Hi everybody!
At A Glance Author Crustacean Contact let_the_killing_begin@hotmail.com When It just happened Artist me, rob, crap lady Studio everywhere. Location everywhere It all started one day when I was at the local skatepark. I wanted my septum pierced for a while, so I went to get it done. But the lady was too crappy and wouldn't / couldn't do it. So I settled with a reasonably low 14g labret. At that stage, I knew nothing about piercings...I didn't even have my ears pierced! While I was in there, she gave me a choice of big or small (14g or 16g) and I asked if id be able to squirt water through it, and she said I would if I went with 14g. So I did. It was cool for 3 months or something, but I could never really shoot water as well as id have liked.
I started getting into the whole piercing thing after that, and decided I wanted to go to 12g. I went and bought the smallest taper they had, which was 8g. Little did I know at the time about gauges, and even less that stretching lips was reasonably uncommon (sure its getting there these days, but they're still nowhere near stretched lobes) so I had no idea what I was doing except I figured that bigger hole could shoot liquid better.
Back to the same old skatepark, it was after a skateboard and BMX competition that I decided that the time was now...and the place was anywhere! Id never tried stretching anything or even pushing something bigger through my lip so I didn't know what I was in for. I tried a couple of times, but it hurt too much! I procrastinated for a long while until some chick friends of mine came down to the park and one of them had a mirror, that I got dead serious about doing it. I was über poor at the time and I didn't want to wast the little money I spent on the taper. So I took my old flatback out, put the end through, and pushed. It hurt like hell and I was yelling and complaining to everyone about it and stuff. I kept pushing and then I felt something that didn't feel good, I'm guessing it was my lip tearing a bit. But that didn't really faze me, because it did help getting to the end of the taper. It felt mega hot and was throbbing but I was really proud of myself. I had nothing else to wear, so I had this big long stupid uncomfy taper sticking out of my lip for like a week until I got an 8g CBB.
It was cool. I was stoked about it for 6 months or so. But then I got more and more into modification. Id stretched my ears to ¾" and nostrils to 4g by the time I decided to stretch the lip again. I had mixed emotions about it, I mean, I was kinda scared because the 1st one was so nasty...but on the other hand, I figure that 3.2 – 4mm wouldn't be nearly as bad as 1.6 - 3.2mm. It was also so long ago that id pretty much forgotten what it felt like. It just registered as 'hurt' in my brain. So I went out and got myself steel spiked plug and prepared myself. Most of the taper went in, then it got tight, then it hurt a bit, then it was done. The ½ of me that thought it wouldn't be as bad was right. It was still stinging and all, but I thought it was rad. Sadly, it was only a matter of weeks before I got shitty that 6g was a tiny bit too small to stick drinking straws through.
I had a 4g steel spiked plug that I had in my nostril at one stage, so I figured id use that since the 6g one worked so well. I gathered my equipment and sat on my bed and went for it. It was weird; I think this one hurt the least of the lot so far. It wasn't until this stretch that it occurred to me that lips swell with you force bigger things through them (yeah its obvious, but I just didn't think about it). I was rocking on for a while, bought a sweet GWS plug and it was wicked comfortable. It was glass so it was clear. It had a round end though so u couldn't see through it from the outside, but you could from the inside and I think that's what inspired me to step it up again.
I got a good deal on a 2g plug, so I had a bit of spare dosh, plus being lazy and decided to get it done pro. Rob was the man for the job. I went in and sat down on the chair and all. He prepped up and put that lubricating jelly on the taper. Then he pushed it through. He pushed it quick, as opposed to me when I do it myself. I push it slow and steady. It was good though, didn't hurt as much. As logic says, most of the lubricating jelly ended up in my mouth. It's hell disgusting! The taste of that was easily twice as bad as the pain of the stretch. I was happy. It swelled up a bit, but had pretty much stopped hurting (undisturbed) by the time I got onto the footpath out the front of the studio.
It was at 2g for roughly a month before I found a spunky 0g clear acrylic plug in Industrial Strength. It's sweet, you can see right through it. So I got a 0g taper as well, and got ready to roll. I smushed it through, and attempted to push it out and the clear plug in but I just couldn't get it in! It was zero point something smaller than the taper, so it should fit, but I couldn't make it work...stupid flat surface...I was sad because I had to put my boring old 2g plug back in.
I went back and bought a red acrylic spiked plug in 0g. I figured that it helped me before with nostrils, septums and previous lip stretched, so it should do the job again. And it did. I was all pumped since I failed last time and gave it 2 weeks to get over itself before I got back on the proverbial horse and tried again. This time with the spiked plug. Old plug out, taper drop, taper force taper stay there for a while to try to avoid doing the same as last time. Gave it a couple of hours and then pushed the taper through and the spiked plug in. It was a tiny bit smaller than the taper as well to assure it would fit. 2 days later, I replaced the spiked plug with the pretty clear plug. Satisfaction came straight to my brain as I looked into the mirror and saw not only my teeth, but also the walls of the hole itself! It was cool.
So it's great. Do it, be cool. But if you actually DO do it, do it safely and don't skip gauges, that was my stupidity and naivety.
Keep it real, keep it safe and stay modified.
Steve