I haven't written about my past stretches because they were kind of boring. However, this stretch was interesting, to say the least. A lot of different factors made this stretch one of the more difficult and annoying I've ever done.
At A Glance Author Lupychica Contact Lupychica@bme.anon When A week ago I have been at an 8g in my septum for quite a while now. Probably like a year or two. I knew I was going to stretch, but it was never a big deal. I was in no rush.
Enter my summer vacation. After a grueling summer semester in front of a computer screen, I have a month off. I decide to go visit my elderly grandmother in, of all places, Hawaii. Of course, my grandmother can't know I have my septum pierced, she's nearly 80! So I keep it nice and quiet.
On the faithful day, I decide to go swimming. Why not? I'm in Hawaii, I've been swimming before. Everything was fine. Not this time. I dive into the ocean and BLAM. It happens. My retainer falls out. Now, don't feel bad for me. This had actually happened before! But it landed directly on my foot, so I carefully lifted my foot and retrieved it. Of course, lightning doesn't strike twice. I lost my retainer. Another turn of events, this also happened to be the day I had to drive my partner to the airport. So I had to wait a few hours to get a new retainer.
Finally, I get to the local piercing studio. Most places are in Waikiki or Honolulu. I was in Kailua. Fortunately, I found one open. I go there and it turns out he doesn't have anything good to hide. So I end up buying a porcupine quill in 6g. I thought, "Why not stretch since I lost my 8g jewelry anyway?" Ha. HA HA. 6g is a LOT different than 8g.
So there's me in my bedroom at my grandma's place trying to get this CRAZY long quill through my nose. It wasn't going in without MAJOR pain, much less being able to cut it to a length that would make it invisible to grandma. So I had to make like MacGyver and find something bigger than 8g but smaller than 6g. I looked at pens, toothpicks, anything. Anything! I wasn't too worried about it being clean because my septum was a long time healed, like 6 years. It turns out that the straws in Capri Sun drinks are perfect! So I cut a little piece off of the pointy end. I put it in my nose and went to sleep.
The next morning, it was a bit sore, but not closing. I had it in there the rest of my trip(5 days). The drawbacks were thus: The cut end was not smooth. It started to chafe the inside of my nose. Similarly, the pointed edge was POINTED. It chafed my nose as well.
I had ordered a 6g retainer while in Hawaii assuming it would get home before August 31st, when I was moving. Well, of course, it didn't. I'm actually STILL waiting for it. So about a week ago, I decided just to go to a piercing shop and get some jewelry.
When I got to the shop, I had to wait forever for someone to come help me. But finally, a very nice woman came over. I know I wanted one of those circular sorts of jewelry that tapers on the ends, like pinchers. I saw what I wanted in the display case and told her I wanted it in 6g. She got one out for me and showed me the different dimensions they sold. I opted for the smallest dimension. I was VERY surprised at the size of 6g. It looked enormous! When I said this, she got an 8g out and compared it. I calmed a little, but was still wide-eyed at the prospect of my nose being that size.
I didn't want them to put it in because I'm a big baby. So I walk back home, put some KY on it and slowly, slowly, slip it in. It's tight, very tight. I couldn't imagine putting this in without having the straw in there first. But, it gets in. My nose is officially 6g!
What made this part of the stretch TERRIBLE is that I had a cold. I mainly changed to this new jewelry because blowing my nose with the straw was very much a chore. I needed to get it out of my nose. The new jewelry was better, but bigger, so it made blowing my nose also hurt, just in a different way.
Finally, it is present day. My nose is still a bit sore, but no where near as bad as the day after. It looks great and I'm excited about the prospect of jewelry for it.