I cannot say I know a lot about piercing, stretching, or the names of any piercings, and I can't say I've been aware of different piercings for long. However, I've gotten this far, so I do know a little! =) For awhile, if I saw someone with stretched ear lobes, I'd talk quietly with the person I would be with, and go, "Look at the size of his ear! That has got to hurt, it's nuts." However, my attitude towards ear lobe stretching, and other piercings have changed over the past few years. I believe the fascination probably occurred when I started going to shows more often. I would see people with their lobes stretched. I thought it was really neat. I would approach them out of the blue, and talk to them about stretching. They explained a little to me even though I still didn't completely understand. Since I've started noticing different piercings, I have made new friends, all of whom I have come up to, without knowing them, to talk about piercings.
At A Glance Author Nicole Contact a_broken_poet@hotmail.com When A week ago My friend Nick explained the most about lobe stretching once when we were chatting online, and I wanted to do it. He warned it's not a good idea for someone who cannot deal with a lot of pain. I was still interested in stretching, even after recieving that warning. Then, he told me about blowouts. I knew I wouldn't rush into anything, but would ease into it, so that was not a problem either. He started giving me cleaning advice, and told me to like... lube up the earring and the ear before trying to stretch, and that it's easiest to stretch after a warm shower.
I felt I knew enough about lobe stretching, and last week, the time came. At the time, I rarely wore earrings. I got my ears pierced by a gun, when I was just a baby, and after the age of 6, I didn't wear earrings. Now I'm 16. I would sometimes, but it would make my ears swell up and bleed... just the 18 gauge. I liked earrings, and would leave them in, even when they'd swell, hoping that if my ears got used to the earrings again, it would not hurt as much. The holes were just there in my ears, almost always empty. I bought a 14 gauge earring. When I tried to put the new 14 gauge in, it didn't work. I got it in, but it wouldn't go completely through. I put hot water on a q tip, to put on my ear lobe, and tried again. It still didn't work completely. I didn't want to push it all the way through, because a friend once tried to push an earring through, and put a new hole in her ear. That's not a good idea, and I advice to use extreme caution if attempting to do so. I didn't want to do risk a mistake, so I gave up on trying to get the 14 gauge in for awhile. After talking to my friend, he then mentioned the important thing he forgot in the first place. He forgot to mention the gauge sizes before I attempted
Today, I bought a 16 gauge, at the mall. I wanted to get bigger, but I know I should take baby steps. I was excited when I bought the earring, and went straight to the washroom there, to put it in. It slid in easily, without pain. Without a struggle. In fact, Once I got the earring in, I couldn't put the back on, my nails made it hard to do, so I asked a friend. After much trying, laughter and retrying, she got the ball on. When I got home, I cleaned my ear. It stung a little bit then, but now it doesn't hurt at all. This is only the first minor step, but there's more steps coming.
I'm going to try 14 gauge again soon, and then bigger. Piercing fascinates me so much. Right now, I'm only stretching my right ear. I'm left handed, so putting earrings in my right ear lobe proves easier than trying to put it in my left ear lobe. I have not yet decided what gauge I want to stop at, nor am I going to decide. I'm going to stop at the gauge I feel is right.
My family says I'm a freak, because I'm slowly, but now surely stretching my ear lobes. I get funny looks from closed minded school friends, who just call me a freak. I'm happy with what I'm doing so I ignore what they say. If anyone says that what you are doing is not right, and you're doing the modification for yourself, it doesn't matter what they say. Always do what you want to do, don't hold back for others. I've been doing that for awhile, but now, I'm much happier, taking a step towards ear lobe stretching.