# 16 gauge earring **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 9, 2006, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-gauge-earring/347623 "2006-03-09T01:16:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![monica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-gauge-earring/347623/1 "2006-03-09T01:16:47Z")
I have a 16 gauge piercing in the cartilage in my left ear, and I currently have a CBR in it. However, I think I might want to switch that out for a stud for a while, perhaps a little rhinestone or something. A now-closed store at one point sold these; however, I’ve lost the earring, and now that the store is closed, I can’t find any place that sells studs in any size but normal earring sizes. Anyone have any suggestions? I don’t mind ordering online if I have to. ---
**Author:** ![Giant\_Spongess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@Giant\_Spongess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giant_Spongess)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-gauge-earring/347623/2 "2006-03-09T01:18:17Z")
Go to a piercing studio. If they don’t have anything you want, they’ll be happy to order something for you. ---
**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-gauge-earring/347623/3 "2006-03-09T02:39:15Z")
Buy a good quality labret stud. Most regular earrings are 18g, and anyway I personally hate the way a regular earring back looks on a cartilage piercing. With a labret stud, it’ll just be a little circle, and it won’t poke you in the side of the head or fall off. Giant Spongess is right about the piercing studio, and they’d probably even change the jewelry for you (possibly for a small fee). Online, I suggest [bodyartforms.com](http://bodyartforms.com). They’re quick, not too pricey for nice jewelry, and have a pretty wide selection. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-gauge-earring/347623/4 "2006-03-09T04:27:39Z")
Has someone already given you the requisite “don’t try to change a CBR yourself - go to a studio, they’ll do it much more safely and cleanly and usually for free” speech? If not, consider it given. Lots of people end up with nasty infections from removing or inserting CBR’s, 'though 16 is a pretty flexible one, as they go. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-gauge-earring/347623/5 "2006-03-09T06:51:35Z")
What’s a CBR? ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-gauge-earring/347623/6 "2006-03-09T07:14:07Z")
> [@Eleusis](#): > > What’s a CBR? [Captive Bead Ring](http://encyc.bmezine.com/?Captive_Bead_Ring) ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-gauge-earring/347623/7 "2006-03-09T08:25:18Z")
> [@Eyebrows 0f Doom](#): > > [Captive Bead Ring](http://encyc.bmezine.com/?Captive_Bead_Ring) Hmm. Well I have one in each ear… which I remove any time I need to look “respectable”, and I just took another one out of my wife’s pregnant belly button. Not sure I follow the danger thing, unless you’re talking _really_ heavy guage and _lots_ of force. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-gauge-earring/347623/8 "2006-03-09T08:27:10Z")
btw these are all 14 guage… and the OP specified 16. I can’t see any problem there. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-gauge-earring/347623/9 "2006-03-09T14:26:22Z")
Yeah, 14’s probably thin enough to open by hand, yes? The problems get seen more in thicker gauges when people start inprovising ring openers and closers. Needle nosed pliers look like they’d work, but the have two bad tendancies: first, they tend to slip and people stab or gouge themselves. Failing that, they can scratch the surface of your CBR, and scratches in the metal are a wonderful nursery for bacteria, leading to infections. I’m just being a worry-wort, 'cause I hate to see a person lose a perfectly good piercing or body part to gangrene. 😉