I was talking with the ladies at the tattoo parlour I frequent and we got to talking about piercings and stretching. Since getting my vertical labret done, I really have no desire to get another piercing but I am seriously considering getting (eventually because I’m going to work up to it..) a 6 gauge put in. I’m sort of weighing my pros and cons- at this point, it’s all about if I can wear normal earrings or not. I was assured that I could but i’m also wondering about later on in life when I begin working as a nurse- how is this going to look if I put in normal studs?
Anyone got any advice on stretching? About if I should work my way up 18, 16, 14, 12, etc? Or should i skip every other? Or what?
Thanks!
Hi
Couple of my friends have done their ears to the point I can poke my fat finger through it. They have said that if they were to take them out it would take a very long time for their ear lobe to return to normal (if at all) and would prob require a few stitches.
Obviously I am talking at the extreme range here. I asked them about the process and they have advised that you should not skip steps on stretching.
The reason being that you can tear the lobe and cause scarring which would damage any future repair. They all went through each gauge giving it plenty of time to adjust. Otherwise may also get infection.
They also said don’t bother with rubber plugs but get titanium as easier to sterilise and maintain.
A 6 gauge wouldn’t be so hard to return to normal for a job (if they said take it out) but once you start going to the larger sizes could leave you with a dangling lobe for some time.
Take Care
Matthew
Yeah i was thinking it’d be prudent to take it slowly. I definitely don’t want any infections or damage done because if I’m going to be a nurse and i have gnarly ears because i was being dumb and impatient, I’ll definitely regret it :o. I was assured that with diligence, I could be up to a 6 gauge in 2 months. Even so, i’ll take it nice and slow.
Thanks for answering 🙂
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What guage are you at?
It took me about 4 months to go from a 14 to an 8. I made sure I took it slow though as I know at some point I will take mine out for good.
my earrings are at 6 (i have segment rings in). I haven’t taken these ones out in at least a year, so now that they’re totally seasoned at this gauge I’m not sure how fast they’d close up… i had a second piercing on each lobe at 6 gauge once, but I took those out and they closed right up; however, i didn’t have those in as long.
I did all my gauging myself without any problems. I bought 2 tapers, one that goes to maybe 10, and one that goes to 6. starting from about 14g I went straight to 10 and then to 6, but when i gauged them, I would be very gentle with the taper… push it in until it feels like it’s stretching, and then set the rubber stopper thing at that level for a couple hours/overnight, and then when that felt good stretch it some more, etc.
I’m not claiming that my way is a good idea, or that it would work for you, but it’s what i did.
just curious, with stretching, i hae only stretched the cartilidge part of my ear about ten years ago, it is at 10mm with the lobes why does it take so long? surely it should stretch easy as i got my ear pierced and stretched in one sitting, would it not be possible to do this with a lobe? cause as carmael has mentioned i also have been thinking about stretching my ears i only wanna go to about 15mm though i think the huge stretches dont look as good. would someone who is a piercer by profession answer this question as i am curious
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not a piercer by profession however it’s not uncommon to pierce and stretch in one sitting. You only want to stretch one maybe two sizes larger dependent on the guage in the initial stretch though. As a general thought it’s just always best to take it slow and ensure it’s being done correctly while exposing yourself to as little risk to a blow out as possible.
i have my ear at 16mm and from experience it is not wise to rush stretching. Iv learned the hard way!! however, i did meet a guy who took his out at 16mm and they closed up just fine. obviously he had a bit of a scar but nuting gruesome!! u could always just get a dermal punch where they get it straight up to about 8mm i think.
i have 00G and ive been tapering for a while. i taper my ears every 6-8wks. just enough time to let them heal before streching again. it doesnt hurt as this rate. it just stings a bit for about 5mins. i have an auto-clavable (sp?) set that goes up to a 000g. i have used big ghetto hoops inside them to look “cute” lol. i think its pretty hott when girls do that. but once you’ve gone so big it hard to go back without surgery but i think you have to be pretty far off. i can take out my earlets overnight and STILL have a little struggle when putting them back in.
i have a question tho….
whats the MM conversion of a 00g or a 000g? ive got no clue.
I stretched my ears myself from a 2.4mm (10 gauge?) to a 10mm (00 gauge?). They were done at jumps of 2.4 > 4 > 5 > 6 > 8 >10 mm.
About once every two weeks seemed to be enough to stretch without hurting too much.
For most of them I used short tapers and not insertion pins. These sting when they go in.
If you can, use insertion pins instead, which are a lot longer and go from your current gauge to the next, not from a tiny point straight up. This means your ears are stretched a lot gentler, which stings a lot less. I got my 10mm steel tubes into my 8mm holes with relative ease and no real stinging, just a little tightness.
If when trying to stretch it hurts, your ears aren’t ready to be stretched up that far yet.
I wish I could gauge my ears lol. If I COULD I would deff stretch them, but get them patched up once I started my career as a police officer… unless the dept was cool with them.
-I’m a college wrestler; and cauliflower ear is almost a guarentee unless you wear headgear at all times && I just don’t diggg wearing headgrear except when we’re required too for compeition.
i love to see them done but im still not sure about doing mine . mainly because of when i do wedding photography it might give the wrong impression !
Perhaps. There’s nowhere near as many piercing threads as tattoo ones here. It could be evened out a little.
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