Nose piercing

Nose piercing is the piercing

Body piercing

Body piercing, a form of body modification, is the practice of puncturing or cutting a part of the human body, creating an opening in which jewelry may be worn. The word piercing can refer to the act or practice of body piercing, or to an opening in the body created by this act or practice...

 of the skin

Human skin

The human skin is the outer covering of the body. In humans, it is the largest organ of the integumentary system. The skin has multiple layers of ectodermal tissue and guards the underlying muscles, bones, ligaments and internal organs. Human skin is similar to that of most other mammals,...

 or cartilage

Cartilage

Cartilage is a flexible connective tissue found in many areas in the bodies of humans and other animals, including the joints between bones, the rib cage, the ear, the nose, the elbow, the knee, the ankle, the bronchial tubes and the intervertebral discs...

 which forms any part of the nose

Human nose

The visible part of the human nose is the protruding part of the face that bears the nostrils. The shape of the nose is determined by the ethmoid bone and the nasal septum, which consists mostly of cartilage and which separates the nostrils...

, normally for the purpose of wearing jewelry; among the different varieties of nose piercings, the nostril piercing is the most common. Nose piercing is one of the most common varieties of piercing after earlobe piercing.

Nostril piercing

Nostril piercing is a body piercing practice often associated with Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

 and through out South Asia

South Asia

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...

. Nostril piercing is also part of traditional Australian Aboriginal culture (Stirn 2003). Nostril piercing has in recent decades become popular in the industrialized nations, as have other forms of body piercing. Afterwards punk

Punk subculture

The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...

s and subsequent youth cultures in the '80s

1980s

File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...

 and '90s

1990s

File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...

 adopted this sort of piercing. Today, nostril piercing is popular in the United States of America, the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, the Caribbean, Australia and Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, with piercings being performed on either the left or right nostril.

Both men and women have nostril piercings, though they are much more common on women. There are several different types of nostril rings. Among the most popular are the loop, the stud with an L-bar closure, the stud with a ball closure, and the stud with a flat backing.

In India the outside of the left is the preferred position of the piercing as this is supposed to make childbirth easier. This is because Ayurvedic medicine

Ayurveda

Ayurveda or ayurvedic medicine is a system of traditional medicine native to India and a form of alternative medicine. In Sanskrit, words , meaning "longevity", and , meaning "knowledge" or "science". The earliest literature on Indian medical practice appeared during the Vedic period in India,...

 associates this location with the female reproductive organs. In India piercings were regarded as a mark of beauty and social standing as well as a Hindu's honor to Parvati

Parvati

Parvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is Shakti, the wife of Shiva and the gentle aspect of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess...

, the goddess of marriage, a practice dating to the 16th century. Nose piercing is still popular in India. They are often part of Indian wedding

Indian wedding

South Asian weddings are very bright events, filled with ritual and celebration, that continue for several days. They are generally not small affairs, with anywhere between 100 to 10,000 people attending. Often, it is possible that many of the attendees are unknown to the bride and groom themselves...

 jewellery. In Maharastra women wear very large nose pieces that often cover the mouth or the side of the face.

It is common for Pashtun

Pashtun people

Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...

 and Pahari

Pahari

The Dogri-Kangri languages, traditionally known as Western Pahari, are a range of languages and dialects spoken across the Himalayan range, from Pakistan to Nepal.- Languages :...

 women to have both nostrils pierced. Many South Indian Tamil

Tamil people

Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...

 also follow this tradition. The tradition follows that the woman has her nose rings to pay for her funeral if she has all the gold taken from her. Nose rings or gold studs cannot be easily removed from the woman. Many women from the Asian subcontinent are cremated with just their nose studs as jewellery is removed before the funeral. Indian widows usually remove their nose studs as a sign of respect. Hindu women also remove their bangles and bindi when widowed.

Nose piercing in society

Although occasionally seen earlier — the French actress Polaire

Polaire

Polaire was the stage name used by French singer and actress Émilie Marie Bouchaud .Born at Agha, Algiers, Algeria, according to her memoirs she was one of eleven children of whom only four - Emilie, her two brothers Edmond and Marcel, and a sister, Lucile - survived infancy...

 arrived for her 1913 tour of America wearing a seed-pearl ring in her left nostril — it's only been in the last two decades that nose piercing has gained a mainstream popularity in Western culture. Presently, it is the second most-popular body piercing desired by teens and young adults.

A 2007 study by career publisher Vault.com surveyed nearly 500 employees from across the United States and 87 percent believed having piercings or tattoos would not reduce their chance of being hired. Respondents explained, "Regardless of who the real person may be, the stereotypes associated with piercings and tattoos are changing. In general, individuals with tattoos and body piercings are not being looked down upon as did in previous generations;" "I see more and more people with piercings in business and everyday work settings. It's just a different generation," Says another employer.

