Marina A.J. from Elche/Murcia, Spain, Another point of view, crop, CC BY 2.0
A labret which has been well placed by a good piercer can accentuate the natural beauty of the lips and chin.
'Labret' comes from the Latin 'Labrum' meaning lip. So a labret piercing is any piercing of the lip, but typically it is the piercing of the lower lip, below the actual lip and in the centre of the chin. Other lip piercings are now popular and have their own names like the Medusa or philtrum piercing or the Madonna.
labret and septum @saltymossbabe
Lip piercing has been practiced around the world for many thousands of years. It seems that only two tribes traditionally pierced their lips with a ring: the Dogon tribe Of Mali and the Nuba of Ethiopia. For the Dogon the piercing of the lip has religious significance. Their ancestor spirit “Noomi” created the world by weaving thread through her teeth, it was this that created speech and then the world was formed.
Nearly all the other traditional tribal lip piercing around the world is done with labret studs made of carved wood or ivory. Some tribes, notably in Central Africa and South America, stretch their labret piecings and insert large wooden or clay plates.
The above lithograph is of 'Cunhambebe' who was an aboriginal Indian chieftain of the Tupinambá tribe, in an area which is modern day Brazil as portrayed by André Thevet in 1584. He has a stretched labret piercing as well as two cheek piercings.
The ancient Aztecs and Mayans wore stunning labrets made from pure gold in the shape of serpents, these were inset with stones of jade or obsidian. The Native Americans of the Northwest of what is now America and the Inuit peoples of northern Canada and Alaska wore labrets which they made from walrus ivory, bone, obsidian, wood and abalone shell.
Of course modern day tribal people still practice labret piercing. We found this beautiful picture of two young Omo Tribe women in Ethiopia who have inserted flowers into their labret piercings. The Omo are famous for their elaborate body decoration and piercing rituals.
Yves Picq, 3490 Ethiopie ethnie Karos, CC BY-SA 3.0
And here is a young woman and child of the Yonomami tribe in the Brazillian Amazon wearing what look like maybe porcupine quills in her labret piercings.
Cmacauley, Yanomami Woman & Child, CC BY-SA 3.0
After seeing these images I think we can all agree that labret piercings are attractive can't we..in fact they are stunning! If you already have your lip pierced then why not have a look at our selection of labret studs?
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