My first two attempts at pierced ears were done by shopping mall guns. Neither attempt healed right–remaining tiny, irritated holes that sometimes pussed and bled. The hole (or is that whole) experience left me with the notion that maybe my lobes just weren't meant to be pierced. It wasn't until I had my penis, nipples, septum, and bridge pierced that I decided to try another round of lobes.
At A Glance Author pigkillin'_headhunter Contact syck_dryfter@yahoo.com IAM pigkillin'_headhunter When Five years ago I had seen the over an inch in diameter lobes that my old piercer, Nomad, sported and knew that I wanted mine as big as I could get them. Unfortunately, Nomad was true to his name and was gone for greener pastures.
So began my quest for a piercer who would start my ears at around six gauge. In Middle Georgia, this was not an easy task. I was told by several of the local shops that ten gauge was as high as they would pierce. It wasn't until I was at my first tattoo convention–Atlanta 1999–that I found someone who wanted to do the hole big. Someone who was more knowledgeable about stretched piercings in general.
He was the only piercer doing work at the convention and worked at one of the Atlanta area Sacred Heart shops. He said he could use a four gauge needle on my lobe, but only had the one needle that size. He said it was really ordered just to show people how big they made needles. Furthermore, the only piece of four gauge jewelry he had at the convention was a ˝ inch barbell. I walked around for a while mulling over getting just the one done and eventually decided to go for it.
As he set up his tray and marked his dots on my left lobe we talked about doing the hole this big, and he said that this would be the first time he used a four gauge needle. Undaunted by his admitted inexperience, we forged ahead. He said he was placing the dot high up on the ear for best results with later stretchings. He also warned me of the possibility that I might bleed a good bit–especially if the bevel snagged. I thought to myself–cool. My wife, who was one of a few onlookers, said "He likes blood."
Unfortunately, the bevel didn't snag, and I didn't bleed a drop. The whole process seemed so simple and went so easy that I decided right then and there that I'd do the other lobe at home.
The Monday following the convention I began looking up suppliers online. Eventually, I found a place that sold everything and cheap–Unimax supply out of New York. I used a credit card I had no intention of paying back to order a beginning tattoo kit with autoclave and a wide assortment of piercing needles, tapers, and jewelry. (This is also when I discovered BME–though all I used it for at the time was a source for a lot of neat piercings that I couldn't get where I lived.)
The largest gauge needle they sold was a six gauge, so that's what I had my wife prep to put through my right lobe. This time the bevel snagged. It hurt more than I expected it would and there was indeed quite a bit of blood, but I really liked the whole process better–pain and all. We immediately tapered with an acrylic claw at four gauge. Finally, my lobes matched–at least in size if not jewelry.
A couple of days later I tapered both holes to eight millimeter using another acrylic claw for a taper and inserting clear acrylic plugs. I wore them for about three months or so–until my ears seemed completely healed. I bought a pair of organics for the next stretch. They were little snakes in a hoop shape that tapered up to a ten millimeter snake head. I wore these for several more months.
Then, I saw these neat looking amber plugs that had honeybees inside, so I ordered a pair at twelve millimeter. When they came in there were ants inside instead of honeybees. The ants were so small they were absolutely not noticeable unless you knew to look for them. Add to that the fact that the o-rings kept popping off, and I changed them out for ˝ inch tunnels a month later.
The next step was fourteen millimeter buffalo horn dragons with a natural taper to the jewelry. I wore them until the finish began to get rough and started irritating the inside of my lobes. My last up size took place a couple of months ago. I bought some 5/8 inch pyrex plugs, but before I put them in I wore my Borneo monkeyboy ear weights for two days. The glass plugs slid in with a little KY. I'm now wearing 5/8 inch buffalo horn spirals do to a pyrex plug falling to the tilled floor of my shower and snapping in two, but I know that eventually, once I'm at an inch and a quarter, all I'll wear will be weights.