Welcome to Tribalectic's Body Piercing Stretching Guide! Stretching is a ritual that has been performed in countless cultures for thousands of years. When done correctly, it can be a very rewarding process. It is not, however, something to be taken lightly. Proper technique and forethought are required for any successful stretch, and that is why we have put together this Tribalectic Body Piercing Stretcher Guide, as well as the Tribalectic Body Piercing Stretcher Kit. The kit includes everything you'll need to safely stretch your piercings, including this reference guide. Compiled by piercing guru John Lopez and Tribalectic, this guide contains all of the information and tips you'll need to properly stretch your body piercings. On to the task at hand…

This pictorial shows the various stages of stretching a body piercing.

Having a part of your body pierced is a very unique and personal experience. Like the saying, “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure” it is also true that “one person’s pain is another person’s pleasure.” Furthermore, every piercing experience that you have will vary, depending on the body part, your state of mind and mood at the time, the piercer and the setting of the shop where you are getting pierced, and your level of piercing comfort.

From the APP

In this article you will find tips on how to insert and remove your body jewelry.

First off, you should only change body jewelry if your piercing is pretty well healed. The new body jewelry should be the same gauge as the original jewelry unless you are stretching your piercing (for more information, see our Stretching Guide). If the new jewelry is of a thinner gauge than the piercing will shrink and the piercing will have to be stretched back up to wear your original body jewelry. With some piercings the body jewelry must be of a certain design to be comfortable.

The Captive Bead Ring (CBR) is perhaps the most common piece of body jewelry worn in body piercings. There are many variations on the design, but they all have the common feature of using a ball of some kind to close the ring, making it a full circle. (Fig A)

Body jewelry can be measured in both inches and millimeters. The charts below show the various gauges and lengths in both inches and millimeters.

For those with a more common introductory level piercing, we've compiled this list to help you get more familiar with the world of body jewelry.

If all this fractions of an inch, millimeter and gauge sh*t has you confused, have no fear and read on … Basically, all you need to remember is that gauge refers to the thickness of the body jewelry and length refers to the internal diameter (for rings) or length (for barbells). Other important tips include knowing that: