How to measure bangle size at home: three ways, best first

A bangle size is one number: the distance across the inside of the bangle. Indian sizes write it in inches and sixteenths — 2-4 means 2 and 4/16 inches, which is 2¼ in or 57.2 mm. So measuring at home comes down to finding that diameter, either from a bangle that already fits or from your hand.

Here are the three ways, most reliable first.

1. From a bangle that already fits

This is the best method, because a bangle you can slip on comfortably has already answered the question.

1. Open the bangle sizer and calibrate the screen once with a bank card. Every bank card is 85.6 mm wide, so matching an outline to one tells the page how big your screen really is.
2. Lay the bangle flat on the circle, centred.
3. Press + or − until the circle just fills the inside of the bangle — no gap of screen showing, none of the circle hidden under the metal.
4. Read the Indian size, with the diameter in mm and inches.

On a phone, a large bangle is wider than the screen. That is fine: its sides hang off, and you match the top and bottom of the circle to the inside edge.

Two things move this reading, and neither is the screen. Look straight down from a distance. A tall bangle or kada holds its inner edge a few millimetres above the glass, and close up that edge looks wider than it is. Lift your head well back, 40 cm or more. And check that the bangle is still round: turn it a quarter turn and match again. If the two readings differ, it has gone slightly oval, and its true size is about halfway between them.

2. From your hand

No bangle to copy? Measure the part of you the bangle has to get past.

1. Bring your thumb in towards your little finger, as if you were slipping a bangle on.
2. Wrap a string, a strip of paper or a soft tape round the widest part of the hand, over the knuckles. Snug, not tight.
3. Mark where it meets and measure the length. On a laptop the online ruler can read the string at true size after the same card calibration.
4. Type the length into the sizer, in cm or inches.

The rule behind the answer is simple: a solid bangle’s inside circumference must be at least as long as your hand, or it will not go on. So the size is the smallest one that clears it:

Hand, thumb tucked in	Size
up to 169.6 mm (6.68 in)	2-2
up to 179.5 mm (7.07 in)	2-4
up to 189.5 mm (7.46 in)	2-6
up to 199.5 mm (7.85 in)	2-8
up to 209.5 mm (8.25 in)	2-10
up to 219.4 mm (8.64 in)	2-12
up to 229.4 mm (9.03 in)	2-14

Hands are soft, and jewellers’ own hand tables differ by a few millimetres. If your hand is only just over a size — two or three millimetres — try that size on in a shop before ruling it out. The full list, odd sizes included, is in the bangle size chart.

3. With a ruler

Lay the bangle on a ruler and read across the inside, through the centre. It works, but one size is just 1.6 mm, so reading slightly off the centre or at a slight angle can cost a whole size. Read to the millimetre, measure twice at right angles, and expect to be right to within a size. If there is no ruler in the house, a bank card is a ruler you already own: it is exactly 85.6 by 53.98 mm. Pleasingly, a 2-2 bangle is 54 mm across inside, almost exactly the height of a card.

Between two sizes

Go up. A bangle has no clasp. One that is a little small does not go over the hand at all, while one that is a little loose is how bangles are meant to sit. The exception is a bangle that opens on a hinge or a screw: it closes round the wrist, not over the hand, so follow that jeweller’s own chart.

Most shops stock the even sizes — 2-2, 2-4, 2-6, 2-8 and so on. Odd sizes such as 2-5 are made, but not everywhere, so if your hand needs a 2-5 the practical answer is usually 2-6.

Kadas and anklets

A kada is sized on exactly the same scale, so both methods work unchanged; men’s kadas are just stocked in the larger sizes. The kada size guide covers the differences, such as how a heavy kada is worn.

For an anklet (payal) there is no diameter to measure: wrap a string round the ankle where it will sit, measure it, and add 1 to 2.5 cm so it moves freely. Payals are sold by length.

Before you buy

An on-screen sizer, a string and a ruler are all good enough to choose between neighbouring sizes. For gold, or anything you cannot return, confirm the size with the jeweller — and give them the diameter in millimetres as well as the size, because every chart agrees on millimetres. The same advice holds for rings: see how Indian ring sizes work.