Living in Australia, ear stretching wasn't that common until a few years ago, when the stereo-typical emo/scene kids emmerged and decided it was cool to steal a certain type of art form that had been around for years. It then became a very noticable fashion or "fad" to have stretched lobes, because everywhere you look now, somone has them. But enough about the history of australian stretched lobes :) haha
At A Glance Author Nic Contact Nic@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Me Studio Home and Public Toilets I haven't always wanted to get my ears pierced, but I decided about halfway through year 10 (middle of highschool) that I wanted to get them pierced. A couple of my friends had them, and I thought it looked awesome, so I made up my mind that I was somehow going to get it done. I had seen stretched lobes by then, but the thought of doing it to myself hadn't even cross my mind.
My parents are very leniant and cool about most things, but getting my ears pierced before I was 16 was a no go. I hounded my parents for weeks to get them pierced, slipping in little hints every now and again about earings, but still they wouldn't budge. One day, a group of friends and I were hanging around on the main street bored out of our minds, and we all were talking about piercings. We all decided to go get my ears pierced aslong as I didn't have to pay. We looked for every piercing place known to man.... well, within the region, but no one was available or open. At that point we were all pretty bummed, until we were walking past a beauty salon, we wondered in to ask if they pierced ears, and guess what, it was just my luck. The lady lead me and my friends into a room that was very clean and the lights were dimmed a little. It had that sweet smell of incence burning but I couldn't see to find where it was coming from. The lady whipped out this gun and shot the studs into my ear with no pain at all. After going over my memories of my first piercing experience, it was a terrible studio, I can't remember if she cleaned the gun or the studs and she didn't even mark my ears. Never the less, my friends were all very impressed, so they paid and we bailed to the beach at about 7pm and chilled down there for a few hours.
When I got home my mum totally freaked out and was so pissed off at me she made me take out my earrings. My dad wasn't too phased by what I had done, but the part that irrated them was the fact that I didn't sit down and talk to them about what I wanted to do. (which is what I tried to do all along).
So I had no earings in for about 2-3 months, when suddenly about a week or two before Christmas, my parents decided that it was alright to get my ears pierced, even when I went to a private school that didn't allow earings on guys. So we went and got it done at a more hygenic studio, which I was really happy about :P
In those 2-3 months of not wearing earings, I started to really notice and dig stretchers. I was originally introduced to stretches in grade 7 when I got my first Incubus album, and the lead singer, Brandon Boyd, had them. I thought they were cool then, but it was only probably because of Brandon.
I started researching continously at school and at home, and whenever I had time about the risks of stretching and other info about it. Finally I found what I wanted to do with myself. I had decided within those 2-3 months that I would eventually stretch my lobes, even if I did have to wear fake stretchers while my regular piercings healed :]
But you know teens, we are too eager to wait.
So I constantly cleaned my earings and my holes with the spray and always twisted them so they wouldn't get infected, which made them heal a bit quicker then normal. One day, I walked into Cosmetics Plus at the local mall to have a look at any new earings or cool body jewellery. I purchased the smallest stretching taper they had which was a 3mm :S I was skeptical at first about stretching from 1.2mm to 3mm in one go, but I couldn't find any other shops that sold anything smaller, so it looked like I was stuck with the 3mm. As soon as I got home I locked myself in the bathroom and went for it. I took off the o-rings and took out my stud and was ready to start stretching. I cleaned the taper with hot water first then proceeded to spray it with antiseptic piercing spray. This was the moment of truth, I tried slipping it through but it bled straight away. As stupid as this sounds, I kept at it and tried to push past the pain. It wouldn't go any further so I gave up and threw the stretcher away.
About 2 weeks after my first "stretching" experience, one of my close friends who was already at 00gauge, and the same one that got me to get my ears peirced in the first place, let me in on how he had been stretching is ears so quick.
I DO NOT ADVISE DOING THIS NEXT PART!
He told me that he had never been any smaller than a 6mm(2gauge) and that he stretched to that straight away. What he did was; had a shower and while he was in there, he would massage his ear lobe for a few minutes then put the taper in with a minimal amount of pain. I thought I would give this a try, so I went to cosmetics plus and purchased a 4mm stretcher and two 4mm flesh tunnels. I was determined to get those tunnels in, even if I bled like a bitch. That same night I had purchased the tunnels and taper I attempted what my friend had told me. So I got in the shower with my taper and tunnels and massaged my lobes for a while, I then slowly slid the taper through until I got it to the very end. That final slip when it gets to the end is so rewarding and it looked and felt great.
When I got out of the shower I tried chasing the taper with the 4mm tunnels, the first time I tried it didn't go all the way through so i had to stretch it again and then line up the tunnel with the stretcher and go again. SUCCESS!! I got it in, it looked so good and I was so happy and proud of myself. I proceeded to do the other ear and that went in without any problems at all.
My parents were so dissapointed within me, but I thought they looked amazing and the experience was so good, almost addictive :P
About a week later I was in my local tattoo/body jewellery shop and noticed some awesome black silicone tunnels. I spoke to the lady at the counter and she said they're awesome to sleep on and that they're really easy to slip in etc. So I bought two and a 6mm stretcher taper. I contimplated stretching and trying to squeeze the tunnels in, but it just seemed logical that they wouldn't fit, so I saved them and put them away.
I then went back to Cosmetics Plus the next day and bought two 6mm flesh tunnels. I met up with some friends and went to the beach, but while I was in the bathroom, I thought I'd stretch up to 6mm and put the tunnels in. I got my left one in with a little bleeding and not too much trouble. Next I stretched my right lobe to 6mm and then as I was going to put the tunnel in it slipped from my fingers and went down the drain. I was so annoyed and pissed off that I had just lost $20 worth of earings, so I got underneath the sink to have a look at the pipes. I thought that if I kicked it in I might have a chance at getting it still, but no luck, it was no where to be found :(
Now I have a 6mm tunnel in my left lobe and a 6mm taper in my right lobe. I am waiting to go back to Cosmetics Plus to purchase another tunnel so it doesn't seem so akward to sleep on.
I love stretching and I really love my lobes, I will probably only ever go to 10mm (00gauge) but I really dig the whole experience and look of them and when they are healed nicely you can play with them too :P
I was lucky enough to have my ears heal perfectly and turn out exactly how I wanted them to. But I seriously recommend doing this over a number of months instead of about 2 weeks, even though mine turned out fine, everyone is different and if you don't research what you want to do properly, you could seriously damage yourself in a number of diffenent ways.