While a tongue piercing can take some time to get used to, once it is completely healed you can start playing around a little with your look. It is very important to choose a reputable, skilled artist for your piercing since it can be a risky procedure. Do a little research and don’t go for the first professional piercer willing to do the job. Make sure they have experience with this specific type of piercing to ensure it is done safely.
Once the piercing is done, there’s an important period of healing that needs to take place. We’ll guide you on what you can expect, and how to choose some snake eyes tongue piercing jewelry once you can start swapping out your barbell ends.
Although this piercing looks like a double piercing, it’s actually a single barbell slid through the tip of the tongue. The jewelry ends look like snake eyes on the left and right side of the tongue’s tip, which makes it seem like there’s a snake peeking out of your mouth.
Due to its location at the tip of the tongue, this type of piercing presents some unique risks. The jewelry pierces through two independent muscles, which can be dangerous. It is also easy to accidentally bite on the jewelry and damage, chip, or break your teeth as a result.
This piercing also takes two to three months to heal at the bare minimum. Even if the exterior looks healed, the interior still needs extra time to heal and adjust to the jewelry. Before stopping any aftercare routines, visit your piercer so they can check out the healing for you. They will most likely also need to swap out the barbell with a smaller version once enough healing has taken place.
During the initial piercing, the piercer will use a longer barbell since your tongue will swell. The longer bar helps accommodate the swelling and prevent the jewelry from becoming embedded. The longer version will also get in the way more than the smaller piece. You don’t want the piercing holes to press against the ends of the ball or to feel too tight. If it does, you need a bigger piece fitted until the swelling has gone down.
Once the swelling has subsided, you can let your piercer swap it out for a smaller piece. Don’t do this yourself, the piercing hasn’t healed fully on the inside and it should be handled by a professional.
As we just mentioned, the initial piece of jewelry should be longer than the piece you’ll wear after your healing is complete. Once the final piece has been fitted, and the interior and exterior have fully healed, you can start swapping out the ball ends with something that suits your style or mood.
Just like everyone’s body structure is different, so are people’s tongues. For this reason, your specific snake-eye placement may be slightly different from someone else’s. When choosing your jewelry, ensure that the barbell is long enough for your piercing and always choose something made from surgical steel. This is important for preventing infections and allergic reactions.
You want to look for labels such as “not-toxic”, “safe for sensitive skin”, and “allergy free”. Also check that the jewelry is lead and nickel free as well as hypoallergenic. Infections in your mouth can be a lot more painful and problematic than ones associated with ear piercings, so poor-quality jewelry is not something you want to mess around with.
The size of the balls can also affect the way you talk, bite, and how comfortable your piercing feels. This depends on your personal preferences, but keep in mind that it can affect your tooth and gum health if it causes irritation in your mouth.
Another consideration for choosing your jewelry is checking that the colors don’t rub off in your mouth. Saliva, eating, and drinking create an acidic environment in your mouth. Any colors that come off during these activities are essentially chemicals being swallowed and absorbed by the body.
This 18-piece set from Scerring includes barbels in six different colors and three different lengths, allowing you to wear this jewelry in a variety of different piercing placements. It also gives you plenty of options to change things up according to the setting or your mood. The screw-in ball closure is also easy to put on and take off. The barbell tongue rings are made from surgical-grade stainless steel too, helping ensure less of a chance of infections or allergic reactions. The colors and the quality materials used helped us judge this product as the best overall on this list.
If you want your snake eyes to sparkle, this set from Ruifan could be great for you. A purchase includes five 10-millimeter curved barbells that can be used in most 16-gauge piercings including eyebrows and tragus piercings. Each barbell features a sparkling 3-millimeter ball on either end in blue, black, pink, clear crystal, and multicolor crystal. If you are looking for something slightly shorter there is also an 8-millimeter set available.
This set from Mayhoop includes a large variety of barbell styles from metallics and pearl to crystals and marbled ball ends. This specific pack comes in stainless steel, however, you can also opt for an acrylic bioflex set with a clear bar. Either option is non-toxic and ideal for sensitive skin, allowing you to keep your jewelry in permanently without a lot of problems. The barbells are 10 millimeters in length with a 3-millimeter ball on either side.
These barbell tongue rings from D-Bella are made from bioflex acrylic and come in 11 funky colors from red, blue and purple to lime green, pink, and orange. Since they’re 10 millimeters in length, they’re ideal for 16-gauge piercings including snake eyes, tongue, eyebrow, and cartilage piercings. Both sides screw off too, making them easy to put on and take off. A little different from the classic stainless-steel style, this option can give you a playful and unique look.
If you have a piercing obsession or want to double up on a matching set with your bestie, this 36-piece option from Ftovosypo is just the one for you. These bioflex acrylic barbells can be worn in a range of different placements including snake eyes, nipples, eyebrows, and tongue piercings. They can even be worn during medical scans since they are metal-free and are ideal for people who are struggling with healing a metal-jewelry piercing. The 16-millimeter barbells are also ideal for 14-gauge piercings and this set is made up of 18 different colors including solid, sparkly, and glow-in-the-dark designs.
A: An Ashley piercing is similar to a labret piercing except that it goes straight through the center of the bottom lip.
A: This is a single piercing that combines the Ashley and the labret. The ring enters through the bottom lip’s center and comes out just below the bottom lip.
A: If the piercing was done in the last six months, it can close within a few hours. Everyone is different and some people may find that their piercings close a lot faster than others.