Everything You Need to Know about Barbells
The barbell is one of the most common and versatile pieces of jewelry in body piercing.
A barbell has a center post and beads on either end. Depending on the jewelry, you may be able to remove both or only one bead. The barbells use either external or internal threading .
Barbells come in straight, curved, circular (often called a "horseshoe"), or twisters .
Straight barbells are most commonly worn in tongue piercings. Though, they're also worn in many other piercings (e.g. eyebrow, industrial, nipple, etc.). With tongue and genital piercings, heavy gauge barbells are often used.
Curved barbells work in so many piercings! But you'll see it in eyebrow, vertical labret, and navel piercings most often. Curved barbells should not be used in surface piercings due to the high rate of rejection.
- A sub-type of curved barbell is the J-Bar . It's a curved barbell with a bend 2/3 of the way down the post. This causes it to look like a J. It's used for piercings such as Christina and belly. You can find J-Bars with jewels, koosh, and very often smartie beads .
Circular barbells are most popular for septum and ear piercings. That being said , you'll see them in navel, genitals, lip, nipple, cartilage, and more. Other names for circular barbells include " horseshoes " and " CBBs ."
- Similar to a circular barbell is the c-ring . A c-ring has a curve that straightens out and bends at a 90 degree angle. It is worn to make a labret piercing look like a vertical labret.
A twister is a barbell twisted around, more so than a circular barbell, so the beads almost line up with each other. Earlobe, lip, and cartilage are a few of the many piercings twisters you can wear a twister in. Feeling adventurous? Try a twister in a nose piercing for a fun twist on the classic hoop. (See what we did there?)
- A multi-twister is a barbell twisted into a coil. The most typical use for this piece is to spiral or screw it through more than one piercing - usually in the ear. This is tricky! The piercings need to pierced with extreme precision so they line up with the spacing of the spiral.