When I first got my ears pierced, about two months after my 16th birthday, now more than a year ago, I said I would never gauge my ears. I didn't like how they looked, but obviously my opinions have changed, because I now have a beautiful pair of black metal 2g flare eyelets residing in my ears, and I couldn't be happier with them!
At A Glance Author Mistress Cellophane Contact sango_saverem@hotmail.com When A month ago Artist Me! Studio My bathroom Location Burlington, WA I had my ears professionally pierced at a 16g, which is a little bit bigger than many earrings. I first gauged up to a 14g because I didn't want to "waste" the advantage of having them already at a 16g. Not that it would have made much of a difference, but I didn't know that back then.
My gauging experience from 16g up through 4g went rather smoothly, with the exception of once when I tried to stretch from a 14g to an 8g. I had gotten the 8g as a birthday present from a friend who had liked the pattern on them (they were red and black plaid from Hot Topic), but had gotten them 2 gauges too big. I should have waited, but it was killing me to have a perfectly beautiful pair of gauges sitting in my bathroom untouched, so I tried to put them in anyways. That was a big mistake.
They were plastic pincers, and although I never even got the middle, and largest, part into my ears, they hurt incredibly badly. I ended up keeping them in for only a few days. During that time, however, they bled sporadically, and hurt so bad I couldn't concentrate on anything. I couple of times I found blood dripping down my neck during school, and once somebody tapped me on the shoulder to tell me I was bleeding.
After a couple of days, I had realized that the whole "14g to 8g" thing wasn't going to work, and since I was by that time terrified of getting blowout from the process, I took them out and put my 14g earrings back in to let them heal.
Luckily enough, they healed up without any damage done. If I had continued to try and force the 8g in, I might have ended up with infection, scarring, and blowout. A few weeks later, I picked up a pair of 10g pincers and tried again.
The jump from 14g to 10g went surprisingly easy, given that I had skipped a gauge in between. You must remember, however, that the difference in size between each gauge is a lot less with very small gauges than it is once you get into the larger gauges. You can afford to skip a gauge with the smaller gauges, but DON'T try it once you start getting into the larger gauges!
A few days after I stretched to a 10g, I saw through my earlobe for the first time. You have no idea how excited I was! I felt so accomplished that I could see through my ear. Why? I have no idea.
From that 10g, on up to 4g, every stretch was easy and painless. I literally cannot remember each specific stretch because they were all so easy and unremarkable.
But my stretch from 4g to 2g gave me a bit of trouble. The stretching process itself was remarkably long and painful, compared to my other previous stretches. It took about 2 minutes for each ear, with sharp pain throughout all 4 minutes. And it only got worse from there. After I got the gauges in, my entire head throbbed with the pain. I had a hard time sleeping that night, and for several nights afterwards, because of the pain.
But I had also gauged up on the Monday of finals week at my high school. (Again, me being impatient.) Bad idea. I was under so much stress that week, that I think my body had a hard time handling the stretch. It hurt for that entire week, a throbbing pain that made it hard to concentrate. The pain did go down after a few days, but my ears were still noticeably painful by the end of the week. After a few days I figured it would be safe to take them out to clean the holes, but when I did they started bleeding. A lot. And they bled every time I took them out after that...until the weekend rolled around.
That Friday, with finals over, I slept for probably a good 10 hours. By Saturday, the pain had subsided and they no longer bled. By Monday, they felt almost completely healed. It's amazing that a little R&R can do for a newly-gauged earlobe.
I love my gauges now. I don't think I will be going any larger than a 2g, but only because I think my ears would look funny with anything larger. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of stretching my ears, and I would certainly recommend it to anyone interested.
However, in order to make sure nothing goes wrong, and to ensure a positive stretching experience, I encourage you to take my advice on the process:
-Treat newly-stretched ears like a new piercing
-Don't try to stretch too far at one time
-Always clean your ears beforehand
-Make sure the jewelry you're going to stretch with is as clean as possible. Soaking it in alcohol (make sure you rinse your jewelry off before you put it in, though!) is good if you're at home.
-ALWAYS lubricate your ears (even with just soap and water) when you stretch them. This will reduce pain and help prevent scarring and blowout.
-Don't gauge your ears while you're under a lot of stress
-Make sure you give your ears adequate time to heal and adjust before you gauge them up again.
-Wait at LEAST 3 weeks between stretches.
Good luck and happy gauging!