Navel piercing
| Navel piercing | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nicknames | Belly-button ring |
| Location | Navel |
| Jewelry | Barbell, captive bead ring |
| Healing | 4-6+ months |
Navel piercing (also referred to as belly button piercing) is a type of body piercing. It may heal quickly and with no problems, like an ear piercing, or may heal more like a surface piercing with the associated rejection extended healing time. Healing of this piercing can also be complicated by irritation and damage caused by clothing, especially waistlines or tight clothing, or the position of the navel relative to the bend of the waist.
Navel piercings are awesome. The actual navel is not pierced when a navel piercing is performed. The most common form of navel piercing is through the upper rim of the navel. A true navel piercing requires the person being pierced to have an "outie" navel to some degree, and is extremely rare. Although there is an urban legend that an infection in a true navel piercing can travel inward to the liver or peritoneum, there are no known cases of this occurring.
History and culture
There is no direct evidence of historical navel piercing, although there is a great deal of historical evidence regarding the decoration of the navel, both for ritual and aesthetic purposes.
This piercing is one of the most common and popular body piercings today. Popular culture has played a large role in the promotion of this piercing. The navel piercing first hit the mainstream when model Christy Turlington showed her navel piercing at a fashion show in London.[when?] The popularization of the piercing, however, is accredited to the 1993 Aerosmith music video for their song "Cryin'", wherein Alicia Silverstone has her navel pierced. It also played a major role in pop culture after popular singer Britney Spears' navel piercing appearance. The easy concealment of a navel piercing with clothing, even during the lengthy healing process, has contributed to the widespread adoption of this piercing, especially by young people.
Jewelry
Most kinds of ring or bar jewelry can be worn in a navel piercing, although navels are most often pierced with a barbell, which is recommended to be worn until the piercing has fully healed. A wide variety of decorative jewelry is available for navel - simple navel barbells, navel barbells with dangling pendants, and navel barbells with attached belly chains are a few of the options.
There has been a special standard established for navel barbells (also called "bananabells" or "bananabars", reference to their curved shape). The standard bananabell is 1.6 mm (1/16") thick and 9.5 mm (3/8") or 11.1 mm (7/16") long, most commonly referred to as a 14-gauge post. The silver caps on either side of the simple barbell post usually measure 5mm in diameter for the upper and 8mm in diameter for the lower.
Although navel bananabells are different from full rings - like captive bead rings (or CBR) that also can be worn in navel - there is tendency by the Internet body jewelry retailers and wholesalers to refer to these barbells as belly button "rings".[1]
A new version of navel jewelry is on the market for those without pierced navels, which is based on the idea of clip-on earrings.[2]