Considering stretching/gauging my ears - tell me everything I need to know!

Alright, well I'm going to assume that you already have well healed ear piercings. If not speak up and I'll give you more advice about where to start.

Okay, you'll be starting at no bigger than 16 gauge, from a standard size. You'll need a taper and jewelry. Go for metal tapers over acrylic; acrylic is just a horrible thing to put in your body. Metal tapers can be a bit hard to find, but some piercing shops carry them. Or you can order online. I love Wholesale Body Jewelry and Tattoo Supplies - Painful Pleasures Body Jewelry - Body Piering and Tattoos Jewelery an excellent online shop, with reasonable prices. As for the jewelry, for a fresh stretch you want glass, or implant grade surgical steel or titanium (things like silicone, bone, stone, wood, all fine, but only for healed stretches). You'll probably be starting out with some basic hoops (captive bead rings, or circular barbells...the barbells are easiest to deal with IMO) or labret studs. You most likely won't be wearing any sort of plug or tunnel until much later. But when you do, stay away from double flairs with a fresh stretch, that is, plugs which have a flared end on both sides. Too hard to get in, too hard to get out. You want either a no flare, or a single flare for a fresh stretch.

Now to the stretching itself. It is very important for you to know, that you should not be wearing tapers are jewelry. They aren't meant to be, and doing so can damage your ears. Create an uneven stretch, that will only look worse and worse as you size up, and/or create excess scar tissue that can make further stretching more difficult. Really, you only want that taper in your ear, minutes tops. You insert the jewelry right after.

To stretch, soak your lobes in hot water first, put some lube on your taper (emu oil is great, but plain water based sex lube is fine too) and gently slide it through your ear. Go front to back for any type of hoop or plug, and back to front with a labret stud. Be careful, stretching shouldn't really hurt. If it hurts, you're going too big too fast. You really shouldn't be stretching any faster than one gauge size per month for smaller sizes, but when you get into larger sizes (exactly where is up to your body, but somewhere around 10 or 8 gauge probably), you'll need to start waiting two or three months in between stretches.

If you go too fast you can cause yourself problems like excess scar tissue, rips, and blow outs. Blow outs are probably your biggest worry, because they can be hard to deal with. A blow out happens when part of your internal fistula is pushed out the back of your ear under the pressure of stretching. If this happens, remove the larger size taper or jewelry immediately, try and push the tissue back in your ear, and downsize at least two gauge sizes and let heal before you try stretching again. Tears are pretty self explainatory. If you tear, downsize at least one gauge size and let heal before you try stretching again. In either of these cases, you'll want to treat the piercing like an open wound. That means sea salt soaks: 1/4 tsp sea salt per 8 fl oz of water. Use warm in a small glass, as a direct soak for 15 minute twice a day.

That's about all I think you need to know. If you have any questions or anything just ask. If you run into any problems, feel free to pm me or whatever. Good luck man. I love stretched lobes. I have mine at 2 gauge currently, and I think I'm pretty content to stay there.

 

^All that stuff, except imo, don't buy the taper pins. They're too expensive, and most shops will have them on hand, so just go have them do it. When I was still using tapers to size up, my shop just charged me for the jewelry, the stretch was free.

Later on, like if you plan on getting past 00, you won't need taper pins at all, the weight of the jewelry will stretch your ear out on it's own, and after a couple months you can just pop the next size in.

I have to stress what the poster above said, it should NOT hurt, at least not very much. At the most you should feel a little pinch. I went up 2 sizes at once one time, and will never again. I was lucky and only got a slight tear.

 

^Oh yeah, I should have mentioned that you can definitely have a professional do this for you. But Continuum, it's just that, in my opinion anyway, there's something special about doing it yourself. But OP, you can definitely have this done professionally.

High quality, metal tapers with a recess (they're insertion tapers really) can be on the expensive side (the website I posted has them for $5 apiece, or $30 for a complete set 18-00 gauge), so if you're okay with having it done professionally and can find a shop that only charges for jewelry, like Continuum said, that's a valid way to go.

 

OH! And something REALLY important that I forgot to mention. Stretching can be permanent. Some people will tell you that the point of no return is 2 gauge, or 0 gauge, but this is false. The point of no return is different for everyone, and not only depends on the elasticity of your skin, but how you stretch (excess scar tissue is harder to shrink down).

