Small gauge barbells are very popular for small, petite piercings, especially facial piercings. Most piercings are done at 1.6mm (14g) so this is considered “standard gauge”. This means that anything under 1.6mm can be called a small gauge barbell. Barbells this small are suitable for nose piercings, ear piercings and lip piercings. They allow you to use very small piercings jewellery and have a discrete, delicate look to your piercings.

0.8mm / 20 Gauge Barbells

0.8mm is actually too small for most manufacturers and you are unlikely to find any small gauge barbells in 0.8mm. This gauge is mostly used for nose studs and nose rings. This partly because wearing a 0.8mm barbell in any other piercing would encourage the piercing to migrate – a very thin barbell offers little resistance and can be migrated and rejected by the body.

1mm / 18 Gauge Barbells

1mm is the smallest gauge that you can find barbells in. 1mm small gauge barbells are ideal for ear cartilage piercings, nose piercing and some lip piercings. These small barbells are also ideal for ear lobe piercings that were originally done with a piercing gun.

1mm Titanium Barbell

1mm Steel Barbell

1mm PTFE Barbell Stem

1.2mm / 16 Gauge Barbells

This is popular size for small gauge barbells and you can find a huge choice of small barbells in this gauge. 1.2mm barbells are commonly used for ear piercings, lip piercings and nose piercings – it is big enough to prevent migration yet still very small and discrete. These small gauge barbells are available in a wide choice of materials and can be customised with any threaded accessories you like.

1.2mm Green Titanium Barbell

1.2mm Purple Titanium Barbell

1.2mm Titanium Barbell

1.2mm Star Barbell

1.2mm Steel Barbell

1.2mm Purple Cone Barbell