Well I didn't listen.
At A Glance Author dee Contact dee@bme.anon When It just happened Its taken me over a year to stretch to 2g from my gun pierced ears that I had done when I was twelve years old.
It all started on my 40th birthday. You know, the old story, women has mid-life crisis. I had my navel pierced. Shame on me, such a boring piercing. After I had it done it looked so tiny, so small. Not radical enough for my new life statement.
The shop owner said it had to be done with titanium. He told me how it is bio-inert. The navel healed so well (even though I messed with it, changing jewellery, trying to find what I was looking for with my body mod experience)
I'd always had problems with my lobes and hadn't worn jewellery for years. I started thinking that maybe I should try titanium in my ears.
The smallest gauge I could find was 18g. So in it went. Lots of pain, I think I pierced my own ears again. I began to think about the stretched lobes I'd seen while traveling in Africa. Did people do that here? If there were different gauges they must.
I was delighted to find out that they did stretch their lobes and I thought why not. I loved the different types of plugs especially the organic ones. They looked so tribal and said just everything my navel piercing did not.
First I bought some horn crescents (my idea of tribal identity.) Unfortunately I had a nasty reaction to them. I cried not only in pain, my ears became swollen, red, sore and filled with puss. But also in frustration of my tribal fantasy. I therefore resorted to the tried and tested steel tapers and titanium ball closer rings.
All was well. The year went by and my lobes increased in size a gauge at a time. I followed the common procedure of warm soapy showers, steel taper and titanium ball closer rings.
At 2g I could no longer get the ball in the ring. My puny hands could not open the rings any more. So I used the rings without the balls. When the rings started to work lose I knew I'd need the next size up and a change in the type of jewellery.
All of this was becoming very expensive. Some of my friends thought I was mad. My husband knew I was. Why? They'd ask. You can only understand if you've been there I'd reply.
So trying to find a bargain I went on to e-bay to look for an alternative to my beloved titanium rings. Maybe something organic, something different.
I'd heard about silicone before. I'd also heard that it was not recommended for stretching your piercing. I'd seen the stories on here but I could not resist! I thought, well I'll get some silicone eyelet's to use once I'd stretched. So I bought a pair of red silicone eyelet's and a pair of stone plugs and steel taper all in 0g.
When they all arrived I played with the taper. As usual it felt uncomfortable 2g to 0g seemed a long way. I had already showered that morning. I felt lazy, impatient and the silicone eyelet's were saying, 'use me, use me.' Again I could not resist!
Foolishly I was seduced. Oh they went in great! The best easiest stretch I'd ever felt.
I went round to my friend's house to show off my newly stretched lobes. As artists they like and are supportive of my body mod obsession. It felt great to have a visible hole in my lobes. As I drove home I became aware of my ears starting to throb and go red.
It felt different to previous times. By bedtime I was soaking with a sea salt bath. I didn't want to believe that there was something wrong with my new 0g lobes. By 4am in the morning I was in agony!
My husband was away on business; the kid's asleep. So I crept into the bathroom and began to extract my mistakes! God it hurt, punishment for my laziness. Eventually I got the left lobe eyelet
out. As I removed it, blood poured out. The right took longer and hurt more. Out of this lobe pored puss and a thin string of skin.
I did sea salt soaks and put my 2g rings back in. A day later (today) they are starting to calm down and the 2g rings are feeling loose again. The holes are still sore and crusty. I'm still using the sea salt soaks for relief.
In two weeks time I'm going to a tattoo convention (I'm now an apprentice tattooist) and I will try and buy some 0g rings at trade price. The tattooist I'm training with just laughs at me. He's got 22mm lobes. He thinks I'm a baby and cannot understand how it has taken so long for me to stretch to 2g. I believe it's the opposite, I'm not a baby, just old. I need to take my time and listen to my body and good advice. When people say don't use silicone to stretch, I'll listen.
Stretching my lobes has been a great experience and I will certainly continue. I have learnt a lot about myself on the way. My rush to use the easy option of silicone, even though I should have known better, speaks volume of my character. The whole point in body modification is to know and listen to your body. I stretched my navel too, using the last size that I'd used for my lobes. I got as far 8g. But because the piercing wasn't deep enough for stretching the ring came too close to the surface and I retired the piercing.
I love large gauge jewellery and have had my nose pierced with a 10g ring. My nipples are next. I've just finished 7 years of continuous breastfeeding and my tits are now mine again. I'm going to celebrate with an 8g piercing.
Where will I go with my lobes? I don't know. I'm sure they'll tell me when to stop.
Would I use silicone to stretch? No I would not. There is talk of someone developing silicone specifically to stretch and the stretch itself was very easy and pleasant so maybe in the future it will be different. Once I've settled on a size and my ears have healed I think it would be very comfortable to wear for a change.
But for now I'm sticking to my tapers and titanium and dreaming of my large gauge organic plugs.