Belly bars are by far the most widely available piece of body jewellery, they come in limetless styles and designs of pretty much anything imaginable from animals to precious stones, bright colours, long dangles, the list is endless.

But what makes a belly bar a belly bar?
Well, a belly bar is almost always a 14g (1.6mm) curved barbell of around 8-12mm in length. A Basic belly bar usually has two balls, the top ball of 5mm and the bottom ball of 8mm as shown in the image above of a basic jewelled belly bar.  The part which goes through the piecing is called the stem, shaft or post.

Belly bars often come in designs which substitute the bottom ball for a shape or dangle such as these:

They can have small charms, long dangles or be static shapes as shown.  They can be made of metal such as steel or titanium or non metals such as Bioplast / Bioflex, PTFE or acrylic.  or sometimes a combination of materials, for example a metal stem with UV acrylic ends.

Belly bars can have several names which all mean the same thing.  You may see them referred to as banana bars, bananabells, navel bars, tummy bars, belly button bars…they all mean the same thing.  They are also often called belly rings, although they are not rings at all!

Belly bars can also come in reverse, where the design is at the top of the bar and hangs down over the piercing, these are sometimes called chandelier belly bars, top down belly bars or reverse belly bars:

Sometimes belly bars have designs on both ends:

Other types of navel jewellery which are not belly bars include body spirals and BCRs…