Ear piercings, the 11 most popular types

Countless options to choose from

Piercing the ears is by far the most popular. In this blog post, we are going to take a look at the 11 most popular types of ear piercing such as the tragus piercing and helix piercing. What type of piercings are used? What sizes do I need? All relevant information for your ear piercing on 1 page.

For the 11 most popular ear piercings, we have created categories to show you all piercings that you can wear. Later on in this post, we are going to talk about the most common piercing types and give you more information about the differences.

Start shopping right away?
Click on one of the images below to see our online assortment for each specific ear piercing.

Tragus Piercing

Helix Piercing

Conch Piercing

Daith Piercing

Industrial Piercing

Rook Piercing

Anti-Helix / Snug Piercing

Anti-Tragus Piercing

Forward-Helix Piercing

Standard Lobe Piercing

Upper Lobe Piercing

The 11 most popular ear piercings

The great thing of ear piercings is that you can make various combinations and wear all sorts of piercing types. So many people get creative by getting their piercing slightly different done or by wearing unique pieces of jewellery in their ear piercings.

In the slider you can see the most popular ear piercings in a traditional way. We leave it up to you to be creative with the choice of jewellery.

Getting some new cartilage piercings

Many people got multiple ear piercings. Sometimes only 1 or 2, but other times people get as much ear piercings as they can.

In the video, you can see how a girl gets her triple forward helix piercing done. Get an impression of how it’s done. It might get you some inspiration for your own new ear piercing.

Cartilage Piercings

Most common sizes:
Thickness 1.2 mm
Length 6 mm
Ball size 3 mm

Shop Cartilage Piercings

When categorising all piercing sorts, there is one specific category for the cartilage piercing showing all piercings specifically made for the cartilage. You will some piercing rings in here, but not all rings suited for the different ear piercings.

Traditionally, cartilage piercings have a bar of 6 mm with a thickness of 1.2 mm. It varies per design for what ear piercings they are suited. Do you want to see all body jewellery for a specific ear piercing? Then browse to the category by clicking on one of the ear piercing illustrations.

The products in the category ‘cartilage piercings’ often come with a bar that is fixed to the front facing part of the piercing. If the bar is not ‘interchangeable’ you will have to screw the tiny ball at the back on to the bar. This can be tricky, so we wrote a post on ‘how to get your tragus piercing placed’.

Labret Studs

Most common sizes:
Thickness 1.2 mm
Length 6 or 8 mm
Top size 3 mm

Shop Labret Studs

The labret stud is a true classic for the cartilage piercings. With it’s flattened back, this piercing is very comfortable to wear. Some people find it hard to sleep comfy with a ball at the back of their ears.

We advise using metal labret studs like surgical steel or titanium. The BioFlex labrets are quite fragile, and better suited for lip piercings.
Solid titanium labret studs are 100% free of nickel. You can get some loose titanium labret studs in our shop. Ideal when you found a lovely design with a surgical steel shaft.

When looking for a new labret stud, there is one more important choice to make. Go for an internally threaded labret piercing or for a labret studs with the ball screwed onto it? Internally threaded labrets are often a bit more expensive. The top will stay much better in place. When you have internally threaded labret shafts, it’s not that easy to find new tops in 1.2 mm thickness. With some extra screwballs for a ‘screwed on’ labret, you might be better of.

Ball Closure Rings

Circular Barbells

Segment Rings

Most common sizes:
Thickness 1.2 mm
Length 6 or 8 mm
Ball size 3 or 4 mm

Shop Ball Closure Rings
Shop Circular Barbells
Shop Segment Rings

From the iconic ball closure ring to the segment ring, piercing rings are immensely popular for almost all ear piercings. The circular barbell is a nice twist to the traditional rings.

The most significant difference is placing a ball closure ring and segment rings. The ball or segment is kept in place by the pressure of the ring itself. With the help of special piercing forceps, the ring must be opened in order to remove the ball/segment. Once in place, the ball or segment can be placed back, after which the ring needs to be closed again.

Placing a ball closure ring can be quite frustrating. Luckily, there are special ball closure rings available with fixed balls. This makes it much easier to change these type of piercing rings. For the segment rings, there are special smooth segment click rings.

Curved Barbells

Most common sizes:
Thickness 1.2 mm
Length 6 or 8 mm
Top size 3 mm

Shop Curved Barbells

For some specific ear piercings, the curved barbell is a great alternative for the more traditional piercing types.

The rook piercing and the snug piercing are some examples. When suffering irritations, also keep in mind that surgical steel contains nickel. Getting a solid titanium barbell is the better choice here.

Shopping inspirations

When looking for new ear piercing jewellery, you might want to take a look at the products below. They are one of the most popular items we sell for cartilage piercings in general.