Well, as you can tell from the title of my story, it's not going to be an all too pleasant one. It wasn't all bad. I took it like a woman, but I don't recommend doing what I did. But in case you do, I'm sharing this experience with you all so you know what to expect if you do earlobe stretching yourself (and more than likely what NOT to expect if you get it done professionally).
At A Glance Author XKellyX Contact xdrivebykissx@hotmail.com When Two years ago Artist Myself Studio My Room Location Baltimore, MD Growing up, I never had any piercings. I always wanted them, but was too chicken to make any moves. I didn't actually get the nerve up to get my ears pierced until I was 16. My parents weren't really a factor in why I waited so long to do my ears. They actually urged me to be an individual and express myself freely, even if it involved piercing. It was just seemed so scary and painful. It took a little bit of peer pressure to finally get me to build up the nerve to pierce my ears for the first time. I wish all the decisions in my life had been taken as seriously as that one! But that's a completely different story...
At the time, when I was 16, I was dating the "pierced boy" in school. He had about 9 piercings on his face alone, and it was so attractive to me. With a little coaxing, he eventually talked me into getting my ears done. So I did. And it didn't hurt nearly as much as I thought it would. That's usually how things are, though. Soon afterwards, him and I broke up... love doesn't last long in high school. About 2 years later, I had my lip pierced and yearned for more. So I decided to stretch my earlobes.
Now, my ears were very sensitive and they got infected often. I would have troubles with just the little studs in my ears, but I was convinced that stretching was what I wanted to do. So I bought all the materials (a 4g taper needle, petrolium jelly, bacitracin, and 10g plugs) and cleaned them well and layed them before me in my room. I would have done it in the bathroom where there was much better light, but I was so nervous I thought I might accidentally drop one of the plugs down the drain. I had watched as my best friend Jessica got her ears stretched from 18g to 14g and figured since I'd seen it done, I could do it myself. And that night I did. I had 10g holes in my ears. The next day my ears were throbbing and it felt like I had a midget just hanging from my ears! But I was happy that I had actually gone through with it. And in no time, I felt well enough to do it again... big mistake.
2 weeks after my initial stretching (you should definetly wait longer if you are planning on doing this), I decided it was time to go to 6g. I put all my materials out again and cleaned them well. Cleaned my ears and began to stretch. At first I had no pain at all. I pushed and pushed and all of a sudden there was some serious burning and blood was coming out of my earlobe! At first I panicked and started to cry a little, but then I took the taper out and examined my ear. I had ripped my earlobe! Oh man, it hurt pretty bad too. I was going to stop but decided against it and continued on with it. Putting the taper back through that ripped hole was like torture but with a little force I finally got the taper through and put the plug in. I was in dread thinking about doing it all over again with the left ear, but it actually went much more smoothly, maybe because it was more pliable. I don't know, but the next day, my right ear was in intense pain and it hurt off and on for the next couple of months. It almost got infected but I obsessively cleaned it and put anti-biotic ointment on it every hour.
Eventually it healed and I continued on with my stretching and now I have beautiful 4g holes in my ears. But once again, I don't want anyone to think that they should do this sort of thing to their own ears unless they are willing to accept the fact that infection could be a side effect. Go to a professional. And whatever you do, please be patient and don't try to stretch too quickly. Unless you want your ears to rip like mine. But I doubt you do. So good luck and thank you for letting me share my story with you.