I'm 17 years old and started really heavy into body modification when I was 13. My obsession with piercings started early but my stretching experience started when I was 13 when I was 7 I got my left ear gunned (yeah stupid I know at this point). I removed that after about a few months and left it be then my dad who is not much older than I am (16 years) went and got his ears double pierced at 14 and 12 gauge. I at first thought this was the coolest style in the world I mean not many guys had both ears pierced here in Nebraska 7 years ago. I begged and begged for my dad to take me to go get my ears done like his after about a month of begging and putting off he finally did.
At A Glance Author Joe Contact Joe@bme.anon When N/A Artist Myself Studio Home Location Omaha, Nebraska I went to one of the local tattoo shops (Villains) and they were going to pierce me at a 14 gauge in both ears I was 10 then and remember that day very vividly I can still remember how the metal felt first pushing through my lobes and about a minute or 2 later with no pain at all my lobes had brand new 14 gauge cbr's in them the healing went fine I never really messed with them. I was in 5th grade when I got them done and got teased and called names cause I was the (Gothic/Outcast) with both ears pierced which I was considered a faggot then. I put up with all the bullshit for 2 years and then went to jr. high where I wasn't teased anymore I was practically the most popular kid in that school of about 700 kids I knew everyone, everyone knew me.
Fast forward to the summer of 8th grade and I am in the mall with a few friends and we stop in at Hot Topic really the only store I looked at back then I knew everyone that worked there and they knew me by name and they had a lot of body mods including septums, eyebrows, tongue, 2 inch stretched lobes, etc... I was fascinated with these huge holes in they're lobes and I couldn't figure out how they had done it to that diameter and size. My buddy that worked there was talking to me and was loading the jewelry case and asked if I wanted anything with his employees discount and I said sure he was like well how long have you had your ears pierced? I said about 3 years he handed me a package that contained 3 pairs of 8 gauge earrings 2 acrylic pairs and one steel. When I got home that evening I took the earrings from the box I liked the pair of red acrylic because I had red hair and wanted to keep with the colors. I tried and tugged at my 14 gauge cbr's trying to get them out I hardly took them out I think I took them out once in 3 years I finally grabbed a pair of scissors and pried them open losing one ball in the process I slid the red 8 gauges through my lobes no pain at all and they looked amazing I slept that night woke up and my ears were red and sort of swollen I took the acrylic out and talked to my grandmother she was over that night and told me she was allergic to some types of crappy jewelry and she turned out to be right so I put the steel ones in and never had a problem with them.
About a month later if even that I went and got a pair of 6 gauge horseshoes I had been reading BME for a while now and I knew stretching fast was not a good idea but I didn't care I wanted them bigger faster!!!! I got home that night and tried to pop them in but with no success but I wasn't going to be defeated I tried and tried until my ear started bleeding just a bit but it was ok. I got them in a second later and had no trouble with the other lobe I left them be for a long time. A few piercings later it was the beginning of my freshman year and I hadn't had the urge to stretch my 6 gauge lobes until I saw a junior at school with 1 1/2 inch lobes which were simply beautiful. I Went to the store and bought a pair of 2 gauges stupidly hoping I could jump a size but with no surprise there I could not get it. My friend Garen who had been stretching his left lobe all summer was already at a 2 gauge from nothing he offered me his 4 gauge glass claw which he only had one of. So I had to stretch them one at a time I did the first lobe to a 4 gauge no problem at all and a week later I decided hell I need to get the 2 gauge in so with a lot of ky jelly it popped in with minimal pain. So I moved onto the next lobe which the 4 gauge went in fine and I thought a week later I could do the same thing as I did before but no matter what the ear wouldn't budge to the 2 gauge my ear was now sore so I now defeated slid the 4 gauge back in and had uneven lobes for about a month. A month after that first attempt I tried again and it went in with no lube or anything and I was extremely pleased. My 2 gauges got so much attention they weighed about a pound each and were humongous.
My first goal was to stretch to 0 gauge as I thought this was huge. I stretched to the 0 gauge using tapers for the first time and was gonna wear a tunnel for the first time I did my first ear pretty easily a bit of bleeding even after having the 2's for abut 6 months but it wasn't to bad after the tunnel got in. I moved onto my left lobe and I could not get the tunnel or taper through without cringing and I have a huge pain tolerance. I decided to wait with the 2 in for awhile longer. A month later I was ready to try again and was not gonna give up I know I did this one wrong but I put the taper in and slid it through about 10 times again and again and the ear was bleeding horribly but it was stretched and I went to put in the tunnel right behind the taper and I ripped a piece of my fistula off when the tunnel went in I was so pleased that the tunnel went in.
I Could not figure out why the screw on end was not going on so I took out the tunnel and the piece of my fistula was inside still hanging from my lobe hole. I tore the fistula piece off and reinserted the jewelry. I was so HAPPY words can not describe except my lobe was no 3 times normal size and was bloody. I took a shower soon after and it looked all better after about 2 days of loving care.
Freshman year and summer came and went and I still had my 0 gauges in healed and everything and was happy my grandmother thought oh my god don't even think about going bigger and I didn't at the time but the urge to stretch came about again soon after.
It was mid sophomore year and I was in the mall and they had a vender there selling jewelry and I was like wow got to get something he had some cool 0 gauges but the most beautiful thing was a 1/2 inch tiger eye glass plugs for 70 bucks a pair. I knew this was pricey and but decided to buy them. I went to hot topic and got a pair of 00 gauge tunnels and slapped them in with no effort at all when I got out to my car. So now I figured my goal was gonna be half inch.
A few months later I had the money so I bought a stretching kit that had tapers for 7/16 and 1/2 plus plugs so I decided what the hell and bought that. I waited a bit longer because I didn't have the time to stretch my lobes but when I tried to I still had so much problems they wouldn't go even with the tapers but finally after about an hour all together I got them.
So Here I Sit Now with 7/16 black plugs in my ears I stretched them about a month ago and I am hoping to get to 1/2 inch soon my lobe stretching has changed my life for some reason now I feel special and unique I know this is not true but I feel one of a kind and am happy with them I still get a lot of attention from older people being like wow those are so cool. BME has changed my life and so have all my piercings it has made me feel like I am different from everyone else but I am not alone in this world either and I'm not the only one that has been picked on because of their body mods.
But I hope my experience has helped you in someway not to rush in your stretching I stretched to fast and could have had a lot of blowouts or anything could of happened I'm glad everything went fine but make sure to give tender loving care to all your piercings in general and to use moisturizer on your lobes and tugging on the jewelry helps a lot in making your lobes feel great.
I Hope my story has helped someone out there and I hope you had fun reading my experience and happy stretching to all of you!!!
-Joe-