Popular Options for Choosing Your Next Piercing

Popular Options for Choosing Your Next Piercing

People get new piercings as ways of expressing themselves, making statements, and of course, just to switch up their look a bit. It can be difficult to decide what new piercing to get, especially because there are countless options. Of course, typical ear lobe piercings and nose piercings are seen most often; however, there are many other bodies and facial piercings that can make a statement. Moving up from the simple piercings, there have been new adaptations and new techniques that have given us a lot more to choose from.

Traditional Piercings

There are a few tried and true piercings that have been around for ages; most notably, these are the ear lobe, belly button, and nose. These are good starter piercings because they are easy to pierce, quick to heal, and will retain their pierced shape for a long time without a stud. Most piercers have tried at least one of these and are looking for the next challenge; but, these three are great to start with and offer plenty of variety.

Other Ear Piercings

Ear piercings have been around for centuries, but have become more evolved and interesting in our culture. The basic ear lobe piercing evolved into a cartilage piercing, which is done on the hard, outer portion of the upper ear. Having several cartilage piercings can make for a very interesting and unique look, especially when opting for an industrial piercing, which is a bar that pierces through two areas of the cartilage.

Cartilage piercings take longer to heal than earlobes, and industrials have the added healing needs of caring for two piercings at once.
Within the ear, one can also get a conch or rook piercing. The conch is the area of the ear between the earlobe and the cartilage but takes a similarly long time to heal as the cartilage. The rook is the inner cartilage of the ear, closer to the ear canal, and also requires a longer time frame to heal. These are two piercings that are relatively newer than others and tend to make more of a statement.

Facial Piercings

Facial piercings have also been done for centuries and among many cultures, and most fans of piercings today probably began with the tongue or nose. Tongue piercings are actually the most common adornment among a variety of cultures, possibly because they are quick to heal. Nose piercings are most commonly seen as studs in the nostril, but the septum (cartilage between the nostrils) has trended over the years as well, typically in the form of a partial hoop. Nose piercings are easy to heal as well; although, like the ear, the septum cartilage takes a little longer.
Next to the tongue and nose piercings, lips are common areas to embellish. Whether it’s a simple stud or hoop on the outer edge of the lip or even several studs, lip piercings have enjoyed stayed popularity for years. Recently, a hoop in the central lower lip, known as a labret piercing, has gained popularity among female fans of facial piercings.

Popular Options for Choosing Your Next Piercing

Body Piercings

It’s hard to consider body piercings without first thinking of nipple piercings, which have had lasting popularity in men and more recently gained popularity among women. The overall status has grown over the years, especially as safer techniques have been developed. This statement holds just as true for genital piercings, among both men and women. While genital piercings have been done for a great number of years, they have recently become much safer and therefore, more popular.

Dermal piercings have only recently become available to fans of piercings, allowing us to adorn any body part we wish. Unlike traditional piercings, the dermal does not need a “back” to it and is actually inserted surgically into the skin with an anchor. Popular areas for dermal piercings are on the hipbone, just outside of the eye, or even on a finger, where one would traditionally sport a ring.

There actually hasn’t been much of a better time to get pierced. Piercings are not so out of the ordinary anymore that they could lose you a potential job; but, they are not so widespread that a nice piercing won’t make something of a statement. The most important thing is that developments in safety and even healing products have brought a level of safety to piercings that have brought down infections and made healing quite a bit easier than it used to be.  Read our Piercing Aftercare tips for additional information.  If you want to learn more about the history of piercing this article is one of our picks, click here.