I have wanted to stretch my ears for a long time and when I finally decided to do it, I wanted it to be done right. I went to BME experiences to get a feel for what to expect and how to not mess up my ears. I saw that most people did self stretching and that often turned out bad and painful. Since I'm a tad accident prone, it was obvious that despite the price I would get all my stretching professionally done.
At A Glance Author Jennifer Contact Jennifer@bme.anon When N/A Studio Enigma Location Pacific Beach, Ca On Super Bowl Sunday of this year, I set out to have my, pierced since I was a baby, ears stretched for the first time. I figured that the studios would be empty on that day and I wouldn't need to wait and feel stupid for having such a minor modification done. I headed to Pacific Beach where there are several piercing and tattoo shops close together. I picked one at random and even though they had "piercing" printed in the window, they didn't have a piercer on staff. The guy behind the counter recommended Enigma to me. I had heard of Enigma before, they advertised in the San Diego Reader and had coupons. This was a respectable place and I felt totally confident about going there, even as a got lost and had to U-turn to find it.
As I expected the studio was empty. There was only one piercer and a fill in guy who looked and ended up being useless. All they do there is piercing so they have a pretty good sized selection of jewelry. I was a bit overwhelmed and didn't have a clue as to what I wanted or what I should ask for. The piercer was I believe Coree or Corey, I don't know how she spells her name, but she was nice. I explained how I wanted my ears stretched and wanted the cheapest stuff so I could go up soon and not break my budget. I picked out little black baby spirals.
I asked a few stupid questions such as how big could I go right then and there but mostly I was silenced by the uncomfortable-ness I was feeling. I should have asked more but was feeling pretty silly.
Finally I went into the piercing room, was asked how long my ears had been pierced and when I last had them in. After answering these questions in a satisfactory way, I had one then the other 12g spirals pushed in. I wouldn't call it pain, it didn't feel good, but it was more than bearable and I paid my $37 for the earrings and tipped $5.
Never once was aftercare, or what I should expect, explained, talked about or even mentioned. I should have asked, but I didn't know any better and assumed since the pain wasn't bad that I needn't worry. The next day my ears hurt, and they continued to do so for a solid week. I researched some more, fretted about infection and finally realized I should sea salt soak my ears. I did each one for 15 minutes and the next day my ears were feeling much better. I was slightly pissed at Enigma for not saying anything to me, but I let it blow over, it wasn't anything I couldn't handle.
6 weeks later I headed back to go up again. I was determined to do this right and stick to the professionals and Enigma has one of the best reputations in San Diego. Coree was there again and she was just as nice as the first time. She asked me if I would want to go up to 8g's if she could get them in and I decided that she was the pro and to let her do what she felt best. I did though; expect her to tell me what she did afterwards. That didn't happen. Since she didn't tell me what she put in, I assumed it was just 10g's because my ears aren't that stretchy and I wasn't in a hurry to get up in size. Again, no aftercare instructions. There was less pain in the stretching this time and healing went better because I already knew to soak.
I found out my assumption was wrong another 6 weeks later when I went back to go up again. This time I went on a Monday afternoon and the studio was busier. They were putting up new lights and one of the piercers couldn't actually pierce for some reason. I think he had hurt himself or something. Anyway, only one guy could actually do anything. There were a couple of people ahead of me and some other guy needing a collection of stuff. All I wanted was to go up to what I thought were 8g's and on top of that I wanted them to do the stretching for me, I think they were a bit miffed at that.
In between what I assume they consider "real" clients, I got called up for a quick job. I told the guy who couldn't pierce what I wanted, the same black spirals in 8g. He looked at my ears and told me I already had those. So I said ok, give me 6's then. He grabbed the gauge size thing and pulled out a bunch of the spirals, he found one that matched up to the 6's and grabbed the one next to it (without also checking it, foreshadowing here, folks).
I was quickly called into the room with the piercer, I was never told his name not even a "hi," he only said that he could do it quick so I better come in. He put the first spiral half way into my left ear and it already felt stretched, I thought he was done but instead he asked me if it felt tight. Naturally I said yes, and he said take a breath in, I did and he pushed it the rest of the way in. I nearly yelped. It felt as if my ear had just been ripped out. I told him how that was the most painful stretching I'd had and he said smugly "woke you up didn't it." I said yeah, and braced myself for the right ear. Again he told me to take a breath in and he pushed it through with ease. No pain at all. What the hell. One ear was on fire and I was sure it had to have bled and the other was fine. I figured he was a pro and would know if something was off. When he didn't say anything I paid, tipped and went on my merry, painful way.
The rest of the day the pain didn't ease up, the next two days it got worse. Pus, swelling, worse pain and no clue as to why. A couple of days later I thought I was getting an infection because my jaw was hurting and my whole ear. After several days of soaking and cleaning with Satin, the pain started to ease up. About two weeks after I removed the spirals to massage my lobes and check out how big they were. To my surprise the left hole was much larger than the right. I looked at the jewelry and realized they were different gauges. The left was such a problem because it was a 4g and not a 6g. Had they not used the actual jewelry for the stretching they would have caught the mix up, but still they are supposedly professionals.
Now I have one ear at 6g and the other at 4g, I went to professionals so my ears wouldn't turn out this way. I could have done this just as painfully to myself for much cheaper. I don't mean to be so harsh on the particular store, but three bad experiences proves to me that they don't care, whether they look down on stretching because it's such a little mod, or some other reason. I feel like a second-class body modifier. This stuff shouldn't happen at a good store, yet it did. Even if I stretched myself and messed up I wouldn't have skipped gauges, now I have to fix it myself, I should go back and demand a free 4g spiral, but I no longer trust them and know they don't really care about the quality of their work.
Coree may have not given me the information I should have received, but had the last experience not happened I would still go to her because she did a good job and at least treated me well. As it is though I am done with Enigma, they caused me undue pain from negligence, its like asking for one piercing and getting another, more painful one instead. I didn't want that and it hurt me. For now I'll fix my ear, stretch the other to 4g and then, maybe go to Church of Steel when it re-opens.