Straight barbell piercing (genital·nipple·tongue, 6 to 19mm)

A stainless steel barbell with a bead screwed onto each end of a straight bar. The range of sizes is wide, so you can pick one to suit the frenulum, the glans, a nipple, the tongue or the ear. It is made in the United States and the surface has a simple polished finish.

The size range and how to choose

Bar lengths run from 6mm to 19mm, gauges from 1.6mm to 5mm, and bead diameters from 4mm to 6mm. The gauge has to match your own piercing and the length has to match the distance between the two points that are pierced. For a piercing that passes through the glans, choose a length equal to the diameter of the glans when erect. Too short and the beads press into the glans and hurt, too long and it catches on your underwear.

Different sizes for different placements

For a frenum piercing on the frenulum, the common choices are 1.6 x 6 x 5mm, 2 x 12 x 6mm, 2.5 x 12 x 6mm and 3 x 12 x 6mm. The frenulum is thin, so it heals in about a month, which is on the short side, and it is a popular placement because the nerves are concentrated there. The apadravya, which runs vertically through the glans, and the ampallang, which runs across it, use 1.6 x 19 x 6mm, 1.6 x 20 x 6mm and 1.6 x 22 x 6mm. For the magic cross, where the two are crossed over each other, the original text advises piercing in two separate sessions rather than both at once. Doing both together causes heavy bleeding.

What the finish changes

It is a plain shape with the surface smoothed down. Jewelry worn on the genitals stays in contact with the inside of your partner throughout penetration, so a rough finish scrapes the skin. The original text states that thanks to this finish it does not scratch the vagina or the anus, and that a condom worn over it will not tear.

Before you use it

Do not rush when you move up in gauge. Wearing jewelry continuously widens the hole a little on its own, so the pace the original text gives is moving up 1mm about once a month. A hole that has been stretched will not return to its original size by itself, so decide how far you intend to go before you begin. The piercing has to be done at a professional piercing studio, and a piercing through the glans in particular has to avoid the urethra and the blood vessels. Do not change jewelry in a hole that has not healed, and sharing jewelry with another person exposes you to blood borne disease.