Piercing Ideas for a More Masculine Look

Looking to explore masculine piercings or find the perfect body jewelry to suit your vibe? You’re in the right place. Whether you’re after bold, edgy styles or something more subtle, we’ve got a lineup of popular piercing ideas and an extensive selection of jewelry options to match. Let’s dive in!

Piercings with a Masculine Edge

Most piercings are unisex—it’s all about how you style them. However, some placements and jewelry choices tend to have a more traditionally masculine feel. For example, while dermal piercings are for everyone, the jewelry can make a big difference. Some opt for sleek, industrial-inspired tops like spikes or screw heads rather than jeweled designs. Similarly, earlobe stretching is more common among men and masc-presenting folks, allowing for heavier-gauge jewelry like tunnels and plugs.

Some of the most popular piercings among men and masculine-presenting individuals include:

Helix piercings (great for hoops or barbells)
Industrial piercings (a bold barbell through the upper ear)
Earlobe piercings (classic but easily leveled up with stretching)
Eyebrow piercings (a sharp, confident look)
Septum piercings (edgy, discreet, and super customizable)
Tongue piercings (for a mix of style and function)
Labret & lip piercings (from subtle studs to bold rings)
Nipple piercings (one of the top choices for masculine looks)
Genital piercings (a world of options—more on that below)

Among these, nipple, eyebrow, and ear piercings take the top spots in popularity.

A Closer Look at Genital Piercings

Genital piercings are another area where many guys explore body modification. The Prince Albert (PA) piercing is by far the most common, with the frenum piercing coming in a close second.

Prince Albert Piercing

A PA piercing passes through the urethra and exits through the head of the penis. If it goes through the top rather than the bottom, it’s known as a reverse Prince Albert piercing. While a lot of people love the look and sensation, it’s worth discussing with a partner beforehand.

Frenum Piercings & Jacob’s Ladder

Frenum piercings sit horizontally along the shaft of the penis and are a favorite for both aesthetics and stimulation. Many people who start with one end up getting multiple, forming what’s known as a Jacob’s ladder—a row of evenly spaced frenum piercings along the top or underside. If placed on top, they’re called dorsal frenum piercings.

Apadravya Piercing

This one’s a vertical piercing through the head of the penis, known for being one of the more intense piercings pain-wise. However, many say it enhances sensation, particularly for partners. When positioned well, the beads on either end can stimulate the G-spot during sex.

Additional Genital Piercing Options

Ampallang Piercing – A horizontal piercing through the head of the penis
Dydoe Piercing – Surface piercings along the top ridge of the penile head
Kuno Piercing – A foreskin piercing (for those with an intact foreskin)
Lorum Piercing – A low frenum piercing near the base of the shaft
Dolphin Piercing – A variation of the Prince Albert that connects to a second hole further down the shaft
Pubic Piercing – A surface piercing placed on the pubic area
Hafada Piercing – A surface piercing on the scrotum
Guiche Piercing – A perineum piercing (between the scrotum and anus)
Anal Piercing – Placed around the outer edge of the anus

If you’re considering a genital piercing, check out resources on placement, healing, and jewelry options before making a decision.

Body Piercing Jewelry for Masculine Piercings

There are thousands of body jewelry options available in our Retail Store, but if you’re searching for really masculine-looking body jewelry, check out our top picks below. We’ve included a representative image of nearly every type of jewelry we offer, as well as notes about which styles of jewelry works best in which piercings for guys. Click on any image or category name to see more options like the ones shown, or visit our Body Jewelry section to see our entire selection of body piercing jewelry for men.

MASCULINE JEWELRY OPTIONS



Captive Bead Rings Captive bead rings work in a wide variety of piercings. You can wear them in cartilage, earlobe, septum, lip, and nipple piercings. They’re also great for male genital piercings like PA piercings, hafada piercings, pubic piercings, and guiche piercings.	Seamless Rings Seamless rings are captive rings that don’t have removable parts to complete them. Instead, there’s a gap in the ring that you can expand to insert the jewelry. You can then realign the ends and gently squeeze the ring until the gap is nearly or completely invisible like it is with our fixed bead rings.	Segment Rings Segment rings are captive rings with removable segments that snap in and out of the rings so you can easily insert and remove the jewelry. They work in all the same piercings as traditional captive bead rings do, but they provide a more seamless look. Choose from plain and decorated rings.

Pinchers Pinchers are kind of a hybrid of captive rings and circular barbells. They’re most often used in septum piercings, but you can also wear them in cartilage piercings, earlobe piercings and nipple piercings. Many pinchers require o-rings to hold them securely in place, so always keep a few extras on hand.	Screw-on Ball Rings Like pinchers, screw-on ball rings are somewhat of a hybrid between circular barbells and captive rings. The ends don’t meet, just like with circulars, and each one has a ball or other decorative end that screws onto one side of the ring. You can wear these rings in all the same piercings as captive rings.	Circular Barbells Circular barbells, also known as horseshoe barbells, are U-shaped rings with 1-2 removable ends that allow you to insert the jewelry in your piercing. You can wear them in cartilage, earlobe, nostril, septum, lip, nipple, Prince Albert, frenum, pubic, hafada, and guiche piercings, among others.

