This story is the tale of my first stretching experience. Since I originally reached 10mm I have downsized, stretched again, let my lobes shrink to their original size and fluctuated between various gauges and jewellery as the mood took me, but this journey was the first I undertook.
At A Glance Author Ribibe Contact Ribibe@bme.anon IAM Ribibe When Five years ago Artist Myself I first decided that I would begin to stretch my lobes back in 2001. A couple of friends of mine were at different stages on the road to their own stretching goals, but I had previously not considered this as something I might like to do myself. I had just joined IAM at this time too however, and noticing the wide range of sizes and beautiful jewellery worn by IAM members over a few months I began to consider larger lobes a possibility for me too. When I made the decision to start stretching I had no particular aim in mind; the desire to stretch so was out of an itch for change and a new mod experience rather than because I had a specific look or size that I wanted to achieve. The only restrictions I placed on the process were that I would not go so big that it started to change the natural shape of my lobe; this too would help prevent the impossibility of shrinking the hole back down to normal lobe piercing proportion should I (inevitably) change my mind in the future and crave a different look.
At this time, I had four piercings in each ear lobe, all done back with a gun when I was a young teen in the early Nineties and needle piercing was unknown to me – and the vast majority of other people too - and unaffordable anyway. I decided that I would be stretching the first of these four holes in each ear and took out the cheap silver rings I was wearing in all holes in preparation. The stud of a piercing gun is no more than 1mm, and considering that I wasn't entirely sure how to go about the process I decided to have my first stretch done by a professional. I visited Cold Steel in Camden and had a long discussion about stretching methods and best practice, and then I watched intently in the mirror as 1.6mm titanium ball closure rings were popped into my ear with a little force and some KY Jelly. My ears burnt and throbbed for a couple of hours afterwards but were back to normal the next day.
Cold Steel advised waiting at least a month between stretches, and going slowly and gently with plenty of lube after a hot shower to soften up the area. I had picked up two more pairs of titanium BCRs, this time in 2mm and 2.4mm, and a 3mm pink acrylic single flared tunnel while I was there so I could attempt the next few stretches on my own. I had heard of many people who had successfully stretched with larger gaps between the gauges at first, but considering these were still my first solo stretches and I was unsure I decided to play it safe and only jump in small increments to begin with.
Following the Cold Steel advice I stretched up the next three gauges in the next three months with no difficulty whatsoever. After a long soak in the bath and a dab of lube the jewellery always slipped in with just a little pushing and the hot sensation was always gone by the next day. Please with my success and the fact the I could now see right through my ears, even if only by the tiniest amount, I decided to order the next sized few pieces of jewellery, this time black acrylic spirals from Wildcat. From 4mm onwards there was a noticeable increase in difficulty with stretching, and the soreness afterwards lasted longer than it had before. This time there was a whole millimetre difference between the jewellery whereas before I'd been going up less than 1mm every time. It was from 4mm upwards that I also began to notice the beginnings of the funky ear smell that I had been warned about, but cleaning the spirals thoroughly in the shower every morning kept that at bay.
Six months in and my ears were at 6mm and beginning to look and feel quite chunky. I was pleased with how the stretching had gone, and decided that my lobes were still nice and fat and I'd like to keep going. I went back to Wildcat to order more spirals but found that from 6mm in, their spirals only come in even sizes 8, 10 and 12mm. Not wanting to jump two sizes and mess up what had been going to well, I ordered plastic acrylic plugs in the odd sizes, 7 and 9mm. I now had a complete set to take me all the way up to 10mm.
It seems obvious to me now, but as the time I was surprised that stretching with the solid plugs was that much difficult than with the spirals. Forcing a blunt ended object into my lobes was much harder and sorer and took considerably longer than gradually easing the tapered end of a spiral in and the pain afterwards often made it difficult to sleep the night I had done it. From 6mm onwards I also noticed that there would be one lobe determined to be less co-operative than the other, one that always took more coercing to accept the new size than the other and it was never the same side. 9mm and 10mm were difficult stretches, both of which had to be abandoned on more than one occasion because my ear had become too sore with the attempt to stretch. With each one I considered going back to Cold Steel and have them do it, but I found that waiting an extra couple of weeks made all the difference and after two or three extra weeks between stretches the new jewellery would go in with as little fuss as the small gauges.
Almost a year to the day I first started stretching, my ears were at 10mm. That is to this day the largest my lobes have ever been – I have quite small ears, and that size fills the lobe completely – one or two sizes up and I think my ear would start to distort. I stretch back up to that size now whenever I feel like a change, or the siren call of my large collection of 10mm jewellery lures me.