I have always had my ears pierced. When I was a baby, my parents had my first set done and tied red thread or a piece of straw in my ears since I always pulled out whatever jewelry they gave me. After a few months I guess I accepted it, as in all my baby photos have delicate little studs or loops. I guess some people are against piercing babies' ears, but personally I thank my parents for it!
At A Glance Author therowdydog Contact therowdydog@bme.anon IAM therowdydog When It just happened Last year, at age 21, I came across a pair of hand-carved buffalo bone spirals on the internet and fell in love. I was a little wary at first, because I had work sterling silver all my life. I bought a pair of wooden earrings in Spain, but quickly became "allergic" to them. The last time I wore them I had them in for no more than 30 minutes before my ears began itching and developed hard welts. Would I have adverse reactions to bone, too? I decided it was worth a try.
The only problem was the smallest size they had was 10ga, and I was positive that I did not have 10ga piercing. I had never considered stretching my ears before, and had always settled for buying the "standard" size earrings sold everywhere. Every so often I would go back to the spirals and think about buying them, before putting it off some more.
A few months ago, I decided to order some tapers from a place close to my house to see what size my ears were. After playing with my earrings for 21 years, I knew my lobes had stretched a tiny bit so that I could slide my current loop earrings around. They were larger in some parts which led me to decide that I would order 14ga tapers. I guessed my ears had to be around 16ga, and 14 would be the next logical step towards the bone spirals.
Despite the fact that the store I got the tapers from was only 10 minutes from my house, I was lazy and ended up ordering online. I got the tapers in three days.
Stretching with the tapers went well ... a little too well. I took out my earrings and started the taper through my left ear ... and it went right through like a hot knife through butter. The right ear was tender, and when I first tried the taper, I couldn't go all the way to the end and it stung a bit. I took the tapers out, and my boyfriend and I went out for a bit. When we returned home, I just decided to try the right ear again. I put a dab of campho-phenique on my ear and a dab on the taper. With that, I was able to put it all the way into the end of the taper without any pain or stinging. I really didn't think my ears were 14ga and over, but maybe I just didn't have a good idea of the size.
Satisfied that I would be able to handle 10ga, a few weeks ago I decided to order the spirals. They didn't show up for two weeks, but I blame USPS because the box was smashed when I received it. The earrings were fine at least. Now I knew my ears might have been 12ga and 14ga, but they definitely weren't 10ga, though I didn't buy any tapers for 10ga because I assumed the spirals would do the work themselves.
My left ear took it pretty well. There was a little bit of stinging, but I put some more campho-phenique on my ear and the spiral, and pushed it in as far as I comfortably could, which was about halfway to the "proper" spot on the spiral. The right ear was considerably more difficult. I could only get the spiral in so far, and ended up having to put an o ring on the back so it wouldn't fall out.
Now it's a week later, and my left ear is "finished". I can put the whole spiral in with no problems, stinging, or resistance. It looks great, too! My right ear ... is still at square one. I haven't been able to noticeably move the spiral in any further, but now that I know where I stand (trying to do 14 to 10), I can at least take care of it accordingly. I expect it will take quite a while, because in addition to the "average" stretching times, I work with dogs 6 days a week, which isn't exactly the most sterile environment, and the last thing I want is infected ear lobes. Plus I'm a weenie and don't want it to hurt.
But, I'm happy with my progress and the earrings as well. Maybe someday soon I can have them hanging evenly from my ears!