I've become interested in stretching my septum last year. I went from 14 ga to 4 ga over a few months but didn't think I could or would go any bigger. I have had a few problems with my last stretch and it was always very painful, no matter how much TLC and vaseline I used. Tapering my septum has been one of the most intense experiences ever and even if I loved the result I was a bit scared of going to 2 ga.
At A Glance Author strawberry Contact strawberry@bme.anon IAM strawberry When It just happened Artist Myself However, while I was looking for info and tips to stretch my tongue piercing I discovered teflon tape and everybody who'd used it for their stretches loved it and said that it helped stretching safely, avoiding skin tears and reducing pain. In fact, if you are in pain when using teflon tape, it means you're going too fast and that you should wait a bit longer before going bigger.
I bought some teflon tape for my tongue and even if it was unsuccessful (a huge keloid forced me to stop stretches), I decided I could try it with my septum. If it was really that easy I could have a go at it and see what it felt like. I'd had a healed, 4 ga piercing already and if it didn't work I could always downsize -4 ga was a size I liked already, so there wasn't a big pressure for me to go bigger. Basically, I was just curious.
Over a period of about two weeks I applied a small bit of teflon tape to my septum tunnel. At first I rolled too much of it and there was no way to have it go through the existing hole and it also was a bit awkward to apply only a very small amount of tape at a time, but a bit of practise and lots of patience were all I needed to get good results.
I developed a routine of cutting a small piece of tape every other night, roll it over my septum tunnel, oil it with vaseline and push it through as gently as possible to minimize trauma.
Teflon tape hasn't got any glue in it, you just put it on and it stays there. However, after a few days in contact with the skin (less, two days max in my experience for the tongue) it needs changing. It gets a bit stinky and it starts to lose the colour (it is white and in my case it got almost transparent). I suppose that even weekly changes could have done, but I am a germophobic and preferred to change it every 4 or 5 days or so. You only have to remember roughly how much you'd put on or you'd either go too big or too small, but because you go so slow it isn't a big deal.
I didn't have much faith in this method when I started. I thought that it wouldn't have worked or that it would have taken me ages to get even one size bigger, but I was so wrong.
One morning I decided to try and see what had happened to my septum. I removed the taped 4 ga tunnel and tried to push a bigger one in. Luckily, after years of mods I have quite a few pieces of jewelry at hand and a tunnel I used for an ear stretch was 2 ga and the perfect length for my septum. I'd cleaned it and oiled it and pushing it through was really easy with no pain whatsoever and no pressure. It was just big enough, and any bigger wouldn't have fit, but it went in without any problem at all. I was so, so amazed and happy.
I disinfected the area a bit with antibiotic spray (just in case), put the O rings back in and looked at my septum in awe for about 10 minutes.
When I went out I also bought 1 and 0 ga tunnels, and I'm preparing for the next stretches. I'll definetely use teflon tape again and I'll start stretching as soon as the area isn't tender anymore, which I hope is soon.
I suggest to everybody who's interested in stretching to try teflon tape -you may not like it at first but it's much less traumatic than a taper, it's cheap (I paid about 1 euro for a whole roll, and it can be purchased in places that sell plumbing tools), and you have total control over your mod because you can go bigger according to the response of your body and take your time. The tape works better for larger gauges, but I'll try it to stretch small holes, too in the future.
However, it's essential that you work on healed holes only, as teflon tape isn't sterile at all. Vaseline is always important, too, as it makes stretches much easier and comfortable.
Happy stretching to everyone!