ear stretching

Former Member · February 2006

I've done a search on it on here but didn't quite find what i was looking for. I've read the requisite articles on BMEzine, know I have to start with a 12 ga SOMETHING, but have had conflicting advice. do I put in a BCR first of all or are there 12 ga tusks available.. and what material is best to start with, acrylic or titanium or something else? and any other advice/comments welcome.

Former Member · February 2006

dunno, just keep putting in ones that are slightly bigger every few weeks, and stretch gradually. i dont know what the abbreviations you have used mean though sorry.

http://onetribe.nu/catalog/stretching.php

Former Member · February 2006

12 ga - 0.8 mm jewellry
BCR - ball closure ring

Former Member · February 2006

oh right, well i went straight from having normal ear piercing to having a 2mm taper, which hurt for about 2 hours, but then was fine. going to keep it for a week and then go to 3mm.
I dont think there are any rules tbh, you stretch it as much or as quickly as you want to, according to how much pain you can handle.

Former Member · February 2006

To: Pinkvans: That's not right. 12ga is approx 2mm in gauge.

The way I did it, was just buying bigger and bigger BCR's and steel Tapers. I started of by putting a 1.6mm navel bar through, and kept that in for 5 weeks. A couple of weeks later, I changed it for a 1.6mm steel bcr - the weight helped to stretch it.
6 weeks later and I bought a 2mm taper and some KY jelly and stretched up to 2mm, and put in a 2mm BCR... 6 weeks later, 2.4mm .... and you get the idea.

Ilora x

Former Member · February 2006

rainbow brite wrote:

oh right, well i went straight from having normal ear piercing to having a 2mm taper, which hurt for about 2 hours, but then was fine. going to keep it for a week and then go to 3mm.
I dont think there are any rules tbh, you stretch it as much or as quickly as you want to, according to how much pain you can handle.

No! There ARE rules.

Stretching should only be done with a minimum of 5 weeks in between stretches - otherwise, you risk causing 'blowout' - where your ear will tear and bleed (this can become a real problem and need surgery to sort out).

Stretching isn't something you can do in 2 weeks. It takes months of patience to acheive a desired gauge.

And... stretching shouldn't be painful if done PROPERLY.

Ilora x

Former Member · February 2006

Thanks for the help. Obviously I am a little misinformed, but everyone I've asked seems to tell me different things, thanks for clearing that up.

My ears are well healed (having been pierced for over 19 years :P) so assumedly I can begin stretching possibly with a 1.6mm BCR straight away, woohoo.. thanks again for the advice.

Ooh almost forgot, where do you shop for your stretching jewellery? I'm away from home and don't know where the best piercing place is round here

Former Member · February 2006

Yeah no problem!

I buy all my gear online, it's so painfully overpriced in the shops.
I recommend www.bodyjewelleryshop.com and www.tajarts.co.uk

Ilora x

Former Member · February 2006

Ilora-Danon wrote:

No! There ARE rules.

Stretching should only be done with a minimum of 5 weeks in between stretches - otherwise, you risk causing 'blowout' - where your ear will tear and bleed (this can become a real problem and need surgery to sort out).

Stretching isn't something you can do in 2 weeks. It takes months of patience to acheive a desired gauge.

And... stretching shouldn't be painful if done PROPERLY.

Ilora x

tell that to nihilistic madman who stretched his to 8mm in 3 days.... although apparently it did bleed a lot and his ears swelled up.

Former Member · February 2006

Hahaahaha then he deserved the repercussions for doing it too fast.

Ilora x

Former Member · February 2006

some people are just impulsive

Former Member · February 2006

Although I like the look of flesh tubes- does it not worry you that when you take them out you'll have wrinly old lady fannies on your ears?

Former Member · February 2006

when taken out, after a while it will just look like you have a little line on your ear. they shrink quite quickly, obviously depending on how big the ear plug was.

Jaded · February 2006

Unless you reach the point of no return, when your skin fibres have stretched too far to snap back - admittedly thats a pretty big hole though.

Former Member · February 2006

I stretched up to 6mm before taking them out - they took about 2 months to fully shrink back and now you wouldn't tell I'd ever stretched them.
It depends on the elasticity of your skin - which is different for everyone.

Ilora x

Kimono · February 2006

LadyJade wrote:

Unless you reach the point of no return, when your skin fibres have stretched too far to snap back - admittedly thats a pretty big hole though.

Yep, that would have to be a very big hole... My better half took his out 2 years ago. They were about 12mm and shrank back to a dot after a few months.

Former Member · May 2006

depends on your pain tolerance... otherwise you can do by 2mm and the pain will still be quite low... if you are hardcore you can strach them by 3~4mm or more... but more be prepare for some bleeding tho... did mine up to 10mm in 3 days, bleed a lot and had 2 big red ears for few days... pain wasn't so bad, but I have a good tolerance when it comes to pain...

Former Member · May 2006

i went from 2mm to 4mm to 6mm. It usually hurts for an hour or so, maybe a bit sore to sleep on the first night, so i only do one ear and then wait a day or two before the next ear. make sure your ear is properly healed before going up a size obviously. Usually a few weeks at least.

Former Member · May 2006

Violette wrote:

sorry for dragging this up.. started stretching mine today. just wondering if anyone could tell me do you increase the stretchings by 1mm at a time? or what? just put a 2.4mm in cant wait to get them bigger muahahaha.

