In October 2003 I decided that I'd had enough of my 14g septum piercing and wanted to go bigger. Thin rings in septums just don't seem right to me. I'm an anthropology major and I've read a crapload of books on tribal culture. The accompanying photos always feature warriors with things like warthog canines in their septums, and that's the kind of size I think looks really good. So I decided to stretch to something bigger. But I was at a loss when it came to the actual stretching.
At A Glance Author Jon P Contact original_sly@yahoo.com When N/A Location Palmerston North, New Zealand Being in the South Island for a month, I called my piercer in the North Island and asked him how I should go about stretching my septum. He told me to take a shower to soften up the tissue, then lube up another 14g CBR and slowly push it through behind the existing 14g CBR. I knew this wouldn't work too easy so I stole one of my girlfriend's 16g CBR's and used that instead.
Pain! I had to take a couple of deep breaths and NUMEROUS attempts to get the ring through and it was numb for at least 30 minutes afterwards. The way I finally did it was to slowly push the 16g ring in behind the 14g ring. I felt total relief when I felt it start to slide through.
But the pain! My eyes watered enough for tears to drop and my face went really red. It took a long time for my septum to become adjusted to the second ring. I applied antiseptic gel every morning. My girlfriend's mother thought I was crazy to put ANOTHER ring in my septum. She didn't understand why I'd willingly put myself through a shitload of pain. I didn't understand either once I'd seen it. Somehow having two small rings doesn't look as good as one large ring.
I had bought an acrylic 10g segment ring, which was one of the motivations for stretching my septum piercing. (I didn't actually know that acrylic is porous and harbors bacteria, and therefore shouldn't be used in newly stretched piercings). Having sharp edges, the acrylic ring was extremely painful to get into the newly stretched piercing; it took a lot of attempts, and hurt really bad. It also didn't help that I kept playing with it when I finally got it in (a big no-no, everyone knows you don't play with new/newly stretched piercings).
I got back to the North Island about half a month later and decided to buy a steel 12g CBR (from Lotz of Potz in Palmerston North) and put that in my septum. The piercing just kept hurting and never felt okay, so I thought I should go down a size and then stretch to a 10g ring at a later date, which I did AND it was infinitely easier.
I'm now at 8g, and excitedly awaiting a 6g Pyrex plug for when I next stretch. My advice for people wanting to stretch their septum is this:
DON'T push another ring through your septum. Spend a lil bit of cash and buy a frickin' TAPER. I used a taper to go from 10g to 8g and the stretch was much easier, less painful, and just a more enjoyable experience. What took me more than half an hour of deep breathing and failed attempts at PUSHING the ring through could have been achieved in less than a minute if I'd just had a taper.
I think using another ring to stretch your septum probably leaves the hole misshapen. When I took the rings out to put the 12g in, the hole looked like a solid '8' on its side, with a ridge running horizontally down the middle of the top and bottom of the hole. This has since cleared up, but would never have happened if I'd used a taper to begin with.
ASK someone who knows what they're talking about. Some piercers aren't even in the know when it comes to stretching. I suggest going through BME or going to the forums on bodyartforms.com. These sites are run by professionals and they probably know a lil bit more than your average small town piercer.
Also, DON'T try to skip a gauge when you stretch. I went from 14g to 10g, and it hurt a lot for a long time afterwards, which I took to mean my body was telling me I'd made the wrong move. Go from 14 to 12 THEN to 10. You'll find it's easier. Otherwise you're just abusing your piercing, and I think a piercing is something to cherish and take care of.
The bigger your septum piercing, the more fun stuff you can wear in it! Organic materials like bone or horn, awesome custom made biomechanical tusks, Pyrex, flesh tunnels, so many new cool things to wear rather than that crummy lil 14g CBR I wore before!