A straight bar with a ball or decorative end on each side, almost always 14 gauge on this page. The tongue and the nipple are its classic homes: a straight bar sits flat through the tissue without the torque a ring adds. The long versions are industrial barbells, one bar linking two cartilage piercings at the top of the ear, and shorter 14G bars dress a helix or daith when the piercing has room. Bars with a bend, for eyebrow, rook and belly piercings, live on the Curved Barbells page.

Gauge first, then length. Tongue: 14G, and 5/8 inch is the standard once the swelling is gone; the longer bar your piercer used is for healing only, and downsizing after the swelling matters for your gums and teeth. Nipple: 14G, and 9/16 inch is the most common, with 1/2 and 3/4 inch for smaller and larger anatomy; the bar should have about a sixteenth to an eighth of an inch of room beyond the tissue. Industrial: 14G, and 1 1/2 inch (38mm) is the standard span, with 1 1/4 and 1 9/16 inch for other spacing. Length is the bar between the balls, not including them; read it off the bar you wear now.

Most bars here are externally threaded 316L steel: the thread is on the post, the ball screws over it, and the balls swap with our replacement balls of the same gauge. Internally threaded bars put the thread inside the post so a smooth bar passes through the piercing, and threadless bars hold the end by tension with no threads at all; both are the better choice for oral piercings, where threads collect buildup, and for a piercing that is still settling. Threadless ends pull straight off and press straight on; never twist them.

Most of the page is 316L surgical steel, the everyday standard for body jewelry; it holds a trace of nickel locked inside the alloy that most people never notice, so it is not nickel-free. Colored metal bars are anodized titanium or a PVD finish over steel, and the title says which. Solid 14k gold bars are gold all the way through, made to order and priced as gold. Acrylic balls on a steel bar are the softer choice for a tongue barbell because they are gentler on teeth than metal if you click the jewelry.

Dry the threads, screw the ball on until it stops and give it a gentle extra quarter turn, no more; over-tightening strips the thread. Check both ends once a week, more often on a tongue bar you talk and eat with. A tiny dab of thread-locker on the post with the excess wiped off stops a ball that keeps backing out. Keep a spare or two from the Replacement Balls page, and do not click a tongue barbell against your teeth: that is what chips enamel.

Yes. Buy-one-get-two and other site promotions apply to the barbells here, with the usual exception of solid 14k gold. Tongue ring grab bags, sets of three industrial barbells and bulk tongue barbell sets are on this page for anyone who swaps often. Personalized and custom-photo barbells are made to order in our shop, so their processing time is on the listing.