piercing gallery

Let me start by saying I don't recommend doing what I did to stretch my ears, it was stupid and dangerous. I was about 14 when I first got my ears pierced with the one intention of stretching them, but I was oblivious to the right methods to stretching, and where to start. I began with asking my sister who thought it was a great idea, she also helped heavily in my decision for tattoos and piercings. Starting with a big mistake, I got them pierced with a piercing gun at the mall. Knowing what I know now I wish I had got them done at a piercing studio with a needle and gone straight to a higher gauge. I did what what my friend told me, to wait until my ears were healed before I started to stretch them. When I started to stretch them me being clueless to how to do it, I went to the mall and bought a pair of pinchers and immediately jumped from the normal ear piercing to a 10 gauge ear piercing jewelry.

It was not a pleasant experience it was very painful and my ears were throbbing for hours, also not helping matters was my dad who wouldn't let me get my ears done to begin with, when he found out he tended to grab on them and pull usually right after stretching them. I then waited a couple of weeks and went to a 8 gauge, but being very impatient I jumped from an 8 gauge to an 2. I mistakenly bought flesh tunnels instead of pinchers or tapers, they wouldn't fit in at all so I improvised. I grabbed a drinking straw and folded the end of it enough to fit in my ear lobe and forced it in, It was very painful but I was so excited to be able to see a clear hole through my ear I went and showed my mom and she was none too thrilled regardless I was happy with the result and couldn't wait to get to the next size. Soon I noticed something on the back of my ear lobe, at the time I had no clue what it was, now I know it was a blowout as a result of stretching too fast.

Still not knowing how to deal with it I did something very stupid, I sat in the bathroom for probably 20 minutes trying to cut off the blowout skin off my lobe, and after plenty of pain and blood it was gone, this set me back though I know had to wait a while for the now open wound to heal before I could resume stretching. After about a month of waiting it was healed and I stretched to a 00 gauge, I wore surgical steel flesh tunnels with a 8 gauge retainer ring through the tunnel, I loved the look as did my friends and at the time present girlfriend. After a year of much trial and error I had achieved my goal. I soon realized that from the weight of the steel in there all the time it slowly stretched them another gauge higher but I never switched to larger jewelry.

Sitting here its roughly 4 years after thinking I had finished stretching my ears and never had the intention of stretching any further but after seeing and very much liking the look of large gauges, the appeal of the beautiful plugs i've seen around. I have begun to stretch them again for the last 2 months. The only difference between then and now is I know what I am doing which has helped considerably. Knowing the right ways to do it helps a lot and definitely cuts back on the pain and I am presently at a 1/2 inch with a goal of getting to 1 inch, although that may change and I might decide to go to 2 inch. When I picked up stretching my lobes again I did it properly and ordered a set of 00g to 1 inch tapers, and this time round, I'm being very patient and being careful. I am in no hurry this time.

Remembering being in 9th and 10th grade with stretched lobes, I always got the same questions, Did it hurt? My answer is always the same, yes and it was worth it. And people ask why? I always answered why not and never had a problem answering them. I really enjoyed the idea of grossing out the people who were against any kind of modification especially the teachers who really liked to send me to the principle for having them. Having them really opened my eyes to how people treat you if you don't go with the social norm. Fortunately that kind of thing doesn't happen that much anymore because of modifications becoming so common. Occasionally I still get dirty looks from people because of my tattoos or ears but it doesn't bother me. Currently I couldn't be happier with them and in the process of doing them it has opened my eyes to the world of body piercing and am soon gonna get more.
quizmoz
about
tonguestud

this is my third story. The last place I left off was waiting for my 0 Gauge tunnels to come in the mail. Well I did get them and they were very nice just what I expected. I wore those for a long time b/c I wasn't allowed to go any larger.

Many of you might be familiar with the tape technique, which is the process in which you wrap a little tape around the post of your jewelry once every week or so. I did that because it's a discrete and cheap way of stretching. So I got to stretch, without my mom noticing. I did this until my ears where a little bigger than a double 0.

