bump > Change back and wait longer > get your goal jewelry. And often with a lot of bouncing around between those levels. I want to mention that because I see so many clients who don’t have an easy time getting into their goal jewelry in their nostril piercings- myself included! I felt like a failure as a teen and young adult for how much I struggled, with nostril piercings in particular. I know now as a professional piercer that my body simply has a harder time healing, and that is ok. If you are someone who heals a piercing and gets right into your goal jewlery- that’s amazing! But if you aren’t, and its a bit of a struggle for you, please know that’s ok too.
A Note on Hoop Sizing
I can’t discuss nostril piercings and nostril hoops without touching on sizing. One of the most common questions I get in my inbox is “Help, I really want a cute snug hoop for my nose and I’ve ordered a bunch off the internet and none of them fit me the way I want. What size am I supposed to order??”
In the anatomy and placement sections of this article I discussed just how much anatomical variance nostrils can have. From large wide noses to small narrow ones, upturned and downturned, deviated and symmetrical. Noses come in thousands of different shapes and sizes. Add on to that the range of different placements for nostril piercings- centered, off centered, below the crease or inside it. There’s literally an infinite number of combinations between anatomy and placement. And each one of these may wear a slightly different size or style hoop to achieve their goal.
Because of this, it’s so important to actually be sized and fitted by a piercer to know your correct measurements! Sure, you could guess and guess and try ordering different things and seeing what works, but chances are you are going to spend a lot of money on things that don’t fit quite right. Piercers are trained and have the tools to measure your nose, the angle of your nostril, and the angle of your piercing, and work with you to get a hoop that fits perfectly. And if you recall from the placement section sometimes this process starts way back when you are just getting your initial piercing done- placing it in a location that will allow for the goal hoop you are looking for. Some piercings and some anatomy may even call for custom shaped rings to allow them to fit exactly the way you want. So take the time to go and get measured properly!
There you have it folks, a comprehensive break down on all of the things to consider when getting your nostril pierced! This popular piercing is one of my favorites, and I genuinely haven’t met a single person I think doesn’t look good with a nostril piercing. They are just so damn flattering on every face! I hope this blog post can help you prepare and make some informed choices about placement, jewelry, and aftercare. Happy healing!