What’s in a Name- The Many Uses of Labret Studs

For most, it’s a labret piercing, a piercing through the lower lip. Some may also think of the labret style of jewelry, the name given to a barbell with a flat disc on the back. So named for its comfort in labret piercings. The flat disc was a perfect alternative to the beads we had previously used. It rubbed far less on the teeth and gums, made the piercing sit comfortably along the lip, and even made eating and talking easier. It makes sense that in the 80’s and 90’s we decided to name this style of jewelry for the piercing we were using it in most often.

But it’s been two decades since then, and much has changed. We have new styles of jewelry, new materials to work with, and even new piercings to put it in. And over time, we realized that this style, with a flat disc, had more uses than just in lip piercings. We rapidly realized this style was far more comfortable and secure in many different piercings all over the body. Today, I want to look at the labret style of jewelry- why it is awesome, where we can use it.

And- why it’s so much more then just a name.

Flat Favorites

The biggest selling point of the labret is its flatness. For many years if we wanted to put straight jewelry in a piercing we really only had things like traditional earring backings, or barbells. I’ve actually written an entire blog about traditional earring backs, and why they aren’t the best for a bevy of reasons. But the alternative was the barbell- which is fantastic! Barbells have their uses in dozens of piercings and were the staple jewelry in the industry for everything for many years. And yes, in places like lips they weren’t the best. But all over the ear, the rest of the face, and the body- we loved barbells. A big factor of that was their accessibility. Early body jewelry was primarily externally threaded- the screw was on the bar and it went into a hole in the ball. This was perfect with balls but didn’t exactly work with other shapes like discs. After all- how do you put a thread in a disc? Eventually discs with caps on the ends came around, and welded styles, but they still left a lot of be desired, and often weren’t the most well made or secure.

But with the advent of internally threaded and then threadless jewelry, and the expansion of the piercing industry, suddenly it became very easy to have discs and other flat choices for body jewelry. And as it became more accessible, we started to see how much more comfortable this could be then the balls we had been using. Balls had been a better choice than bulky, large butterfly backs, theres no doubt there. But a ball on the back of a helix was still somewhat large, and easy to bump and catch. A ball on the back of a tragus made using headphones and q-tips nearly impossible. And inside a nose it was a glaringly visible metal object- it looked like a metal booger. While all of these were better then a full-sized butterfly back, they still left a lot to be desired in terms of client comfort and function.

And that’s where the labret came in. With a low profile, flat disc on the back it was significantly more practical for many ear and nose piercings- many clients even preferred these for their standard lobes over the butterfly backs! They didn’t irritate you while you slept, and they were less likely to get caught or snagged. Inside the nose they were virtually invisible, and much more comfy when you blew your nose. Despite the fact they were originally named for lip piercings, we realized they had uses all over the body. And even to this day, the labret is a standard use item in studios all over the world for dozens of piercings- not just lips.