DAILI Notes

Four pieces: how to read a gauge and why the numbers count backwards, what a flat back changes behind the ear, what the paediatricians say about a child's first pair, and what the words printed down the side of a jewellery packet are worth. Every statement about metal, healing or the law here is written under a named public source, listed on how we update the catalogue.

Nine silver pieces laid on pale blue paper: four curved nose studs, one straight post and three plain hoops, with a print propped behind them

The one number a photograph cannot settle · 9 min read

How to read a gauge, and why the numbers run backwards

A gauge is the thickness of the post, and the scale counts backwards: 20G is thinner than 18G, which is thinner than 16G. It is the number people order by memory and get wrong, and it decides whether a piece sits still in the hole or turns from breakfast onward.

Eight silver flat back studs standing on and beside a piece of white stone, teardrop, round, heart and ball fronts with their discs showing

The hour of the night that decides it · 9 min read

What a flat back does that a butterfly clutch does not

A butterfly clutch has two wings and a rim standing off the back of the ear. A flat back is a disc that lies against the skin with nothing proud of it. In a lobe the difference is small; in a helix or a tragus it is the difference between wearing the piece and taking it out.

The back, not the front · 10 min read

A child's first pair, and what actually decides it

Parents choose a first pair by the front and then spend a term hunting for the back. What the paediatricians say about timing and the first six weeks is worth reading before either decision, and it is the part a shop has no business advising on.

Silver flat backs, two paved hoops and a plain barbell arranged on a pale green ground beside a white block

Hypoallergenic, nickel-free, implant grade · 9 min read

What the words on a jewellery packet are worth

Five words appear down the side of almost every jewellery card in this category, and only one of them has a legal number behind it. Here is what each would take to stand behind, who actually says something about it, and what we print on a card instead.

Every gauge, every back

Every stud, hoop, nose ring, chain and children's screw back in the DAILI range sits behind this button, with the price from our last update against each one.