Then me and my family took a trip up to GA for my brothers graduation. While we were there we decided to check out there mall, very nice by the way. So I went into the Hot Topic to look at jewelry, some pretty cool stuff. They were having a buy one get one 1/2 off so I picked some out and ran to my mom. I told her about the sale, and that I didn't have cash on me so she agreed to spot me some. Keep in mind, that I didn't talk about size. I bought a pair of black screw ons and a pair of steel double flared tunnels, both 1/2". I was so exited I rushed to the bathroom to put them in. Of course I started with the screw ons so I wouldn't have to stretch much. Got one in my right ear with a little pain and effort, but my left ear was a different story it took me at least 5 minutes to get it in and it hurt really bad. keep in mind it's not supposed to hurt too much, but I'm really impatient and stupid.

I was exited because they looked really cool. I wore those until they were about to heal and I was anxious to put my other pair in, but it would not be easy because of the flair. So on flared jewelry the flair is about as big as the next size. But in my case it was about 2 sizes more I wanted the in really bad though so I rushed into it AGAIN. Luckily I had a 5/8 taper from my neighbor. So I busted out the lube got to it, first ear ok not that bad, but once again my dumb left ear gave me trouble and I think I had a minor blowout, because the skin on the back is pushed out more than normal. I was really mad at myself for doing that so don't try it. It hurt and bled, but it healed within days. I wore those for weeks , they looked great. I saw someone else with my screw ons and it made me want to wear them again. Wrapped some tape on em and put em on. I wrapped them till they were the size of the flair which was 5/8.

So just a few days ago I went to warped tour and it was AMAZING. Chiodos, Alesana, Underoath, and Scary Kids Scaring Kids were all sick nasty. Anyways at the amphitheater they were selling jewelry at a little shop called plug your holes. I couldn't resist, so I bought a pair of black stone plugs and they look great. Once again there double flared, so I can't fit them, but I wasn't thinking when I bought them. I'm very anxious to get them in so I needed something bigger than 5/8 to stretch with.So I took that 5/8 taper and wrapped tape on the end and shoved it in my left ear, it was throbbing a little but nothing bad. And that's were I'm at in my journey. My mother no longer tells me to stop just encourages me to. I might be done after I get these plugs in. It's a good place to stop stretching.

Again, to everyone thinking of stretching I encourage you not to do anything dumb such as stretch to early, be patient. and if it is really painful or starts to bleed stop doing it. it's not normal. I know I'm such a hypocrite when it comes to this. But take my word for it. I also recommend having a goal size, or else you will just keep aimlessly stretching. I feel that I'm ready to stop only because I think it looks like a nice size. Although It's a little annoying hearing everyone saying the same thing about my ears when I'm old And hearing my mom tell me how weird I am for doing it. I do not regret stretching at all, but I do regret stretching early and all the other dumb things I've done.

I don't remember exactly what sparked my obsession with stretching my ears. Perhaps it was the four failed gun attempts on my poor abused, scarred lobes and my feeble attempt to reclaim them. Perhaps it was just another act of teenage rebellion against my school. Perhaps it was genuine curiosity, and a real sense of knowing, when I looked at stretched lobes it was like, 'yes!'. I'd always hated the kind of jewelry available for regular lobes.

Regardless, I read experiences and talked to my friends about starting. I looked at sizes and compiled information. Then I approached my parents.

My dad is strangely conservative. He wears ties to work and used to polish his shoes every weekend. Compared to my father, my mother is a hippy child. She's forever encouraging of her daughters and I feel privileged to call myself her child. She's the one who talked me through leaving school at fifteen, through getting my school certificate and, now, my HSC. I figured she would be the best one to approach first with all my new-found information.

I made her a cup of tea and I sat her down. I said, "Mum, I don't want you to dismiss this straight away, but I want to stretch my ears."

She balked. I laughed. I presented my information, making sure to answer all her questions the best I could, showing her the exact size I wanted to go to (at that time, 5mm) and essentially letting her know I knew what I was doing.

She shot me down. Over the next few weeks, I'd take on the role of annoying child, wearing her down. She was convinced I was doing it solely for shock value. She thought the larger jewelry ugly and unbecoming. She believed it was too permanent, and I'd be sick of it within a few weeks. She said she was fine with my hair (which was bright purple and black at the time) but as far as piercings went, no way.

And I managed it. She took me out to Westfield's (shopping centre) and we ended up in Star Jewelry. I asked the man what I should start out with, and he gave me a 2mm horn spiral and a tiny o-ring and told me to just push a little through every day, and to come back when it was through and he'd sell me the next size up.

