Hey everyone, I'm 14 years old and a proud owner a 2ga lobe, soon to be two 2ga lobes. I also have a tragus piercing, two 16ga lobe piercings and 2 cartilage piercings on my left ear and 2 16ga lobe piercings and 1 cartilage piercing on my right ear. And my tongue web of course, which I have a story of here on BME. All but my first lobe piercings (which were gunned when I was 9) were done by me with hypodermic needles. As in, the needles you use for injections. Those are other stories though. I'm here to talk about my lobe stretching, which involved a lot of pain, blood, and puss. Yum.
At A Glance Author anonymous Contact anonymous@bme.anon When N/A Artist me Studio my bedroom Location spain Anyways it started about 2 years ago, when I first got into piercings and other body modifications. At first I didn't like the look of stretched earlobes, but I met a guy who had lobes which are probably around 2 inches and I was fascinated by them. I don't know why. So i decided to start stretching.
My first goal was about 6ga, so I started stretching. I had my ears at a standard 18ga at the time, so I started by putting a 16ga CBR in the piercing, and it slid it very easily. I wasn't surprised. It wasn't long before I was looking around the house for something vaguely 12-14ga. I didn't find anything for a week or so, but one day while I was sitting in class, I noticed the tip of a ball point pen looked about 12ga. So i took it apart using scissors and some strength and i got a half inch long plug type thing with a very short tapered end. I thought it was 12ga, but I later found out it was actually 10ga, so I skipped 2 sizes, which isn't a good idea. SO anyways I lubed up the pen tip with some Vaseline (KY jelly is a better idea, I later found) and started pushing it into my ear. At first it wouldn't budge at all, so I pushed harder. I pushed so hard my finger had a big dent in it and was all red. I got it nearly through, I could see the metal tip, but the fistula of the inside of my ear was being pushed out, and it hurt like hell. I'm surprised it wasn't bleeding. I kept on pushing while grinding my teeth together trying to take the pain, and finally it slid through. My ear was throbbing like crazy and it was all red and swollen. I left it, and it hurt for the next 4 days, but it ended up being ok.
All that happened about 7 months ago, in March. I completely forgot about stretching my ears until 1 month ago, when I saw these beautiful plugs in a piercing shop. They were black with red stars on them. Nothing special I know, but I loved them. Too bad they were 20 euros (about 18 dollars) each! So I went home without buying anything. Instead, I decided to find something at home instead. I did. The tubes in ball point pens that have the ink inside them (somewhere between 8ga and 6ga). I lubed my ear and the tube thing with Vaseline and pushed it through my ear slowly. It just would go through. I don't know why, I wasn't skipping a gauge or anything. After half an hour of pushing and pain, I stopped. I gave it a rest for a few days, and then found some rubber bracelets which were about an 8ga or so. I took a black one and cut off a small half inch section. I tried cutting it to a point like a taper, but it proved to be rather unsuccessful. Oh well. I cut myself another section and started pushing it through my lobe. I didn't use any lube, I don't know why, I must have forgotten. Oh well. Anyways I pushed it through while listening to music for half an hour, and it was kind of painful, but not nearly as bad as the 16ga-10ga stretch. It bled a tiny bit, but it was ok. It was only a little bit sore for the next few hours.
I left it like that for only about 2 days, because I was eager to stretch farther. I decided it would be a good time to use the pen ink tube. So I lubed up my ear and the tube and pushed it through. It went in easily, I hardly had to push. It stung just a little, probably because I hadn't let the 8ga heal completely. I was happy to finally be able to see through my ear.
A few people commented on my ear, and most of them were grossed out, but I don' care. I wasn't finished with my stretching. A week after my stretch, I went shopping and we went to this shop that sells plugs and stuff. I found some nice black flesh tunnels. As I live in Europe, jewelry is measure in millimeters, not gauges, so I asked for a size 6, meaning 6ga, but the guy must have thought I mean 6mm (2ga), so I got a pair of those. I thought they looked big, but I didn't question it. I paid 10 euros (9 dollars) for both of them, which I think is a rip off, because they are plastic but oh well. When I got out of the shop, I went to the bathroom and compared them to the plugs I had in. They were practically double the size. I thought I would never reach 2ga. My original plan was to stay at 6. But stretching is addictive, so naturally I had to keep making my holes bigger. So my final decision was to stop at 2ga, the point of no return. I don't want huge holes in my ears when I'm looking for a job or whatever.
So I knew I couldn't go straight to 2ga, because of the HUGE size difference, so I had to figure out what method I would use to stretch. AHA! Tape. I would add a few layers of tape on my plug every couple of days and this would lead to my ears gradually becoming bigger. I didn't have any electrical tape, so I just used regular scotch tape. I wrapped a few layers around my plug, but soon realized it was too much. I had made it to be a 4ga or so. So I made a new one, which ended up at around a 6ga. It looked gross because it was this yellowy puss color, so I painted it with a black permanent marker, which I later found wasn't such a good idea because the marker came off the plug and onto my skin. I easily got the 6ga into my ear. Two days later I put some more tape around the plug. Then I was at about 4 and a quarter gauge. I decided to try putting in my 2ga flesh tunnel. Bad Idea. I lubed it up and butted it up against the plug I had in. I tried pushing it through as the other one slipped out, but the other slipped out before the 2ga had a chance to start going in. But I just kept pushing and pushing. It was so painful, you have no idea. I was bleeding and my ear looked gross and ripped up. I gave up and my ear was throbbing like crazy. I tried putting the 4 1/4 gauge back in, but it wouldn't go in. I had to put my 6ga back in. I was devastated.
I let my ear heal for 2 weeks, then carried on slowly with the tape method for a week, until I was at a 4ga. Probably a little bigger than 4ga, actually. This was earlier on today, actually. So I used a pen cap as a taper to a 2ga. Using plenty of lube, I slid the pen cap quite far into my ear, until i thought it was big enough. I took it out and attempted putting in my 2ga flesh tunnel. I pushed hard and it bled a lot. Puss came out too. But I got it in. YAY! Finally i had it in! I now have that jewelry in my ear. I don't really like the look of it though, I would rather have a solid plug with a star on it. Next time I go to my local piercing shop, I will invest 20 euros on one. I don't care if it's a total rip off.
My ear is still throbbing like crazy, and I hope I don't get a blowout. I probably won't though... I can't wait to show everyone at school tomorrow! My parents don't like piercings or any other type of body modification, so I don't plan to show them my stretched lobes and I hope they don't see them. They go so angry at me when they saw that I pierced my cartilage, the first time I pierced my ear myself. Oh well.
As for aftercare, I don't tend to do much with my stretched lobe. If it's feeling extra sore, I might put some tea tree oil on it or do a sea salt soak.
I hope to get snakebites for Christmas. But I'm sure my parents won't let me, so I guess I'm gonna have to do them myself. I know it's not a good idea, but I love my piercings much more if I've done them myself and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like that.
Happy stretching! Remember: don't skip sizes and give your lobes enough time to heal between stretches!!!