Ear Stretching : I'm Finally done

Well I have quit stretching now with "00" Gauge and a "2" gauge

Sometimes you just need to say stop : So I've quit plus I don't have too much space left. So here is my final image. I'm gonna do a descent guide later.

O.K this ear stretch acted a little differently to before

This went differently on this 8mm Stretch

Well this stretch went great from the first 6 hours, I used steripod saline to clean it. Apalied presure to the back "O" ring (putting it on tight tends to move the4 stretch along some how)No swelling 4hrs later I pushed it a little and it went all te way from 6mm to 8mm (gauge 2 -0) no real pain no excessive swelling.

Then an hour later got some pain the down the neck sort, took some pain killer n o problem until the next hour and it hit the swell. It went up like quite abit but no real pain. So I decided just to leave it in and go to bed. The next morning it was massive, but I decided to see how it would go and it went tdown a little by the evening some more the next morning then completely gone by the time I wen to bed. So 48hrs of swelling but no infection, it was wierd as no intial swelling. But here is a photo after 48hrs. I only have a little space left in my ear now. So I've decided to go up to 10mm 0r gauge "00" and call it a day as this is getting a bit out of hand.

This week I'll put the next size up into the back 5mm piercing taking it to 6mm or gauge 2. Then on wednesday start the stretch from 8mm to 10mm with the hope of only a little swelling. It goes to show what worked once or twice may not always work when stretching, your body will do what ever it likes.

Leaving earings out of stretched piercings

O.k well today before I began stretching my 6mm to 8mm I had cause to remove bothe of my expanded piercings for 4 hours.

People ask what happens if you take those expanders out ?, I always answer don't know ? but now I know.

Firstly I ought to say how old each of these expanded pircings are one is 6 weeks old, another is at it's present size about 10 days old.

1. I should say the 10 day old one stang for a lttle while to begin with, it may have been the fresh air?. The 6 week old one nothing at all.
2. When they were out there was no big gaping hole to be seen they just looked like large piercings. Nothing any one would comment on, you could just see through the 6mm, they apeared to be 25% or less than there actole size.
3. After the 4hrs the 6 week old piercing took it's tunnel no probs felt slightly tighter than before. That may have been due to the air drying the piercing rather than the scar tissue contracting.
4. The 10 day old piercing I had to use the expander as it felt wise, it took a wee push and felt very slightly sore. After 20mins I slide my old flesh tunnel in with out any pain.

Unfourtunately no pictures of how small the holes looked, but they were really not to noticeable. I taught a class of 8 year olds who notice everything and they said nothing.

6mm (gauge 2) to 8mm (gauge 0) my final stretch ?

Back is a 5mm steel tunnel, front 8mm acrylic stretcher,
just1 hour into starting to stretch a 6mm hole to 8mm.

Will this really be the final stretch ?

As I may have hinted before I have an obsessive personality so what began as the original aim to get the smallest possible flesh tunnel to look cool, has become something else. I remember being 11 years old saying dad I only want my hair to reach my collar when I first began growing it. A few years later and it's at my shoulder blades, go figger.

This one is pretty sore today as I have just begun, one this I have done on this stretch that seems to have made all the difference so far is only used a steripod (saline) to pre-clean the stretcher and hole I have had no noticeable swelling or redness ( see photo to see if you agree). Before I always began with surgical spirits and had quite abit of swelling. I used saline
(salt water) for the last part of the 6mm stretch a week or so ago and had very little swelling.

The piercing I am stretching has been at 6mm for about a week and a half and felt o.k to try and stretch further.

The 5mm tunnel I pushed a 6mm into yesterday with no pain just felt tight. That piercing is 6 weeks old. So a fully healed one can be stretch on size up well 1mm up with no pain at all.

What to use and what to avoid for a good stretch?

If you read below you'll see I've used ear stretching horns to stretch and up size and also gone up one size with no stretcher. Well since my last post I've tried some more jewellery in my piercings. So here's my advice.

Stainless steel tunnels( pictured above) - These are great with on flared end and "O" ring at the back to keep them in place. The back end of them is smooth curved, they will send any gauged piercing up by one mm in size everytime with just alittle pain and slide back out easily too. You can go up a size with one of these after a week or less after the initial stretch.

Flared end Pluggs & tunnels - these are no good for going up a size or even putting in to a newely gauged(stretched) piercing. The problem being they are generally flared at bothe ends to half a mm or so above the gauge they are rated at. So your stretch piercing will need to stretch some more any how. they go in a treat after your are 5-6 weeks healed but even then can't really be used to go up a size easily. They are also no good to clean as the don't move much as they are a tight fit, hard to pull out some times.

Normal pluggs - These are great the flat ended ones with the "o" rings at either end are o.k as they tend to have a slight bezel edge. The best ones are the glass ones with the "o" rings as the tend to be very round ended, they are the best.

Screw backs - Screw backs are o.k for going up a size but a little sore, I say sore as the the thread from the screw back tends to ripp the inside of the hole if you are going up a size. once in they are easy to clean.

Suggestions - when stretching up one size with out a stretcher, anti septic cream helps it slide in nicely as if there not wet in some way it can be a little rough. I used to use spirits but it some time caused the hole to contract. I guess you could use ky jelly if you have some knocking around or vasaline. Lubrication of any type really helps.