From 2.4mm, you'll need 3.2mm, then 4mm, then 5mm, then 6mm etc and it's always a 1mm increment.

Ilora x

Former Member · May 2006

nihilisticmadman wrote:

depends on your pain tolerance... otherwise you can do by 2mm and the pain will still be quite low... if you are hardcore you can strach them by 3~4mm or more... but more be prepare for some bleeding tho... did mine up to 10mm in 3 days, bleed a lot and had 2 big red ears for few days... pain wasn't so bad, but I have a good tolerance when it comes to pain...

It's fair enough if you want to permanently damage yourself, but advising others to is irresponsible. :no:

Former Member · May 2006

I know it's each to their own, but who in their right mind would do that?!

Former Member · May 2006

Violette wrote:

think there's about 5 people in thread who would/have done?

i think it looks cute. only small ones for me like.

Hehe your all mad then.

Former Member · May 2006

*useless*

All I have to say is ouch. I can't even wear some normal earrings because the posts are a bit thicker than others and even that hurts me too much!

Props to anybody who can do it. :thumb:

Former Member · May 2006

Ilora-Danon wrote:

It's fair enough if you want to permanently damage yourself, but advising others to is irresponsible. :no:

any kind of piercing/ tattooing/ body modification is permanently damaging yourself, so im not sure what your point is?
Just because YOUR piercer told you only do it in 1mm increments, doesnt make it scientific fact that anything else is completely the wrong way to do it.
I get annoyed by how much a stickler you are for rules and thinking there is only one right way of doing anything. loosen up a bit.
If it hurts too much, then go for smaller jewellery, or maybe get one of those ear taper things so you can adjust it as often as you can bear without having to buy all seperate jewellery.

Former Member · May 2006

My boyfriend had his pierced at 3mm then two weeks later changed that to 4mm then a week after that to 5 and then a week after that to 6 and he said the only one that hurt was from 3-4 and that was because the hole was still fresh and not healed properly, all the other ones went in really easily.

Former Member · May 2006

I have a friend who is a qualified body piercer (she qualified abroad as in the UK there is no particular qualification needed to become a piercer :nervous: ) and she says the recommended way to do it is 1mm at a time. But she did own own ears at 2mm at a time to save money on jewellery.

I think they look horrible tbh but that's just my conservative taste for you

Former Member · May 2006

SuzyCreamcheese wrote:

any kind of piercing/ tattooing/ body modification is permanently damaging yourself, so im not sure what your point is?
Just because YOUR piercer told you only do it in 1mm increments, doesnt make it scientific fact that anything else is completely the wrong way to do it.
I get annoyed by how much a stickler you are for rules and thinking there is only one right way of doing anything. loosen up a bit.

Have you ever had Blowout? Have you ever seen what it can do? Stretching your ears too fast can cause scar tissue to form, causing no end of problems. Sometimes blowout can need medical assistance and cosmetic surgery to fix. I've seen what it can do which is the reason why I try and advise people to stretch very very slowly.
You can talk to any piercer and they'll all recommend 1mm increments. It's not just something I believe in. It's piercing general knowledge, that I like to share with people who ask for it and believe it to be irresponsible to advise otherwise.

Ilora x

Former Member · May 2006

Ilora-Danon wrote:

Have you ever had Blowout? Have you ever seen what it can do? Stretching your ears too fast can cause scar tissue to form, causing no end of problems. Sometimes blowout can need medical assistance and cosmetic surgery to fix. I've seen what it can do which is the reason why I try and advise people to stretch very very slowly.
You can talk to any piercer and they'll all recommend 1mm increments. It's not just something I believe in. It's piercing general knowledge, that I like to share with people who ask for it and believe it to be irresponsible to advise otherwise.

Ilora x

I am a piercer, I don't practice anymore (well only on SCC and myself) cos got bored of piercing everyone and 2mm is more than safe... the only reason piercer do it as slow as possible is because they make more money this way and cos most people are woos and they can't be bothered with people coming to them ever time they feel a little pain... 2 mm is far from being a big extension at all...

some piercers even hang themself from their piercings (like the guy below) and they are fucking piercers and they don't get any blowout, they are professionals and wouldn't do it if there was a risk...

The guy on this pictures extend the piercings he have by way more than 2,3 or even 4 mm and he will be perfectly fine... it might seem a crazy stuff to do, but I will repeat myself, they are professional and wouldn't do it if they didn't know it was safe...

Former Member · May 2006

Oh I've seen that before! How do they get it so it doesn't rip out? Do they pierce really deep or is there a special way to do it or something?

Former Member · May 2006

my_name wrote:

Oh I've seen that before! How do they get it so it doesn't rip out? Do they pierce really deep or is there a special way to do it or something?

The skin is much stronger than people think... they simply go properly under the skin and not under the first few layers and use some hooks big enough so they don't cut your skin...

They can do it with thinner hoock as well, but they will need more so there is less weight per hoock and less pressure on the skin...

I never done that tho, but always wanted to give it a go and would probably if given the chance...

Also obviously this is not pan free...

But hey, no pain, no game...

Former Member · May 2006

Violette wrote:

i cant see the pic but i really wanna!!

Will try to add it as an attachement then...

ear stretching

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