When I was about 14 or 15 I entertained the idea of stretching my ears to about 5mm, just enough for small tunnels. However, lack of funding and know-how prevented me from doing this until now. After retiring my nose piercing I was feeling pretty naked, my only other mods being gunned ears, done when I was 13. At 22 I felt I needed one last gasp of alternativeness, so me and my lobes decided on an expansion project. Being at university, I have a long summer holiday so this was the ideal time to begin. I didn't want to go beyond a size that would really affect the size and shape of my lobes so decided on a final goal of 10mm (00g).
At A Glance Author anonymous When It just happened Artist Self-done Studio My bathroom Location Leeds, UK I hadn't worn jewellery in my ears for some time, but previous experience told me that a hot compress and tea tree oil would get 1.6mm in without a problem. All my jewellery was purchased online, mostly through ebay, which I really recommend for saving money. I chose I.6mm septum retainers with one flat side and an O ring on the back to start off with. These went in no problem and a couple of days later 2mm steel plugs slid straight in. I was using sea salt soaks and a product I had used to heal the original piercings – Clair's Ear Clair lotion (I think it's called Studex in the US) which really worked for me, as it's a really mild antiseptic. I had read up a lot about the process by this point, and was really trying to be good, however, I did dead stretch up to 2.4mm quite quickly. My cavalier attitude got the better of me. I had purchased a set of steel plugs up to 8mm (0g) by this point and the temptation to see if the 3.2mm ones would go in as easily as the others was pretty strong. I once again used a hot compress to loosen the tissue and then lubed up the plug with blended tea tree oil. After a bit of a push the left one was in, I did the same on the right but ended up with a blow out at the back. A thin flap of skin about 3mm long was covering the reverse of the plug. I knew this wasn't good but I really wanted to keep the size. However, they were really starting to throb so I reluctantly downsized.
At this point I realised that I really should start to use tapers, so I purchased one on the steel short types with 2 O rings. After about a week of healing the taper worked a treat. After this point I decided to wait 2 weeks between each size so I didn't do myself any more damage. This way, 4mm and 5mm went in a fairly similar way. My right ear carried on being the 'difficult' ear, and after a fresh stretch it would swell and pus a little for 2 days after. Although I was using surgical steel to stretch and heal with, I really liked the idea of wooden jewellery as a natural and healthy alternative. I ordered a beautiful pair of 10mm (00g) rain tree rings from onetribe as a goal, and a mixed bag of 6mm and 10mm wooden pins from wildcat. Both came about a week later. I put the 6mm pins about 3/4 through and popped O rings on the back. Through the day I kept playing with them and after locking myself out (long story) I realised that I'd pushed one nearly to the end. When I eventually got back in I followed the pins through with 6mm steel plugs without a hitch, no swelling, no pain. The easiest stretch by a mile.
At this point I was concerned about stretching to 8mm (0g) as it's a bigger jump. I tried Teflon tape, but it just didn't agree with me. I bought two insertion pins, one 0g and one 00g. They go smoothly from one size to the next and are much longer so I thought this was the best option. A week and a half later I decided to go for 8mm. Without pain I got 1/3 through. I took it very slowly, letting the initial pain subside before continuing. It took quite a long time to get to the end of the pin, and following through with the plug was tricky so afterwards my lobe was pretty swollen. The right ear took a long time too and by the time both plugs were in place the pain was quite intense. I soaked them in sea salt water straight away and took some painkillers. The pain was mostly behind my ears, more like at the pressure points. I rubbed some germolene, which has local anaesthetic, onto the bottom of the lobe, which seemed to help. Sleeping on them wasn't great for a couple of nights but with good care they're settling nicely now, a week later. I'm going to wait 3 weeks before going up to 10mm (00g) to make sure they're totally healed. I've got some nice single flare tunnels to heal with, then it'll be wood all the way for winter. I was never really interested in my ears before, now I'm proud of the way I've collaborated with my body to make something special and lasting. Take it slow and keep it clean.