At A Glance Author anonymous When Three months ago Artist me Studio my house Location nz About 3 and a half months ago, I decided to go and get my ears pierced, on the basis that I had nothing better to do that day, and I felt it was just wrong to be coming up to my 19th birthday without any foriegn, preferably metallic, objects in me. I had been looking into stretching my ear lobes for some time and had done a lot of research, so I really just considered it an early birthday present to myself, as well as a convenient time filler.
So off to the local piercers (girlfriend's neighbours house, which is handy) to get punctured and studded. I was somewhat apprehensive about this, as I had heard all the horror stories about assorted piercings (lost earlobes and so on), but she put me at ease and it was over in a matter of seconds. The whole thing went off without the slightest hitch. The insertion was painless, the aftercare straightforward, and within 4 weeks it was all healed up and ready to go large.
So off i went to get some slightly larger piercings, forking ouy $16 for a 12g and 8g taper. A bit of lube on the 12g, and with mild discomfort in it went. A week later, out with the old, in with the new as i replaced the 12g with the 8g, an transferred the 12 to my right ear (NB I couldnt afford to do both to the same gauge at the same time, as I am a poor student).
This was all reasonably uncomfortable (not painful though), with small amounts of blood, but nothing to get too worked up about.
2 weeks later a friend of mine arrives with freshly stretched lobes, which he did with KY jelly lube, a 12mm paint brush, and 0g screw tunnels. Apparently "thats how all the punks did it back in the day". So due to a combination of his (clearly expert) advice and my lack of common sense I go and purchase a pack of various sized paintbrushes from the local art supplies store.
Numerous whiskeys later I feel sufficiently numbed to undertake the stretching of my lobes from their paltry 8g to a more exciting 0g.
I opted for the 11mm brush, as opposed to the 12, in the hope of putting more pressure on the piercing to stop bleeding, whilst having enough space for easy tunnel insertion.
So i lube up the ole 11mm (000g) paintbrush, and cut through at the widest point. I remove the 12g from my right ear, opting to do that first as I know it will be more painful. "Just be ruthless as about it, don't pussy out" says my friend. I hold the unscrewed 0g tunnel against the cut end of the brush and ruthlessly ram it through my ear, which tears rather sickeningly and bleeds massively, running down my chin. On goes the back of the tunnel, and then the swelling seems to stem the blood flow.
On to the left ear then, which goes much the same way, only marginally less painful, and a tad less blood flow, although it seems to bleed for longer.
For the next 3 days i need a decent amount of alcohol and/or painkillers in order to sleep, but after that the pain and swelling has reduced enough to let me resume normal sleep patterns, and by the time the week is out i can sleep on my side once again.
several weeks later, following the standard aftercare (cleaning and salt baths) the piercing crusties clear up and it's all over. For now. (insert evil laugh)
In Summary
Standard 16g lobe piercings: $20
Acrylic Tapers: $16
Packet Of 8 assorted paintbrushes: $5
Agonising pain: Priceless
2 months on, my lobes have healed up nicely and now have eyelets in them (until i SLOWLY stretch them further, as they are starting to look too small already (next stop 1/2 inch)). They look fantastic for the time being. However i would not reccomend painbrushes as a taper to anyone, as it hurts like buggery. Slow and steady wins the race!! The only advantage to this method is that its over quickly. However it has probably scarred my ears up quite well (im not fully sure, as i odn't know a lot about that), so they may not close fully if i should chose to take the eyelets out in future, which is definitely a regret of mine. so yea, just lube it up and take it slow, its more comfortable for all. Dont be an idiot, savaging your ears with a bit of wood is not as fun as it sounds. And if you are really keen on doing it with a brush than try and find plastic ones, as splinters inside of your earlobe would be a pain in the, ummm, ear.
Peace out