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Natural & Organic Body Jewelry - History, Types & Care

Updated on October 24, 2009

Natural History of Body Jewelry & Piercing

For those that want to learn about the history of natural and organic body jewelry, I'll take you back 4,000 years ago during the days of the Egyptian Pharaohs. Body jewelry during these times were only for the royal family. In these days, only the royal family and the wealthy were allowed body piercings. But only the Pharaoh was allowed a belly button piercing. Anyone who had a belly button piercing, besides the Pharaoh, was executed.

But the Egyptians loved their body jewelry and it put people in a different social class. It even was thought to bring luck or even special powers to those who wore it.

The Roman military practiced nipple piercings to show their strength, loyalty and power to their men. Julius Caesar had both nipples pierced. Roman gladiators, who were slaves, had their penises pierced with a ring and a leather strap to safeguard their manhood during fights. Some slave masters would put a big ring or bar in the head of their slaves penises to ensure they would not have sex.

We also know the ancient Aztecs, Mayans and American Indians practiced piercing their tongues and noses as a sign to appease the Gods and to look more ferocious to their enemies. The book of Genesis mentions that Abraham gave his son's wife earrings (or a nose ring depending on translation of the Hebrew word "Shanf").

It wasn't until the last 20 years or so that the body piercing taboo extended past ear piercings. In today's society, all the ancient body piercing practices have come full-circle and is much alive today. There are even new modern twists to ancient piercings.

The trend started as a fashion or cultural trend but now has hit the mainstream and is so common that NOT having a body piercing is the "unusual." You can purchase all types of body jewelry but the ones we are concerned with for this article is natural, or organic, body jewelry.

Types Of Natural & Organic Jewelry

  1. Amber - As the dictionary states, "a pale yellow, sometimes reddish or brownish, fossil resin of vegetable origin." Amber comes from 20 million years of fossilized extinct trees and vegetation. It is primarily found in Baltic regions but can be found in many other areas such as the U.S., Europe, New Zealand, Dominican Republic and the Middle East.
  2. Bamboo - This type of grass can reach up to 100 feet tall and is lightweight and naturally hollow. Bamboo colors can range from many shades of yellow, light green, brown and even black.
  3. Bone (horn) - How can bone body jewelry be organic? Well, most places only use the bone of Buffalo that died of natural causes or from butcher shops that ONLY butcher old Buffalo for their meat. Apparently, it is not cost-efficient for anyone to kill Buffalo for their bone. Their meat is far more valuable so I guess this makes it "ok" in the natural body jewelry department.
  4. Stone - These types of natural body jewelry can be in jade, obsidian, coral, petrified wood, agate, crystal, lepidolite, quartz, amazonite and serpentine.
  5. Wood - The various types of wood natural body jewelry include Chechen, Ebony, Olivewood, Chakte Kok, Granadillo, Katalox, Holly, Osage Orange and Boxwood.
  6. Gold, Silver and Bronze


Care Of Your Natural and Organic Body Jewelry

  1. The one thing you need to know is that natural or organic body jewelry is not meant to be used in unhealed piercings. Wait until your new or healing piercing is completely healed before using natural body jewelry.
  2. Allergic reactions can result in using this type of jewelry especially the wood varieties.
  3. Wash your natural and organic body jewelry often but especially after purchasing the jewelry. Use a mild, non-chemical soap.
  4. Use Jojoba oil to lightly oil on all organic pieces such as bone and wood. Sun exposure and humidity tend to dry out and crack organic pieces.
  5. For gold, silver, copper and bronze pieces, use a polishing cloth specific to each metal and lightly rub the metals periodically.
  6. Do NOT use natural or organic pieces for stretching. This may cause the pieces to crack or break and could cause splintering.
  7. Do NOT sleep in your natural or organic jewelry.
  8. If you are experiencing any kind of pain, swelling or itching from natural or organic jewelry, take it out immediately. Clean the jewelry and if irritation persists, you might be allergic to the jewelry.


Websites to Help You

  1. BodyCandy.com - This site specializes in body jewelry, including natural and organic. They have a FREE shipping option and all orders get 10% OFF.
  2. HotTopic.com - They have higher-end natural and organic body jewelry.
  3. OrganicJewelry.com - This site has a lot of useful information from buying natural and organic products wholesale to retail.
  4. Below, I included links to eBay and Amazon for things relating to natural and organic body jewelry. Click on anything you might like as there are more options on each of their sites.

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