This is the story of how my 6 mm navel came into being.
At A Glance Author Lyssie Contact goodbye_forever_@hotmail.com IAM breatheher When A month ago Why Stretch Your Navel?
OK, so first off maybe I should explain why I wanted to stretch my navel piercing. Since stretching my lobes to 6 mm (I think that is about 3 gauge, right?) I have liked the concept of stretched piercings. I think it's a process by which you have to be quite in tune with your body and it requires dedication, but the end justifies the means as stretched piercings, in my opinion, look really good.
The reason I only stretched my lobes to 6 mm was because I was made to take them out, piercings don't really fly at my all-girls grammar school. A few months ago, I had the urge to stretch my lobes back up so ordered myself some tapers from the BME shop (and I must say, the service was great, they arrived in a matter of days). When they arrived I was so excited, and began stretching my lobes.
Fast forward a few days, to the point where I realised that I was going to have a hard time stopping my school teachers from noticing them; I didn't want to go to the trouble of stretching my lobes only to remove them again. That night I removed the jewellery from my lobes and realised that it would be a bit of a waste not to use my tapers. Although I hadn't really considered it myself, stretched navels had always appealed to me so I decided there and then that I was going to stretch my navel to 6 mm as it would finish off my navel project well (navel, inverse navel and a horizontal surface bar) as the thin little 1.6 mm BCR that was in there looked kind of pathetic!
I decided to stretch my navel because I felt it would be something for me and nobody else. As I already mentioned, I enjoy the process of stretching piercings and the idea of having something kind of personal like that appealed to me, as not many people see my navel. It's all about my perception of myself - the piercings that people don't necessarily see are there for me and they improve the way I see myself.
The Stretching, Part One.
To begin with, I actually attempted (stupidly) to put an 8ga (3.264mm) curved spike into the little 1.6 mm piercing. After a lot of trying and a lot of pain, I realised it wasn't going to happen and that I was being too ambitious. So, lesson one from this experience is: don't force things, patience is a virtue.
Instead of the spike, I put a second 1.6 mm BCR in to the piercing and this actually made it quite sore the next morning. I salt soaked the piercing and this seemed to calm it down significantly so that evening I went to bed very happy. Again, the next day it was sore so I soaked it twice a day for the next 2 days.
The Stretching, Part Two.
After those two days, I felt it was doing well but didn't think it was ready for the 8ga taper. And I was right. Lesson two is: trust your instincts. If you don't think you can handle it, chances are you can't. Despite my inclination, I got slightly *drunk* that evening, came home, smothered the taper in KY jelly (a water based lubricant) and pushed it through. Now, I think this sobered me up a little! It was painful but due to my intoxication I pulled it all of the way through. I cleaned it up and dried it off and knew straight away that I shouldn't have gone to 8ga from 14ga in three days. Due to the fistula being very tight around the taper, any movement of my stomach was painful because of the extra length of the spike making it move around.
It was very sore and very red the next day, and also significantly swollen. I decided to adopt a LITHA philosophy (leave it the hell alone) and took some ibuprofen, but nothing else that day. The next morning it was still sore and red and looked more swollen. If I tried to move the spike up or down in the piercing it wasn't possible and just hurt. A lot. That afternoon, I was trying to feel the spike under the skin as it felt strange to me - I must have been pressing quite hard as a large amount of a viscous yellow fluid came out of the piercing. Oh the relief! I know I shouldn't have done but I squeezed the remainder of the fluid from the piercing and soaked it.
For the next week I soaked the piercing twice a day and it settled down very well. The taper could be moved up and down in the piercing and it no longer hurt to touch. I know that it is recommended to wait a month between stretches but I honestly thought that the next stretch from 8ga to 6ga would be easy and that my navel could take it. Wrong. But without the gift of hindsight, I went ahead and did it.
The Stretching, Part Three.
The 6ga spike did not look too much bigger than the 8ga so I decided to go ahead with the stretch. It was pretty much the same as the previous one - hurt a lot, was very sore, but there was no discharge or weeping. However, after the first few days I noticed that the skin was peeling from around the top of the piercing so I removed the O-ring from the top as the fistula was still quite tight around the spike so it wouldn't fall out and continued to salt soak it. Within a week the piercing was a-OK once more, so I put it down to something to do with the O-ring, although I'm not sure what because they haven't bothered me before.
Two weeks after the stretch to 6ga, I had the urge to put in a solid stainless steel 6ga plug that I had from one of my ears. This was easy to put in but the O-rings were difficult as there was not much space/steel either side of the entrance and exit of the piercing. In short, the plug seemed like it might be too short (see lesson two: trust your instincts) but I still put it in.
I wore this plug for about a week and I loved the way it looked but the truth was I just couldn't wear it because it wasn't suitable jewellery for the anatomy. The piercing became tender and red again, and the top O-ring was being 'drawn' into the piercing because the plug was just too short. So lesson three is: always wear suitable jewellery in your piercings. I switched back to the spike reluctantly.
So, after about a month of having the piercing at 6ga (just over 4 mm) it seemed absolutely fine, I could remove the spike and put it back in with ease and it showed no signs of any problems. On to the final step!
The Final Stretch.
The final step was to stretch the piercing a further 2 mm. After a long, hot shower I went about inserting the final spike. I smothered the spike in KY jelly (lesson four: KY jelly (or any water based lubricant) is a godsend when stretching piercings) and began to pull it through. I got it most of the way through but it became very painful and difficult so after 15 minutes of trying, I resigned to put the O-rings on to hold the spike in its current position.
The next day, I pulled gently on the spike during lessons at school and ensured I was dosed up on ibuprofen to tide me over! (lesson five: ibuprofen is also a godsend) By the end of the day, the spike was all the way in and I had barely even realised it. I was so happy! I kept the spike in for about 5 days until I had the chance to buy a 6 mm titanium tunnel. Now, despite the jewellery fiasco at 6ga, this tunnel is absolutely fine. It is slightly longer than the standard 1/2" and the piercing seems slightly shorter due to the stretch so it fits fine - no marks from O-rings and enough tunnel left on either side! It is also obviously straight, not curved, but I have been wearing it for a month and have had no problems whatsoever.
A Final Note.
The stretch now seems completely healed, and looks so damn good! The fact that the piercing seemed slightly shorter alerted me to the possibility of rejection but I have been keeping my eye on this baby and it is absolutely a-OK- I know the signs of rejection as I have experienced it with the aforementioned surface bar that made a part of my navel project. So, despite not having my surface bar anymore, my navel looks great with its 6 mm tunnel and inverse navel piercing.
Lesson six: if you want to stretch your navel, GO FOR IT! Hopefully you can learn a little something from my mistakes - take it slow, wear the right kind of jewellery and so on - and have fun with it. I hope to get some pictures up on my IAM page soon.
Happy stretching!