I've been modifying for a long time, I'd be lying if I said for as long as I can remember but a long time of my twenty-three years nonetheless. I got my first tattoo when I was 15, a sun and moon combo from the cover of my writing book, original I know. It was then that I decided however that changes to my body were about all that were natural to it. At that point the only other modifications were my ear piercings (cartilage and lobe 6 in total). The day I turned 18 I got my next tattoo within the month my labret and eyebrow pierced. There were excuses for getting tattoos, a school project, the time of year, but addictions to modifying aren't' surprising and everyone has their reasons. The next year saw snake bites to accompany a lip ring and of course the annual birthday tattoo. However, right before this I began stretching my ears.
At A Glance Author taste for blood Contact taste for blood@bme.anon When Two years ago Initially, I knew stretching was aesthetically pleasing but before my first stretch I wanted history, I wanted to know its cultural significances. After reading about continents, countries, and cultures my own and others until I decided it was time. As with my tattoos the idea of stretching seemed and eventually became very personal for me. It meant that my body was being forced to change in a way that at the point seemed irreversible. Stretching however, unlike tattooing I could take into my own hands, I could control the pain, the materials, the circumference of my ears. Considering, I've had my ears pierced since before my first birthday I started slowly and resolved to try my hardest not to rip my ears and so on a late May afternoon I began at a 16g and assumed that safety pins were about a 14g.
Starting I put safety pins in either ear and tugged lightly at them for about two days. The first stretch felt like nothing so I quickly moved on. Two days later I took and old lip ring, boiled it and prepared on ear to go from a 14g to a 12. I figured that since the 14g didn't hurt going in and was only a bit snug that I was ready. So I put a little bit of lotion on the 12g and with a little bit of massaging it almost instantaneously went through. Even now there's something strangely exciting about watching this solid pieced of stainless galvanized steel peek through the hole of my ear as it flushed a light pink, pushing through and then feeling the dull throb of flesh pass around the ring. Finished standing in the mirror admiring my ear it clicked then that my flesh was mine and I could change it as I saw fit to reflect who I am at the time. It reminded me that the best thing about change is that it's never stagnant. Within a week and a half I was wearing a 10g in one ear and a 12g in another. It was now June and after trolling around boards and asking questions to folks I met on the street I had then decided how I wanted to continue stretching. I would only stretch with metal and I would stop at a 00g.
So, I went to the shop were I got my second and third tattoos and also my all my facial piercings and looked at a shiny pair of 8g non-flared plugs with two little black o-rings on either side. Mortified by what seemed a huge jump I realized that there would be no massaging my way into these plugs like I had the rings and quickly reconciled to buy a taper too. With the little bit of money I had I splurged and bought my first pair of plugs and taper. Something I learned quickly into this venture is that dry stretching, with out any type of lubricant, is uncomfortable and pointless so breaking out the bare bones, non scented lotion, I cleaned my ears, disinfected my new plugs, and went to work. Despite the give of my ears and the slide provided by the lotion it just wasn't happening. Hours went by. Then a day spent walking around with a taper in my ear. Coming upon 36 hours I knew I'd have to force it. Steaming up a bathroom and sitting on a toilet top for leverage I fought with my body, I fought with my ear and pushed the taper through my ear. With the taper going through my ear bled a bit, throbbed, my eyes watered (which had never happened with my tattoos or piercings before) and when I was ready I pushed the taper out the back while putting in my new plug in at the same time through th front. I then put the 10g from my left ear into my right ear where the 12g was and waited another day or two and tapered that ear off to an 8 also. Similar scenarios went on for another 2 ½ months and by the middle of August I had 00's in my ears.
Aside from the 8g the only other time my ears bled was going into a 2g. 00's were originally the idea because I wanted to be able to fit a pencil through my ears which seems silly in retrospect but as a writer an understandable goal. Now at the 00g I realized that since I don't like pencils it was useless and I wanted to be able to fit a pen in. This is also when I realized I could no longer find metal tapers or at least no one was willing to sell metal tapers over 00 and I had to get creative. The following may seem unorthodox but to a broke college student made perfect logistical sense. So with no metal tapers I moved on. Paint brushes. Metal connectors. Did you know that the widest part of a Commerce Bank pen is about 7/16th's which makes for a great taper because of the gradual and steady increase of girth. Or that because of the pliable plastic of said pen it can easily be cut and turned into a temporary plug? Needless to say with little money but the enjoyment of stretching I got creative with the way I stretched and only bought jewlery when I reached a size I'd be at for at least a month. This is also not to say I advise it for others. Within time I finally slowed up around 3/4ths. Around that time I also began a new job and couldn't generally walk around with objects hanging from my ears despite how liberal the job so I began taping as an alternative to tapering.
Taping for me was adding a layer of electrical tape every day or three to my current single flaired tunnels during which time my ears would gradually give which: 1. changed the ritual of tapering and 2. changed the immediate feeling of my ears. I could generally tell my ears were ready however because the tunnels' girth would be about the size of the flaired end. Something to be cautious about however is that I discovered while taping that because of the movement of my ears that if the tape layers weren't changed every two to three days they would begin to unwind onto themselves and serrate the ear. Meaning the ear would need time to heal and then I'd have to begin again from 3/4th's, being a quick learner I only made that error once. However, with patience and time my initial 00g ears happily reached 1" with anticipation of future sizes.