Should You Wear Jewelry In Jiu-Jitsu?

When it comes to jewelry and Jiu-Jitsu, opinions vary. Some people believe that wearing any jewelry can cause injuries, while others think certain jewelry pieces are acceptable. But, should you wear jewelry in Jiu-Jitsu?

This blog post will show you why jewelry is banned from Jiu-Jitsu training and competition, even in the most relaxed gyms. 

As a disclaimer, I have nothing against any jewelry, and I wear and bring my wedding ring into the BJJ academy every time, but I ALWAYS take it off before I get to the mats.

I’d recommend taking notes so you can also explain to any teammates and other practitioners why they should take off their accessories.

Can You Do BJJ With Earrings?

You might like your earrings. However, there is a reason why they’re not allowed in BJJ Competitions and training sessions. It is all about safety.

You may believe that your ears play little part in the grappling encounter, but your head as a whole doesn’t.

You will be grabbed, held, and pushed around a lot, which happens to everybody. And it is the reason that ear guards are becoming popular.

Rocking cauliflower ears is not a look for everyone, and well, the ears will rub against the mats, other people, and it can cause a few issues.

Any earrings will increase the possibility of injuries and accidents, as they could either pierce somebody’s skin, pull your ear lobe and cause damage, or fall off. Someone would step on it (possibly barefoot) and hurt themselves.

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Can You Do BJJ With Your Wedding Ring?

The wedding ring is a meaningful jewelry piece, but it can be so dangerous when it comes to grappling. This also applies to any ring, be it casual wear, a graduation ring, a family heirloom, or any other type.

You might think there’s no problem, as it is prohibited to attack small joints (like fingers) in any submission competition. So it would also be off the table in practice.

In BJJ, we don’t attack the finger fingers. However, you will use them for all your grappling work. Your finger will grab and hold the opponent’s limbs or gi.

You don’t want to know what Degloving is

Here is where things get a bit graphic, so prepare your stomach if you do any Google image research afterward.

All jewelry is banned, especially at sparring time, as it can cause ‘degloving’ (and the image search results for this term are not pretty).

Degloving happens when part of the skin, usually the top layers, gets ripped off from the rest, and it looks disturbing.

In the cases I’ve heard about, it usually happens when the ring gets pulled by the opponent’s gi during a grip break or any quick and strong move involving a hold. 

If you are not planning on doing an image search, let’s just say that it is the kind of injury that would grab Leatherface’s attention.

Can You Do BJJ With Piercings?

Piercings are a terrible idea in this sport, as most of the contact causes a lot of friction, and there are no techniques where you do not touch the opponent.

Suppose you have piercings on your:

• Nose.
• Eyebrows.
• Nipples.
• Belly.
• Or any other type of piercing. 

You will likely have to take them off before you get into the mats and put them back in once you finish. In my experience, it is annoying for the practitioner, to the point that they instead give up on their piercings eventually.

For anyone who tries to roll with piercings on, let me just throw the warning your way.

The best-case scenario only gets irritation from the session, but it is more likely that they will get pulled or even ripped out from any grip or accidental pull caused by being too close to your opponent.

Piercings and bjj training don’t go well together

Piercings and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu don’t get along very well, and it’d be great for your health to keep that in mind at all times.

It is also important to point out that piercings in your head are likely the most dangerous.

Not only because they are in an area that gets in and out of trouble a lot, but the tissue they are usually attached to is out in the open, unlike a belly piercing hiding underneath the rash-guard and Gi.

For example, an eyebrow piercing, which usually stands out over the skin, is holding on in an area that can easily cause a lot of damage if accidentally pulled. We can assure you that it is not going to look pretty.

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Dangers of Wearing Earrings Jewelry During BJJ Classes

As mentioned above, any accident related to jewelry during training and sparring can cause some severe damage. 

Irritation

Skin irritation due to the piece of jewelry pulling the skin because it gets caught and rubbed off during grappling. It is the least dangerous situation, but it will be annoying for the affected person, and it will take time to heal. 

Tearing or Trauma

It can happen mostly to piercings and earrings. Your piercing can be torn out accidentally when caught in a hold, requiring stitches or other repair and time off the mats to heal correctly.

Degloving

This issue is the one that causes nightmares to some practitioners, as it is one of the worst-looking injuries, and we can only imagine it hurts just as bad as it looks.

It can happen to a certain degree due to necklaces and wristbands, but it is primarily a risk to anybody who wears a ring to training.

The rings can cause heavy damage, as they could grip the skin and pull it all off, causing a gruesome injury that would keep you off the mats for the longest out of everything else on this list.

Just thinking about how these injuries tend to look is hard for my stomach, so I do not wish this kind of injury to anyone.

Types Of Jewelry That You Can Wearn in Jiu-Jitsu

Here we will give you an extended list with every possible option of jewelry that you could wear to Jiu-Jitsu class and rolling without any risk of injury.

Research pointed out all the viable options, and here they are for you:

1) Small Tongue Piercings 

And that is it with the list. We hope it didn’t take too much of your time to read through it. Okay, jokes aside, this is the only type of jewelry that doesn’t present a danger during BJJ practice.

It is simple. It is inside the tongue, which should be inside the mouth during training and rolling anyway.

Being inside the mouth is the only reason it doesn’t present an imminent risk to the practitioner, unlike any other jewelry accessories you could think of.

What To Do If Your Jewelry Falls Off During Training?

It would be best to stop training immediately and look for your jewelry. Before someone ends up with an unwanted piece of jewelry stuck on their skin.

But, again. You are better off storing it away in your bag to stay safe during training. And make sure to take any other accessories off while you are at it.

Jewelry And Competition

Jewelry is banned in training and sparring in most if not all Jiu-Jitsu academies as a safety measure.

Any competition will have these safety measures at the top of their priority list, so it is safe to assume that the same rules apply to jewelry.

No sanctioning body will allow practitioners to get into the mat with something that could harm them or their opponent. Make sure your piercings, earrings, and other accessories are safely stored before you make your way to the mats. 

Jewelry In Jiu-Jitsu Final Thoughts 

Jewelry in BJJ is not a complex topic because there is nothing too complicated to understand.

Jewelry poses a danger to practitioners, so it is banned from competition and training as a safety precaution.

If you found the article interesting enough, I’ll encourage you to show it to friends and other practitioners that use accessories regularly so that they never forget to take them off before practice.

And if you manage to handle the images and want to cause discomfort to your friends and acquaintances, show them how their ring can cause “degloving” if they do not take it off during training sessions.

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