I now know this was probably not the best way to stretch one's ears, but at the time I knew no better and eagerly set forth. About a month later, I had one lobe at 2mm and was itching to start on the next.

Mum and I head back to the same place, and this time I buy a 5mm curved acrylic stretcher. It pops through about a month after purchase in the shower and I am ecstatic. By this point, my right ear was at 2mm, and I was eager to get the 5mm stretcher into it.

Back mum and I go to the store, and we buy an 8mm curved acrylic stretcher, essentially exactly the same as the 5mm one except bigger. I was so excited for this. It, too, slides through with little pain roughly a month later, and I jump online to look at the plugs available to me, before finally settling on a pair of bright red Kaos silicone eyelets.

They arrive and I clean one, take the stretcher out of my ear (making sure to admire the hole) and try to fold the eyelet. No dice. It keeps slipping out of my hand. I call for mum and she arrives at the door of the bathroom. I ask her if she could help me get my plug in and she says, "Oh no, I'm not touching those." A little bit of coaxing later, I've got a squishy Kaos plug in my ear and the first half of the 8mm stretcher in my other ear.

Finally, again, nearly a month later I have both ears at 8mm, adorned with Kaos, the red so vibrant it's visible through my hair. I was pleased, my parents were happy that I was happy, it was a win for everyone. I bought a clear pair of Kaos eyelets and wore those for nearly six months, changing them for a gorgeous pair of grey glass colourfronts when I needed to look mildly respectable.

Then, I got itchy. I started noticing imperfections when I removed my plugs. My left ear, the one that went first, was crooked, a result of the many gun piercings I endured before I knew any better. It was far too close to the side of my face. I made a decision: if I was going to stretch any further, I want them to be as even as possible. I took out the plug. That same week, I decided it was time to do what I'd been desperate to do for a few months now: make my way from 8mm to 1/2".

I went out to Big W and bought knitting needles, one in 10mm and one in 12mm. I asked my dad to bring home some teflon tape and a metal file. He did these things for me after I reassured him, again, that I knew what I was doing.

I cut the tapered end off the 10mm knitting needle and filed the back so it wouldn't scrape my ear, and I recovered some 8mm silicone o-rings as I discovered a violent allergy to the black ones after putting the glass jewelry in for the first time. It was a millimeter stretch, and it took me a week, coincidentally my last week of first term at my new school, where it is not uncommon to see many students wandering about with various large pieces of metal adorning their faces, so I was hardly the odd one out with my grey lump of plastic sticking out of my ear.

The Easter long weekend saw me off to Nowra, a few hour's train ride away, and it was on this train on the way home that I had an issue. I pulled out the taper, gently, as I was having some pain issues, something I had never really experienced before with my ears. I was on the end of a cold, which could have aided in the piercing flaring up, however I was not in the right mind. I looked at the taper carefully once I had removed it. It was disgusting. Lymph and blood spotted it and I wiped it all off with a tissue and held another up to my ear as my friend had helpfully pointed out, it was bleeding.

I panicked; I couldn't wait two hours, sitting on a train, to get to a bathroom to see the damage. I shoved the taper back through, praying I hadn't done something terrible. Somehow, odds against odds, my ear was fine when I ran to the bathroom at Central, two hours later.

I gave my ear a few days to calm down, performing sea-salt soaks and emu oil massages before I decided I couldn't wait any longer. I cut another length of 10mm knitting needle, filed down the ends, wrapped two layers of teflon tape over it, covered it all liberally with emu oil, and slid it in after my morning shower. I continued in this way for a couple weeks, wrapping more and more tape around my makeshift plug.

Two weeks later, I was staring blankly at my new 1/2" lobe, adorned with a black titanium tunnel I had bought online. I was startled at how large it actually was, and I loved it immediately.

It's now about four months later, and I find myself playing with it all the time. My left lobe has shrunk to about 2mm, and I expect that 2mm will take a very long time to heal completely. I adore my 1/2" lobe.

My journey has taken me through nearly two years of madness and three sets of too-small jewelry. I massage my lobes daily with emu oil and clean my tunnel daily. I've never had a problem with ear funk or infection. I love my lobes, and I love taking care of them.