Alysa Liu reveals the surprising story behind her lip piercing

Alysa recently shared insight into the frenulum piercing, which sits in the middle of her upper gum and rests on her frontmost teeth, revealing that she did it herself at home.

“I pierced it a little over two years ago now,” she told TMJ4 News. “I had my sister hold up my lip, and I was looking in the mirror, and I had my piercing needle and then – yeah, I just put it through.”

Alysa later shared with reporters the story behind her unique hairstyle, which features rings of blonde that she has dubbed “halos”.

“I originally actually wanted raccoon stripes three years ago, but I was like, ‘Too much, too long, and it’s going to be hard to upkeep,’” she said during a press conference in January.

“Then I thought, I kind of want to be a tree, add a new ring every year, and so I did my second one the next year. It just grows out, and then so this year, I just did the same thing. I’m just gonna keep adding one every time.”

The two-time gold medal winner has a distinctive style off the ice, too, which she called “alternative”.

“I love masculine style so much. I feel really comfortable in it. Off the ice, I don’t dress as feminine. To me, that is skating,” she explained to Cosmopolitan.

“I’ll wear skirts, too, but I definitely love a good masculine street style. When I am at public events, and I’m wearing my usual style, people will say, ‘Oh, I thought you were, like, a snowboarder.’ I take it as a compliment. I like throwing people off,” she added.

Alysa retired from skating in 2022 and returned to the sport in 2024, with several stipulations for her coaches the second time around.

“I made a deal with my coaches: No one tells me what I’m gonna wear. No one tells me how my hair is gonna be. No one’s gonna try to change me. I’m going to pick my own programs and skate the sessions I want to skate,” she told the publication.

“Y’all are my coaches. You guys are going to help me and lead me in training, but I’m structuring it the way I want to.”

The California native added: “They mentioned some judges and higher-ups might be concerned. I said if they tell me to dye my hair back, I will quit. If they don’t like it and they want to give me less scores or treat me differently, that’s on them. If I change my hair, it’s gonna be because I wanted to.”

Alysa’s infectious energy won her millions of fans worldwide following her winning performance at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympic Games in February.