Guide to Stretching Piercings
http://www.articlefit.com/Guide-to-Stretching-Piercings/a8238_1
Nymphetamine
By Nymphetamine
Published on 02/2/2009
A step by step guide on how to stretch piercings in a healthy and safe way. Everything you need from jewelry material to how long you need to wait between stretches
Guide to Stretching Piercings
Stretching piercings has become more and more popular over the years. I get asked questions about it all the time. How to do it, how to do it safely and what to do when things go wrong. For those of you who are unfamiliar with body art culture, stretching is exactly what is sounds like. It's making a piercing larger. You can stretch just about any piercing; nostrils; navels; septums; lobes are by far the most popular piercings to stretch.
In this guide, I will talk about stretching ear lobes. Stretching is basically the same for any piercing, although wait times between stretches will be longer for most other piercings. Cartilage piercings will be addressed in a future guide. To find out what size you're starting at, 'normal' ear lobe piercings (done by a gun) are considered 18 gauge (the difference between 18 and 20 gauge is only a tiny fraction of a millimeter and both are generally interchangeable in piercings.) If you were pierced at a piercing studio, your piercer should be able to tell you what gauge your piercing is.
We will start out with a few rules:
1. It's called stretching. Gauge is a measurement. You don't millimeter you lobes, you don't inch them, therefore you don't gauge them either.
Correct: I stretched my lobes last night, I'm now at two gauge.
Incorrect: I gauged my gauges last night, I'm now at a two gauge.
Anyone who refers to stretching as gauging is probably giving you bad advice. Ignore them.
2. Stretching a piercing should be considered permanent. While stretched piercings will generally shrink if you remove the jewelry, they will not close up. How much they will shrink will depend on your body, your age, how healthy your piercing is and how you stretched. Scar tissue will prevent shrinking as well as stretching, so healthy stretches are very important. DO NOT stretch any piercing larger than you are willing to live with for the rest of your life. (Well, you can pay a plastic surgeon or mod practitioner to perform a re-construction, but it's expensive).
3. You will need patience to stretch a piercing. There is a lot of waiting involved.
4. You will need to spend some money on supplies. Don't just go for the cheapest stuff, quality costs money.
5. Jewelry for fresh stretches should be made of implant grade stainless steel or titanium; Pyrex (glass) can also be used at larger gauges. Organics (bone, wood, etc) should only be worn in healed stretches. Acrylic should never be worn in a piercing for more than a few hours.
6. Jewelry for fresh stretches should be single or no flare. Labret posts, CBRs, circular barbells (horse shoes) are also acceptable. Leave the double flare jewelry for healed stretches, as getting the flare in will damage a fresh stretch.
7. Tapers should be made of stainless steel and should never be worn as jewelry. This includes 'talon' style jewelry as well. Wear jewelry as jewelry, tapers are only meant to be in your piercing for a minute or two, not worn long term. Tapers can be bought individually or in sets. Sets will save you money in the long term, depending on how large you want to stretch.
8. Keep your piercing healthy by taking care of it. Regular sea salt soaks and oil rubs are essential to keeping your piercing happy and supple.
9. Only stretch healed piercings.
10. Stretching should never hurt. There will sometimes be a bit of discomfort, but if it hurts - STOP! You need to wait a little longer before stretching. Wait two weeks and try again.
11. Stretching a piercing should never make it bleed. If it bleeds, downsize and allow it 6-8 weeks to heal before attempting another stretch.
12. Only use water based lubricants. Vaseline, polysporin and other similar products should never be used. Water based lubricants are easy to find and inexpensive. Try Surgi-lube or KY Jelly (just the basic one, not the warming or flavoured type)
13. Wait a minimum of 6 weeks between stretches at smaller sizes (up to about 4 gauge). Wait at least 12 weeks at larger sizes. The longer you wait, the better. NEVER skip sizes!! It should go 14 gauge to 12 gauge to 10 gauge to 8 gauge, etc.
14. Watch out for thinning. If your lobes start looking too thin on the bottom, you will need to downsize (a few sizes at least), allow them to rest for a while then stretch back. This should help your lobes to thicken up a bit. If they stay thin, you may want to consult an experienced artist and look into scalpelling.
15. Be careful in cold weather. Frostbite can happen very quickly with stretched lobes. Make sure your lobes are covered and kept warm. Many people find that wearing non-metal jewelry in the winter helps a bit.
Stretching with Tapers
You will need:
Taper in the next size up
Jewelry in the next size up
Water based lubricant
1. Make sure your jewelry is clean. If you can get it autoclaved, great. If you can't, give it a good wash with anti-bacterial soap and allow to air dry on a clean paper towel. Only use new jewelry.
2. Take a shower or do a sea salt soak to warm up your lobes and get them ready for the stretch.
3. Remove your current jewelry.
4. Rub some of the water based lubricant on your taper and new jewelry
5. Take the taper and insert it in the piercing. With even pressure, gently push the taper through the piercing until it's 3/4 of the way through.
6. Take your new jewelry and place it flush against the taper (some will be large enough that the jewelry will fit inside). Use the jewelry to push the taper the rest of the way through.
7. Secure your new jewelry and do a sea salt soak.
Stretching with Tape
Note: Only use PTFE or bondage tape for this method. Do not use electrical tape. You want tape that sticks to itself without adhesive.
You will need:
Your current jewelry
PTFE or bondage tape
Water based lubricant
1. Wash your jewelry to remove any build up. Allow to air dry on a clean paper towel.
2. Take a shower or do a sea salt soak to warm up your lobes and get them ready to stretch.
3. Wrap a layer or two of tape around your jewelry. Put some lube over the tape.
4. Gently insert the jewelry into your lobe. If it slides in too easily, add another layer of tape. If it is too hard to insert, remove a layer of tape.
