Body Art and Piercings Jewelry

Piercings have become a mainstream body art adornment in contemporary culture (as have tattoos). Piercing jewelry usually comes in the form of barbells or rings. Not only can one witness a music video featuring pop star moving her hips sensuously revealing a belly ring set with a diamond, but you are likely to see with a waitress with a tongue stud, a construction worker with earrings, university librarians with lip rings, and even traffic cops sporting nose rings, eyebrow barbells, or other piercings.

A person in the modern world may get a body piercing as a form of self expression, or perhaps to commemorate an important event. Historically, body piercings have long taken place in a number of societies all over the globe.

Piercings Around the World

Australian Aborigine tribes have traditionally acquired body piercings, as have peoples of the Amazon jungle. Piercing of the body to display jewelry and other adornments has also occurred in cultures of India, Native American nations, the tribes of Chad, and a number of other cultures. Traditionally, adornment with body piercings marked royal status of among the ancient Maya as a part of certain rituals. The ancient Kama Sutra text of India mentions body piercing.

Piercings in Mainstream Contemporary Society

Nowadays, piercings are highly fashionable in contemporary society, and several famous celebrities sport piercings, generating the trend.

The Popular Piercing Spots

Naval piercings and eyebrow piercings are very trendy. Nose studs and lip rings are popular too. Eyebrow rings or pierced ears for multiple earrings are quite tame in comparison to tongue barbells, nipple piercings, or labia piercings and other kinds genital piercings.

The Risks of Piercings

Apart from the potential of picking up hepatitis or other diseases if piercings are done in less-than-sanitary conditions, another of the modern piercings-related phenomenon is the occurrence of piercing-related infections, damage to tooth enamel by the barbell in tongue piercings, and other idiosyncratic piercing-related health concerns

Another consideration is the development of metal allergies, in particular to nickel, a common component of metal jewelry alloys. Women are particularly prone to nickel allergies, a condition that affects around 12 % of the population. The allergy usually manifests itself in mild ways such as skin rashes, but is quite severe in rare cases.

This is especially significant when it comes to piercings. After all, piercings have greater contact with the flesh than regular jewellery. To tackle this health danger of nickel allergies, Europe is phasing out the use of nickel in jewelry, and other countries such as the USA at least require that jewelry containing nickel is labeled as such. Nickel free white gold jewelry for piercings are one innovation to meet this concern.

Piercings in Modern Times

If practiced responsibly with regards to one's health, piercings may garner a lot of attention and may even be shocking, yet are really just a harmless another form of self-expression -- body art. The resurgence and escalating popularity of this practice may baffling, and many people speculate on what it signifies.

Piercings are seen as self mutilation by some, while others view it as body art and self expression, displaying piercings jewellery and ornaments. Whatever the case may be, piercings have been practiced by a multitude of cultures around the world since time immemorial, and acquiring a piercing in modern times is the continuation of a long-time human tradition.

Why are so many people getting their flesh pierced to wear body jewelry on various parts of their anatomy? Many people are baffled about why piercings -- once a rare, esoteric, and ancient practice -- have suddenly had a huge resurgence.