Another study was held by a group of 20 sociology majors at Columbia University in 2001. They surveyed 100 New Yorkers looking for a job, 50 with nostril/cartilage piercings and 50 with eyebrow/tongue piercings. It was said that the 50 with nostril and cartilage piercings received jobs that those with eyebrow and tongue could not. "Many people are used to the nose piercings, it is seen as a cultural icon in the Indian and African communities," says student J. Sanchez. "Many people with facial piercings are seen as 'rougher' or 'less educated' and these stereotypes are hurting many people looking for work," said professor F. Holloway.

Nose piercing are considered more acceptable than eyebrow or tongue. Eyebrow piercings were created during the 1980s during what most teens considered the punk-rock era and are since associated with emotional behavior and heavy metal music. When nose rings are more seen with Indians, and more professional people such as doctors, teachers, lawyers and many political figures. "I personally do not judge my students or colleagues depending on their facial piercings. I would say 25 percent of the faculty here have nose or cartilage piercings. But there are probably more at NYU or other liberal arts universities," says Holloway.

Septum piercing

Nasal septum piercings are less common than nostril piercings. The nasal septum

Nasal septum

The nasal septum separates the left and right airways in the nose, dividing the two nostrils.It is depressed by the Depressor septi nasi muscle.-Composition:The fleshy external end of the nasal septum is sometimes also called columella....

 is the cartilaginous dividing wall between the nostrils. Generally, the cartilage itself is not pierced, but rather the small gap between the cartilage and the bottom of the nose (sometimes called the "sweet spot"), typically at 14ga (1.6mm) although it is often stretched to a larger gauge (size). The nose has many nerves running through it and as a result, nose piercings can be painful, although it varies by individual. This piercing heals within a month and a half to three months also depending on the individual. It should only be stretched by 1mm at a time and it is advised to wait at least a month between stretches. If you go past a certain point, usually about 8mm, the cartilage gets forced towards the top of the nose, which can be uncomfortable.

There are many types of jewelry generally worn in a septum piercing including: Captive bead rings (CBRs), rings that close with a bead held in the center by the tension of the ring, circular barbells (as shown in the picture), a circular bar with a bead that screws on to either end, a "tusk" which is a straight or shaped piece of material which is generally tapered on either end, or pinchers. For large gauge septums many choose to wear plugs, as they do not weigh their noses down, which is helpful in the healing process. This allows for the piercing to not be damaged by the sudden movement of the jewelry.

Bengali women traditionally would wear the 'nathori' as a sign of being a married woman. The nathori would be gold with a tear drop that would move along the ring. This is now declining as many women prefer the nose studs.

Another option is a septum retainer, which is staple shaped. This type of nose piercing is particularly easy to hide when desired, for example to comply with a dress code. A septum retainer makes it possible to turn the jewelry up into the nose, thus concealing it. With black jewellery flipped up into the nostrils, this piercing can be made practically invisible. A circular barbell can also be hidden by pushing it to the back in to your nose , but it may be uncomfortable.

Septum piercing was a popular trend among South Indian dancers (Kuchipudi

Kuchipudi

Kuchipudi is a Classical Indian dance form Andhra Pradesh, India. It is also popular all over South India. Kuchipudi is the name of a village in the Divi Taluka of Krishna district that borders the Bay of Bengal and with resident Brahmins practicing this traditional dance form, it acquired the...

, Bharatnatyam) and among certain Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 peoples in history; the Shawnee

Shawnee

The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...

 leaders Tecumseh

Tecumseh

Tecumseh was a Native American leader of the Shawnee and a large tribal confederacy which opposed the United States during Tecumseh's War and the War of 1812...

 and Tenskwatawa

Tenskwatawa

Tenskwatawa, was a Native American religious and political leader of the Shawnee tribe, known as The Prophet or the Shawnee Prophet. He was the brother of Tecumseh, leader of the Shawnee...

, for example, had such piercings.
The septum piercing is popular in rural areas of India, Nepal and Bangladesh. In India it is called the 'Nathori' and popular with the Banjara ethnic groups and Adivasi tribes. Lord Krishna and his consort Radharani are often depicted wearing the 'Nathori' style jewel nose pieces.

Bridge piercing

Bridge piercing

Bridge piercing

A bridge piercing is a facial piercing through the skin on the bridge of the nose, usually directly between the eyes of the wearer. The bridge piercing is also known as an "Erl" or "Earl" piercing, after its first recipient, Erl van Aken...

s are inserted through the small flap of skin at the top of the nose, between the eyes, though never through the bone. Curved barbells and straight barbells are the most commonly used in this piercing, while seamless rings are less common.
However, bridge piercings generally have a high rate of rejection and thus are less common than any other nose piercing.

External links

Septum Piercing
Jewellery For Women