At A Glance
Author	McDurban
Contact	McDurban@bme.anon
When	N/A

Hello there, folks. Let me start off by telling you a little about myself. I started gauging the holes in my left ear about 8 months ago. It all began when I visited Piercing/Tattoo Studio. The artist had two large gauges (one in each ear). Knowing what I know now, I believe they were probably 1" or a little bigger. He had a smaller (yet still quite large) captive bead ring going through the large tunnels.

Before I had seen this, I had often said "why would someone want to do a thing like that? I finally saw something that appealed to me in the world of stretching. I ran the idea of stretching my lobes by one of my best friends. He thought the idea was very interesting,and that I would look quite good with stretched lobes. This was a major factor in me actually considering and going through with it. I already had two piercing in my left lobe; so I decided that I would stretch both of them.

It took me a while to figure out my goal... and after stretching two sizes bigger – I decided I wanted to get my second hole (the hole further up my lobe) to a 0, or 00gauge, while going a size or two bigger with the bottom hole.

I went out to Hot Topic (the only place I could get unique looking, gauged jewelry locally) and bought a pair of eight gauge captive rings. I was already at 10 gauge,

so I bought an eight gauge taper, the rings, some Dial Antibacterial Soap, and returned home for the stretching.

It had actually slipped my mind that I had put in 8 gauge earrings before, when I was younger. Upon further recollection and discussion with my mother, I recall that I had once put in a larger gauge earring, with not the intention of stretching, but just because that particular earring looked good. I'm not sure if that had a factor in the easiness of the stretching, or what... but when I went to an 8, I felt the stretch, but there wasn't that stinging, burning sensation I've had with some of the other stretches.

I took out my horseshoes. I then washed the jewelry and taper thoroughly with warm water and the antibacterial soap. I then lubed up the taper with soap, lubed up my ear, and then slowly ran the taper through my ear. The feeling of the skin stretching at the mark where the cone tapered into the cylinder was exhilarating. At that point I became addicted.

I followed this same procedure... moving up a gauge roughly every month, or when I felt my lobes had healed. The roughest stretching came when I went to stretch to a 4 gauge. This was the first size that I could honestly say looked big (at least to me, and most of my friends/family). Even though the burning/stinging was more intense than had been before... it felt good.

My good friend, the one who encouraged me to start stretching in the first place, likewise began stretching. We are very close in size. I have two double 00 gauge horns in my left ear at the moment, and he has a 000 gauge acrylic plug in his (along with a 14 gauge spike horseshoe). He can also concur that the act has become quite addicting.

I plan on going up to 7/16 with my main (bottom) hole. I might even try to go ½" if the skin between the holes holds out. I plan on ordering a custom plug off the net when I get to the desired size on my bottom hole. I plan on wearing a stainless steel, hollow horseshoe in the second, 00gauge hole.

In conclusion – I started out disliking most body mods and gauging. Alas, like most things.... You never really know until you try it yourself. Once I began stretching, I got hooked. I enjoy the act, as well as the size difference immensely each time I do it. This is why refer to gauging as "The Crack of Body Mods".

I realize that I may have gone up in size faster than some people are able to (or should). You need to be careful when doing things like this. If you move up too fast, or stretch improperly, you could do serious (and maybe even permanent) damage.

Know your body. Know your limits. I always recommend you wait until you feel that your ears are FULLY healed before attempting to stretch any more. It's better to take time, and make sure you don't get a blowout, or any other damage - than to try and quickly move up in size and end up having to go backwards due to some type of damage you have caused.

Do research before you attempt to do anything like this. Know what you need to do to take care of fresh stretches. Just be careful people, and you'll have beautiful gauges that you can proudly display (not some nasty scarred up earlobes).