Advantages Of Titanium Jewelry?

Q: Help me out, what are the advantages of titanium jewelry? I've read about people using it, and I've seen it in catalogs. But when I go to my local piercing emporiums, the sales people tell me they don't carry titanium, only niobium which is: 1)'just as good' 2)'better because niobium is prettier' and 3)'cheaper than titanium'. Well I guess I'm just hung on the idea of sticking titanium in my body. They make rockets and missles and stuff out of titanium! :-) Could we open a discussion on titanium? I'd like to hear people's experience/feelings on the the subject

A:I used to make ugly touristy jewelry out of flat titanium and one thing that we noticed was that any contact with skin oils would leave ugly smudges and fingerprints which would stay until they were washed off. I've never seen much titanium body jewelry, so I was wondering how it looks after coming in contact with skin. Do the colors dull at all between washings? If it doesn't get dull, it could be because it's more highly polished than any of the titanium I ever worked with. Also, instead of buffing it, we etched it in acid, which seems like it could easily create a surface which could trap more oils. Titanium has no nickel (1), very light in weight (2), holds it's color much longer that niobium (3), is somewhat more expensive to purchase- but does machine easier (4).