What’s on Alysa Liu’s Teeth? How Her DIY Piercing ‘Hobby’ Led to Her Alternative Style
Alysa Liu is our number one inspiration when it comes to looks on the ice. As one-third of “Blade Angels,” she’s known for her quirky alt looks and her gracefulness during her skating competitions.
In an out of the rink, she’s subverting the traditional expectations for figure skaters. Sporting a halo dyed hair, dark eyeliner, and a piercing, the Olympic gold medalist dances to artists on every alt girl’s playlist like Mitski, Laufey, and Lady Gaga. She’s also often mistaken for another kind of athlete. “I’ll be at something for athletes, and they’re like, ‘You’re a snowboarder, aren’t you?’ I’m like, ‘Actually, I’m a figure skater, but thank you,” she recalled to Elle.
Related: Alysa Liu’s Dad Spent Nearly $1M on Her Figure Skating Career: ‘I Spared No Money’
What’s on Alysa Liu’s teeth?
Alysa Liu doesn’t have anything on her teeth. When she smiles, you can see a smiley frenulum piercing, which is done in the piece of tissue connecting the upper lip to the gums. According to the skater, she did the piercing herself. “I had my sister hold up my lip and I was looking in the mirror and I had my piercing needle and yeah, just put it through,” she said.
On the In the Loop podcast, Alysa Liu went in depth about the piercing process. “I guess that’s another hobby I picked up. Getting a pierced at a shop is really expensive for no reason. So I thought I would learn it myself, be a little DIY girl, but. Yeah, so I picked that up just because it’s cheaper and I trust myself a lot to get it in the right spot placement wise for the jewelry. I bought all the supplies I would need like piercing needles. I don’t do it with like safety pins or the piercing gun. I’m not, I don’t do that.”
According to Healthline, smiley piercings are done in an extremely sensitive area. If pierced incorrectly or improperly cared for, you may end up with some dangerous and uncomfortable side effects.
When she flipped her lip and showed the piercing to former Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon, he was so intrigued and freaked out that he jokingly called it “so disgusting.” When he asked her why she didn’t want to pierce her ears, she said that she was “maxed out” on her ear piercings and wanted to try something new.
Alysa Liu did sport braces when she was younger and had them while she was competing in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Along with her piercing, she also has a meaningful story behind her halo hair. “Every year, I add a stripe,” Alysa explained in an interview with NBC. “It’s gonna be like this for a year, then—next wintertime, end of December—I do another ring.”
She’s gotten it professionally touched up by hairstylist Kelsey Miller. “Figure skating gives off the persona of sophistication, grace, and elegance,” Miller told The FADER in an interview. “[But Liu proves] you can still be those things and skate while being your true self and rocking your personality. You can listen to alternative music and wear dark eyeliner under your eyes. When you watch her skate, she skates so gracefully, and you can truly tell it’s her passion. It’s amazing watching the two worlds collide.”
