Female
piercings

As piercers, we don’t believe in the whole men’s and women’s piercings thing. Body piercings are a true form of self-expression and we love being able to help and guide people’s creativity, and we’ve seen first-hand how amazing they can be on anyone of any gender and anatomy types.

In this guide, you’ll find a list of the most popular piercings we perform on ladies, the different types and categories, some of our favorite underrated piercings, some beautiful combinations and curations, as well as a list of all the well-known piercings for all genders.

It’s important to note that this guide is fully inclusive and focuses on the typical women’s anatomy.

Female body piercing types

Despite men’s and women’s bodies being completely different in many ways, there isn’t actually any difference in how we pierce men or women. The only differences come from, as you’d probably expect, if we’re piercing the chest or other intimate areas. These are the most common areas we pierce on ladies are:

• Ear and ear cartilage piercings
• Face piercings
• Oral/lip piercings
• Nipple piercings
• Belly button piercings
• Dermal piercings
• Surface piercings
• Intimate female piercings

The most popular female body piercings

Earlobe

As you’d probably expect, earlobe piercings are definitely the most common piercings we do as piercers for both men and women. We see loads of first-timers as adults coming in to get their earlobes done, but it’s probably an even split of people getting their second, third, fourth or more earlobe piercings due to the fact that lots of girls get their earlobes pierced when they’re young.

There’s a huge amount of creativity you can play with in this space and plenty of space for most people to do so. A trend that’s getting more popular is called a stacked earlobe, where multiple small studs can be grouped together to make shapes like triangles on your earlobe.

Usual healing time: 6-8 weeks

Learn more about ear piercings

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Tragus

Tragus piercings are up there with one of the most popular cartilage piercings for women at the moment. It’s a piercing that goes through the small notch of cartilage that connects to the side of your face that’s in front of your ear canal. The most common types of jewelry for this piercing are labret studs, straight barbells or small rings.

Usual healing time: 3-6 months

Learn more about tragus piercings

Daith

A daith is a type of piercing that passes through the cartilage of the innermost fold of the ear. It is located in a small, oval-shaped area called the daith, which is located just above the tragus (a small, round protrusion of cartilage in the ear). These piercings are usually worn with a small curved barbell or look very elegant with a ring once it’s healed. The daith piercing is the one people commonly refer to as the “migraine piercing” as it’s said to help relieve symptoms of migraines, although there’s no significant tests to prove this is the case.

Usual healing time: 3-6 months

Learn more about daith piercings

Nose (Nostrils)

Usually generalised as the nose piercing, the nostril piercing is a piercing that is located on the flat area on either side of your nose with the back side of the piercing coming out inside your nostril. We always pierce them with a stud to help with healing, but once it’s fully healed you’ll see a lot of women swap them out for thin rings.

Usual healing time: 6-8 weeks

Learn more about nose piercings

Septum

Also known as the bull ring, the septum piercing goes through the middle column between your two nostrils. This piercing is very popular because of its ability to be both a huge statement piece at the same time as being able to hide it completely by flipping the ring up into your nostrils. A lot of people think this is a cartilage piercing, but the piercing actually goes through what us piercers call the sweet spot which means it only goes through skin and heals much quicker. The most common type of jewelry ladies wear in their septums is a circular barbell, which is a round ring with two balls on the end and a small gap between them to make it easier to flip it up and hide it.

Usual healing time: 6-8 weeks

Learn more about septum piercings

Helix

Helix piercings are very popular amongst the ladies too, and lately I’ve found been doing a bunch of double and even triple helix’s. Helix piercings are cartilage piercings that go through the outer rim at the top part of your ear. It’s important to note that whilst most people want to wear rings in their helix piercings, a lot of piercers recommend only changing to rings once it’s fully healed. The position of this piercing means you’ll often accidentally sleep on it and bump it more than some others, and if you have a ring in it during healing, it’s more likely to develop bumps and scar tissue around the hole.

Usual healing time: 3-6 months

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Swarovski Ear Cuff earrings

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Forward helix

A sister to the helix is the forward helix. It runs along the top rim of your ear, but these ones are close to where the top of your ear joins your head. This one’s much more popular with women than it is with men, and most people prefer to wear them with a cool tragus stud. We love a small crystal stud in these!

Usual healing time: 3-6 months

Rook

Rook piercings are becoming a lot more popular lately for women as they have a distinctly unique look and with the right jewelry can look very elegant. Rook piercings go through the top of the tiny ledge at the bottom of the upper portion of your ear and come out underneath it in the deeper part of your ear. The only point to make here is that not every ear is suitable for a rook piercing if the ledge isn’t big enough, but we can still pierce that area by turning it into a deep flat piercing so it comes out the back side of your ear instead. Either way, they look awesome!

Usual healing time: 3-6 months

Belly button (Navel)

Another one that tops the list of the most popular piercings for ladies is the belly button piercing. Primarily done vertically through the upper rim, the belly button piercing is often worn with specialist belly bar jewelry designed specifically for this piercing. Similar to the rook, not all belly buttons should be pierced though. A good piercer will do a pinch test first to see if you have enough skin to last the test of time.

Usual healing time: 3-6 months, but it’s not uncommon to take 12 months to fully heal as the area moves so much.

Conch

Your concha is the deepest section of your ear and conch piercings are super popular these days, especially with a nice multi-gemmed stud once it’s fully healed. A conch piercing goes in the front and out the back of the deepest part of your ear. They look amazing, but if you’re an earbud headphone wearer, they might not always be for you. We almost always do these ones on women over men.

Usual healing time: 6-12 months

Nipple

A lot of people are surprised female nipple piercings are as popular as they are, but more ladies are braving it and getting them done because they look so awesome. It’s fairly common for women to get both done at the same time, unlike guys who often only opt for one side. The main concerns for women who have their nipples pierced come from pregnancy and breastfeeding, and there are lots of differing opinions on this topic in particular. It’s always to consult your medical professional if you have concerns, but we often hear from women who have or have had their nipples pierced in the past have found it easier to express milk.

Usual healing time: 3-12 months

Learn more about nipple piercings

Our favorite piercing curations and combos for ladies

We love seeing the creativity and elegance of curated piercing combos. Check out some of our favorites below:

Daith, helix and a stacked lobe to mid-helix ladder

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Multiple flat and earlobe piercings with diamond jewels

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Hidden upper helix, conch and multiple earlobes

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A complete list of all female piercings

Other types of piercings popular on women include surface piercings and dermals.

See all body piercings

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