Some people will find that they can shrink back down from 00 gauge, and other people may find that a 10 gauge stretch is permanent, it really just depends on your body, and other factors. I would honestly recommend you not stretch at all, if you're not okay with any size jump being permanent.

 

I've been thinking about doing this for the longest time but could never push myself to get it done.

I'm not going to lie, I was hesitant about the pain factor. It always seemed like it was going to be a decent amount of pain to stretch them. But after reading this I might be a little more inclined to possibly get them done.

 

Don't use tapers after 0, I didn't even read enough to know how big you want to go though.

Just take it slow, it's not a race. Seriously. That's THE biggest rule to stretching your ears, if you want to go faster I'd almost bet that one way or another your ears will be fucked up along the way. You don't want to get to an inch or whatever and have cats ass ears because they ripped at one point, and you don't want to get a blowout or infection anywhere along the way. Even if they feel fully healed and fine, always wait a while to stretch more.


Edit: At the guy above, and OP if you're wondering, there should never be any real pain. The only thing I've felt after going to an inch, back to 00, and back to 5/8" is a slight sting occasionally. It'll only hurt if you're not waiting long enough or using tapers.

 

don't do it. waste of money.

 

It's rather inexpensive until you get past about 1/2" and want to get nicer jewelry.

It's different for everyone. GENERAL CONSENSUS is that after 2 or so (depending on the person, of course) your ears won't really close completely. I know personally that after I went to 0 and back down to a 'regular' size, mine wouldn't close past a 12 or so.

 

inexpensive maybe, yet that is still money you are wasting.
not to mention, what employer is going to hire you with big holes in your ears?


how about this... you want gauges?
figure out all of the money you would spend to get them where they're big enough for you, then take that money and buy something useful that betters your life.

 

14 gauge is a perfect place to start, and $50 isn't unreasonable at all, it's just $25 per ear ($25 for a piercing is not a high price). You could start even larger, 12 gauge, 10 gauge, a few shops may even be able to pierce you as high as 8 or 4 gauge, but the majority of shops won't be set up for that, as a warning. And you do need to know that with very high gauge piercings, your ears are likely never to shrink back down from that point.

I have a problem with something she said though, for some people, lobe piercings won't even be healed in 6 weeks (depending on the individual, it can take anywhere from 1-3 months to heal). That's definitely too soon to stretch (and unfortunately some piercers cater to the impatience of their clients, instead of telling their clients what's really best for their bodies. I think you may have found one of these piercers/shops). Not only do your ears need to heal completely first, but the internal fistula needs time to soften after that, or stretching will be VERY painful, and very likely to tear your ear. So, honestly, you shouldn't be stretching any sooner than 6 months after you're pierced. Which is why I recommend you go for a larger gauge piercing in the first place, if the permanency doesn't bother you.

That set is perfectly fine, however please remember what I said before about not wearing tapers are jewelry. You will also need to get appropriate jewelry for each stretch. I hate companies that package tapers like that, with O rings as if it's perfectly fine to keep the taper in your ear for a long period of time; it isn't, and they shouldn't be sold like that....sorry for that little rant lol. Just a bit of personal annoyance there.

 

I started by getting my ears pierced at 14g which wasn't too bad. I would wait at least 2-3 months or until you feel that it is fully healed before stretching. After each stretch I would wait about a month, depending on how well the ear is taking it and how comfortable you are. I'm currently at 4g and I love it.

Keep in mind that if youre planning on getting your ears pierced at a professional shop, they will be able to give you all the information you need to keep your piercing sanitary and information regarding waiting before stretches! Good luck, it's addicting!

 

I would just punch them at a 14 or 12.

then just stretch every 3 weeks : ) just don't blow your ears out.

basically, if you can take the pain and your ears don't rip, or look damaged you're g2g.

once you get em in, wash them with any antibacterial hand soap in the shower.

Once they stop hurting, I find myself just pulling on mine or attaching something to them to help stretch them further. If you're just going to a 2 or 4 it should be a pretty easy process.

with what I said before, it's always better to go slower rather than fast.
good luck

 

pointless imo

 

Well actually I said 6 months. So the soonest I'd stretch is 10/20. But if you're really that impatient and can't wait, you do need to let the piercings heal completely at least, and I'd say no sooner than 3 months in that case, which would put you at 7/20. But when it comes to stretching, longer is always better unfortunately lol.

And actually I do go through long periods of not being on grasscity, so I'm gonna go ahead and pm you my email address, which I check daily