A cartilage piercing such as a helix, tragus or conch is typically pierced with a 16 gauge needle with 16 gauge initial jewellery fitted for the healing process. A piercing needle creates a slit in the skin which then creates a hole which stretches to allow space for the jewellery.

If your piercing was made with a needle by a professional piercer, it's likely your piercing will be the standard 16 gauge which is common for most cartilage piercings including helix, tragus, conch, rook or forward helix.

Each cartilage piercing may require a different bar length due to the thickness of the skin in that particular placement, so finding your perfect bar length can be a process of trial and error. On top of this, everyone's anatomy is different and we all have varying thicknesses so what works for one person, may not be suitable for another. For more information, read our guide here.

Most needle cartilage piercings are pierced with a 16 gauge (1.2mm) needle and fitted with 16g initial jewellery for healing, however if you had your ear pierced with a gun, it will have a with a much thinner post around 20 gauge.  The reason why you're having trouble is because your piercing hole simply isn't wide enough for the 16 gauge jewellery. If you were pierced with a 16g needle but removed the jewellery and started wearing thinner earrings, this will cause your piercing hole to shrink down to the size of the earring being worn. To find out more, read our guide here.

We offer a range of high quality metals in our collection, all of which are kind to the skin and will not rust or turn your ears green. If you are looking for gold jewellery that will never fade if worn regularly in water, you will need Implant-Grade Titanium, 316L Stainless Steel or Solid Gold. You can wear non-gold Sterling Silver in water without any issues as there is no plating, however if it is gold plated Sterling Silver, it may begin to fade if worn regularly in water. We use a thicker than standard gold plating to prolong the life of our gold plated Sterling Silver jewellery. Please read our full guide here.

Yes, we offer a dedicated collection of Certified Hypoallergenic Implant-Grade Titanium (Ti-6Al4V-ELI) cartilage earrings which are nickel free. Our jewellery is certified by AnchorCert analytical laboratory - all certificates can be found here.Hypoallergenic is a term used to define a product that has reduced chance of causing an allergy. There are varying degrees of skin sensitivity but Titanium is the best option for most with sensitive skin. Some companies will classify jewellery as hypoallergenic if it has low nickel content, yet it may still contain enough nickel to cause direct contact dermatitis, so always be cautious and check the nickel release test report to be sure. You can view our certificates here.