Dermal Tops Dermal tops are typically 14g-12g internally-threaded tops that can be used with any dermal anchor or barbell that has a matching 1.2mm internal thread pattern. Wear them with dermal anchors, circular barbells, straight barbells, bent barbells, and other body jewelry with internal threading.	Bent Barbellss Bent barbells have a gentle curve to them that makes them perfect for dolphin piercings, PA piercings and nipple piercings, as well as frenum piercings and lorum piercings. It’s best to choose a bent barbell that has 2 balls instead of other decorative ends for use in any male genital piercings.	Fake Plugs If you like the look of plugs but don’t want to stretch your earlobes, you can wear fake plugs like the ones shown above instead. Fake plugs come in a variety of styles, including jeweled fake plugs, fake plugs with skulls, and other designs. Fake plugs are really only suitable for earlobe piercings.

Ear Hangers Ear hangers come in a wide range of styles and sizes for both standard ear piercings and stretched lobes. Choose from organic horn spiral large gauge earrings, wood, horn and bone stirrup earrings, hangers shaped like animals, bone ear weights, and other standard and large gauge earrings.	Eyebrow Rings Eyebrow rings can be considered masculine piercings. Plus, they come in a variety of styles and sizes. You can wear a micro-bent barbell with balls or other cool ends, like the dice eyebrow ring shown above, captive bead rings, segment rings, seamless rings, twister rings, circular barbells, or eyebrow piercing retainers in your eyebrow piercing.	Glass Jewelry Glass jewelry will add flare to just about any body piercing. You can wear glass plugs in your stretched lobes, a glass conch pin in your conch ear cartilage piercing, a glass labret plug in your stretched lip piercing, a glass septum tusk or septum pincher in your septum piercing, and more.

Gold Jewelry Nothing else is quite as classy as gold jewelry on a man, so replace your steel or titanium barbells with radiant gold jewelry for a more upscale look. Every style of body jewelry we carry comes in gold, from captive rings to bent barbells and beyond, so you can wear gold jewelry in any masculine piercings for extra shine!	Industrial Barbells If you have an industrial piercing and you’re tired of your current cartilage jewelry, check out our selection of 80+ industrial barbells. We offer tons of great options for men, like industrial barbells featuring phrases, skull charms, iron crosses, stars, bead mazes, spirals, custom colors, and more.	Labret Jewelry Traditional labret studs make great jewelry for a variety of masculine piercings, including cartilage, nostril, cheek, and lip piercings. If you have a labret piercing, you can wear cool labret pinchers and labret talons like the one shown above, too. We also offer labret plugs for stretched lip piercings.

Nipple Rings We offer a variety of dangle captive rings, straight barbells, nipple shields, bent barbells, and other styles of nipple piercing jewelry to give you the selection you crave. Choose from masculine designs like the snake nipple shields shown above, tribal captive rings, and many other options.	Limitless Custom Jewelry Our Limitless custom plugs and pendants are truly unique pieces of jewelry, because they feature YOUR designs! Choose from photo plugs, laser engraved wooden plugs, photo fake plugs, steel tunnels with laser etched wood inserts, and more, all customized with the graphics you choose.	Nose Rings If you have your nostril pierced and desperately want to find a masculine nose ring, look no further! In addition to the many girly jeweled nose rings we offer, we also carry masculine-looking spiked nostril screws, star topped nose bones, simple segment and seamless nostril hoops, and more.

Tongue Rings If you’re looking for masculine tongue rings, your search ends here! We offer loads of great tongue rings for men. Choose from tongue rings with tops shaped like skulls and crossbones, flames, iron crosses and lightening bolts, vibrating tongue rings to please your partner, and more.	Plugs & Tunnels We offer nearly 1,400 plugs and tunnels for your stretched piercings. Choose from options like our custom Elementals Evolved tunnels and plugs made from exotic woods, organic plugs, tunnels and hangers, and a multitude of options made from glass, acrylic, steel, titanium, and other materials.	Septum Tusks If you have your septum pierced and you’re not into pinchers or bull rings, we offer a variety of other masculine septum jewelry like the septum tusks shown above. Choose from handmade pig tail septum tusks, tribal septum tusks, thick arced tusks for stretched septum piercings, and other designs.

Piercing Retainers If you need a piercing retainer to make a dermal piercing, stretched lobes, an eyebrow piercing, or another piercing more discreet, you’ll find some unique options in our Piercing Retainers section. Choose from flesh tone plugs and dermal tops, clear glass piercing retainers, and other options.	PA Wands & Other Prince Albert Jewelry If you want to try a PA wand or need another style of Prince Albert jewelry, you’re sure to find the perfect accessory for your PA piercing here. Painful Pleasures is a leader in custom PA jewelry like the unique PA wand shown above. We’ll work with you to make sure your Prince Albert jewelry is a perfect fit.	Surface Piercing Jewelry If you have a surface piercing, we have the best jewelry to accessorize it. Choose from surface bar staples like the one shown above, surface barbells with angled or straight arms, and hundreds of surface barbell tops in every design imaginable, from simple balls to custom-made designs.