A straight barbell is most popularly used in tongue piercings. The most common gauge used in tongue piercing is a 14 ga. In order to give room to the swelling, the early length of the pierced barbell should be at least 3/4". When the tongue rings piercing has become well, it can be replaced to a shorter barbell of 9/16", or 14 mm, which is the most common size of tongue rings. It is recommended to wear a shorter barbell after the tongue piercing is healed.

Barbell tongue ring style of body jewelry is made of a straight bar and with a bead on each end, one or both beads unscrewable for replacement and/or changing of the beads. Often one of the beads is fixed, either via epoxy or welding, so that only one bead is used to fix or remove the jewelry. Barbell threads are mostly right-handed.

There are roughly about 5 kinds of barbells for body jewelry. The internally threaded barbells are slightly more costly than externally threaded barbells as there will be additional machining and labor included. At the time of piercing of the tongue rings, the internally threaded barbells cause less damage or irritation, so it is considered superior to externally threaded barbells. An internally threaded barbell has a bead with a receiving tube machine into it which connects with a threaded post extending from the center.

The externally threaded barbells have become less common as the popularity of the internally threaded barbells has increased. It is named so because shaft of the bar has threads at both ends to allow beads with getting threads to be attached.

Curved barbells are also known as a navel curve and are named because of their curvature. It is mechanically identical to straight barbells instead of that they are curved. Curvature on a curved barbell tongue rings can range from almost straight to circular, with some barbells basically being spiral, with the ends overlapping but separated to allow the insertion of the body jewelry. A variation on the curved barbell tongue ring design is a slightly curved barbell with a 90 degree bend near one end which is used in vertical navel piercings so the decorative end of the body jewelry is positioned more appropriately is called a J-bar. They can be either internally threaded or externally
threaded.
Circular barbell tongue rings, also known as horseshoe barbell tongue rings are used in many kinds of piercings. Their shape is what gives them their name.

Surface bars are used in surface piercings. Barbells for surface piercing have a pair of 90 degree bends in the same direction, so they can be used for surface piercing. Because of this design the pressure that would be caused by other body jewelry designs that interfere with the healing is minimized.

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