Well, I was talking to The Eternal through instant messages on IAM, and he suggested I write an experience on my labret stretching, as he would like to see more of this type of experience on BME. I have been a reader of BME for some time now, and have done several interviews that appear in BME/People, but this is my first experience to submit so far.
At A Glance Author Crow Contact crow100@bitstreet.com Artist self-done stretching/original lip piercing done by Reedy Studio Tight Lip Location Abilene, TX I got my labret pierced originally on December 5th of 1997 at Tight Lip in Abilene, Texas. I had originally planned on getting my tongue pierced, but my tongue is rather short and the piercer didn't feel completely comfortable doing it, so I opted for my second choice, the labret. It was definitely my most painful facial piercing, but it still wasn't bad at all. That's just the beginning of this story however.
I left the labret at the original 14 gauge size that it was pierced at for quite some time, and although I do not remember the exact dates, I didn't begin stretching it until sometime around the Fall of 99 or Spring of 2000. The only reason I even remember a rough estimate is because I was still working at a job I hated when I started stretching it.
The thought of stretching it had been in my mind, but I was unsure of myself in doing it until I got tapers of my own. I eventually got some, and the stretching began. I had discussed labret stretching with a few of my friends from BME, primarily Jason Sand & Loco, so I knew what to expect.
I had a large variety of jewelry that my lobes and other piercings had out-grown, so I figured I was ready to go. I ran the first taper through and was at a 12 gauge. The hole still seemed loose, so I decided that instead of trying to put jewelry in it, I'd follow the 12ga taper with a 10ga taper. Piece of cake...I was now at a 10 gauge. These first two stretches were almost painless. The 12 gauge taper stuck for just a moment and then there was a feeling of a release and it was through, but other than that, smooth operating on this first set of stretches. I put a 10 gauge cbr in and was set.
I wore this for a couple of days, but didn't like the way it looked, felt or made the inside hole of the labret look, so it was time for another stretch. 8 gauge taper, a sit in the bathroom, and there it was, 8 ga plug in my labret.
This remained in for a couple more days, but the piercing was still feeling loose, so I decided to go up again. I had basically skipped 6ga with my lobes...I'd worn a 6ga earlet in one for a little while but it had quickly stretched to a 4ga, and the other had been tapered from an 8 straight to a 4. The reason I mention this is it has some meaning to the labret stretching story: I had very little 6ga jewelry. I did however have one acrylic plug that I thought would do the job just fine....
So again, sit in the bathroom, 6ga taper and a little bit of time, and the 6ga plug was in. Then I realized something. The plug had a barely noticeable hole through the length of it in the center. It wasn't a plug, but an earlet that was now in my labret, and that meant saliva could leak through. I could now become a constant drooler.
I decided I'd rather not be this, so it was time to go to a 4 gauge...taper, sit in bathroom, scream, blood, and then it was in. I was at a 4 gauge. It had bled a little, but seemed to be fine once the jewelry was in and healed up ok. I had just gone from 14 gauge to 4 gauge labret in the exact time of 7 days!!!!
After this I stayed at a 4 gauge for a while, don't remember exactly how long, but it was at least somewhere between 1 and 2 months. Then one day, the 4 gauge plug (I wore an o-ring on the back, but none on the front. popped right out into my mouth. I thought, "Time to get the taper!", grabbed my taper and a 2ga plug and headed for the bathroom...it wasn't too hard of a stretch, and I was up to a 2ga.
I didn't want to go up too quickly, so I started wearing an o-ring on the front of the plug sometimes to make sure it didn't pop out randomly. I had a reaction to the o-ring which caused some keloiding, but it wasn't bad at the time. I also had a flap of skin grow over the backing of the plug from time to time, but if it grew too far over, I cut it off.
I stayed at the 2 gauge for a while, but eventually pulled out the 0ga taper and took it up once again. It was at a 0ga and looking ok, but the plug I wore now was a bit too short and irritated the keloids that had formed at a 2ga. I ended up getting a long spike plug, and that held the keloids at a standstill. I stayed at 0ga for at least a few months, but the weight of the spiked plug eventually started sinking the plug into my lip and caused discomfort.
Around this time, I order a stretching kit from Breed 316 (this is a great investment...plugs starting at 1.6mm and going up to 12mm, incrementing in 0.5mm steps). I decided that this was lightweight enough and would probably help the discomfort and cause even less irritation to the keloids than the spike did. I ended up at approx. 9mm to start with, almost a 00ga I believe. I stayed there for a while, but eventually started going up in a plug at a time...sometimes there'd be a week in between plugs, sometimes more and sometimes less.
I'm now wearing the 12mm plug from that kit, and have no available jewelry to go bigger. The plugs have helped to keep the keloiding at a standstill, and I've decided to work on ridding myself of the keloids (which now look more like a lip around parts of the piercing rather than a keloid anymore). Once I'm rid of that problem, I would like to get some plugs incrementing at either 0.5mm or 1mm and stretching the labret some more. At minimum, I would like to get it up to 15mm and then find a more permanent, nicer piece of jewelry for it.
I originally thought this was one piercing I'd never stretch, and I also didn't find too much significance in it other than decoration. Now, that has changed...it's one of my most important piercings and defines who I am. The labret and my septum (stretched to a 00ga as of right now) are two piercings that have really made me more comfortable with my body and through the self-stretching of both, I believe I've found a spiritual side to my mods that might not have been as strongly present before.
Thanks, Eternal, for inspiring me to write this. If anyone would like to discuss labret stretching, or anything else about mods with me, feel free to contact me.
Bryan Henderson
aka Crow