I have had my ears pierced since I was a baby. I was their first little girl, and they wanted to adorn me with little baby studs, and cute jewelry. However, they took me to a piercing shop in the mall, where my ears were pierced with a god awful piercing gun. This one action would later lead to a few years of horrible ear troubles.
At A Glance Author xffan Contact xffan@bme.anon When It just happened Artist myself Studio At work! Location Stockton, CA
My ears would get infected often, even with proper care and treatment. I remember being in kindergarten and having to have the teacher's aid help apply washing solution to my ears before naptime. My ears would redden at the slightest bump or touch. They even bled on occasion. Eventually, I took out my earrings and let them heal over.
When I was twelve, I felt I was ready for earrings again. With my mom's assistance, I pierced my ears using a 20g needle. I put in normal studs, and I was ok for a while, but eventually my ears became irritated again. It turns out, I was sensitive to nickel. I eventually switched between silver and gold. This reduced the irritation greatly, but even with proper treatment, my ears never felt the same.
After a few years of trying the latest normal earrings, I gave up out of boredom and just kept in the same silver hoop earrings with a normal, silver post in. I hardly even felt my earrings, which was a good thing. Then, about 3 months ago, I woke up, and realized the thick part of my hoop slide into my piercing. It was an unusual feeling. I never thought about ear stretching until that very moment.
I didn't put any research into my first ear stretching. I was a bit nervous and timid at being a newbie to the whole realm of ear stretching. Looking back on my first experience, I now know I should have asked people who have stretched questions about their experience.
I went out and bought a pair of 10g captive bead rings, thinking the ring looks thick enough, but not too thick. I had no CBR pliers, so I sterilized some regular needle nose pliers, taped the ends to prevent scratching of the ring, and opened the ring. The ball fell out. I proceeded to insert the jewelry into my right (less sensitive ear). I could feel it go half way into the hole, but it was beginning to throb. I knew I could get it in eventually. I began to push on it, harder. After 2 hours of massaging and pushing, I hear and feel a small pop, and the ring is in. Stupidly, I did not have a pair of CBR closers, so I wound up walking around with a non closed CBR.
The left one was more resistant and much more painful. I give up, and begin doing (super necessary) research about ear stretching. I realize I did my right ear incorrectly, and should not have done a dead stretch, but used a taper on it, especially since I was going up quite a few sizes. I go out and by some tapers for my ear. I lube it up with KY, insert the taper, and pop in the ring. It was so much easier and less traumatic than the previous ring insertion. I follow up with antiseptic wash, and regular salt water soaks. Eventually my ears felt well enough, where I began to switch up the jewelry a bit, and I began to experiment with various styles within my gauge range. From here on out, I'm fascinated by stretching. I began reading up on it, and looking at pictures, and reading tips. I waited about a month and a half to go to the next size. My ears felt a little itchy, on the outside (probably from lack of moisturizing) but other than that, they were fine. I bought a set of 8g spirals, lubed them up and inserted them with little stinging. They slid right into my ears. I did it at work (a tech job), after seeing the package of 8g spirals in my purse, and feeling confident that my body was ready. After I inserted them, they felt great!
Amazingly, this is the best my ears have ever felt ever since I could remember! They feel so good, that I'm looking forward to more stretching.I'm hoping to move onto a 6g in the next month or so, and ultimately wind up at a 2g or 0g. I still cannot believe how great my ears feel, which is what prompted me to write this post. I know there'll be some more slight pain and more care needed ahead, but this journey has made me pay more attention to my ears and my body's reactions to situations such as this more often.