DAILI nose rings and studs

20G, 18G and 16G, and the number is printed on every card. 20G is the thinnest at eight tenths of a millimetre and is what most nostrils are pierced at; 18G is a full millimetre and holds its shape better through daily changes; 16G belongs to the larger hoops and the septum pieces.

A hinged hoop. It swings open, the free end finds the hole by feel, and it clicks shut against the tension of the metal. An L-shaped post is next, because it drops in straight before it turns. A bone stud, with a bead that has to pass through the hole, is the one to do in front of a mirror the first few times.

A horseshoe is a curved barbell with a screw-off ball at each end and a gap between them, so it comes apart rather than opening; a hoop is a closed ring on a hinge. The horseshoe can be turned to hang from a septum or to sit in a nostril, and because it unscrews, the metal never gets bent out of round.

Because nobody knows in advance which post shape they will keep in. A set puts an L-shape, a bone stud and a hoop in the same box, usually across two gauges, so a fortnight settles the question. The ones you do not wear go in a tin, and a spare on hand is what keeps a piercing open when one goes down a plughole.