5. Secure your jewelry and do a sea salt soak.
Closing thoughts
Stretching is a very simple process, but it does require a lot of patience. It can take years to get to some of the larger sizes. There are ways of getting there more quickly and will be addressed in future guides. Dermal punching is great when it comes to cartilage as it removes part of the tissue, but for this reason it is less than optimal for lobes. Scalpelling is a great way to gain size quickly, deal with scar tissue or re-position a piercing, but you need to find an experienced artist to perform this for you.
In this guide, I will talk about stretching ear lobes. Stretching is basically the same for any piercing, although wait times between stretches will be longer for most other piercings. Cartilage piercings will be addressed in a future guide. To find out what size you're starting at, 'normal' ear lobe piercings (done by a gun) are considered 18 gauge (the difference between 18 and 20 gauge is only a tiny fraction of a millimeter and both are generally interchangeable in piercings.) If you were pierced at a piercing studio, your piercer should be able to tell you what gauge your piercing is.
We will start out with a few rules:
1. It's called stretching. Gauge is a measurement. You don't millimeter you lobes, you don't inch them, therefore you don't gauge them either.
Correct: I stretched my lobes last night, I'm now at two gauge.
Incorrect: I gauged my gauges last night, I'm now at a two gauge.
Anyone who refers to stretching as gauging is probably giving you bad advice. Ignore them.
2. Stretching a piercing should be considered permanent. While stretched piercings will generally shrink if you remove the jewelry, they will not close up. How much they will shrink will depend on your body, your age, how healthy your piercing is and how you stretched. Scar tissue will prevent shrinking as well as stretching, so healthy stretches are very important. DO NOT stretch any piercing larger than you are willing to live with for the rest of your life. (Well, you can pay a plastic surgeon or mod practitioner to perform a re-construction, but it's expensive).
3. You will need patience to stretch a piercing. There is a lot of waiting involved.
4. You will need to spend some money on supplies. Don't just go for the cheapest stuff, quality costs money.
5. Jewelry for fresh stretches should be made of implant grade stainless steel or titanium; Pyrex (glass) can also be used at larger gauges. Organics (bone, wood, etc) should only be worn in healed stretches. Acrylic should never be worn in a piercing for more than a few hours.
6. Jewelry for fresh stretches should be single or no flare. Labret posts, CBRs, circular barbells (horse shoes) are also acceptable. Leave the double flare jewelry for healed stretches, as getting the flare in will damage a fresh stretch.
7. Tapers should be made of stainless steel and should never be worn as jewelry. This includes 'talon' style jewelry as well. Wear jewelry as jewelry, tapers are only meant to be in your piercing for a minute or two, not worn long term. Tapers can be bought individually or in sets. Sets will save you money in the long term, depending on how large you want to stretch.
8. Keep your piercing healthy by taking care of it. Regular sea salt soaks and oil rubs are essential to keeping your piercing happy and supple.
9. Only stretch healed piercings.
10. Stretching should never hurt. There will sometimes be a bit of discomfort, but if it hurts - STOP! You need to wait a little longer before stretching. Wait two weeks and try again.
11. Stretching a piercing should never make it bleed. If it bleeds, downsize and allow it 6-8 weeks to heal before attempting another stretch.
12. Only use water based lubricants. Vaseline, polysporin and other similar products should never be used. Water based lubricants are easy to find and inexpensive. Try Surgi-lube or KY Jelly (just the basic one, not the warming or flavoured type)
13. Wait a minimum of 6 weeks between stretches at smaller sizes (up to about 4 gauge). Wait at least 12 weeks at larger sizes. The longer you wait, the better. NEVER skip sizes!! It should go 14 gauge to 12 gauge to 10 gauge to 8 gauge, etc.
14. Watch out for thinning. If your lobes start looking too thin on the bottom, you will need to downsize (a few sizes at least), allow them to rest for a while then stretch back. This should help your lobes to thicken up a bit. If they stay thin, you may want to consult an experienced artist and look into scalpelling.
15. Be careful in cold weather. Frostbite can happen very quickly with stretched lobes. Make sure your lobes are covered and kept warm. Many people find that wearing non-metal jewelry in the winter helps a bit.
Stretching with Tapers
You will need:
Taper in the next size up
Jewelry in the next size up
Water based lubricant
1. Make sure your jewelry is clean. If you can get it autoclaved, great. If you can't, give it a good wash with anti-bacterial soap and allow to air dry on a clean paper towel. Only use new jewelry.
2. Take a shower or do a sea salt soak to warm up your lobes and get them ready for the stretch.
3. Remove your current jewelry.
4. Rub some of the water based lubricant on your taper and new jewelry
5. Take the taper and insert it in the piercing. With even pressure, gently push the taper through the piercing until it's 3/4 of the way through.
6. Take your new jewelry and place it flush against the taper (some will be large enough that the jewelry will fit inside). Use the jewelry to push the taper the rest of the way through.
7. Secure your new jewelry and do a sea salt soak.
Stretching with Tape
Note: Only use PTFE or bondage tape for this method. Do not use electrical tape. You want tape that sticks to itself without adhesive.
You will need:
Your current jewelry
PTFE or bondage tape
Water based lubricant
1. Wash your jewelry to remove any build up. Allow to air dry on a clean paper towel.
2. Take a shower or do a sea salt soak to warm up your lobes and get them ready to stretch.
3. Wrap a layer or two of tape around your jewelry. Put some lube over the tape.
4. Gently insert the jewelry into your lobe. If it slides in too easily, add another layer of tape. If it is too hard to insert, remove a layer of tape.
5. Secure your jewelry and do a sea salt soak.
Closing thoughts
Stretching is a very simple process, but it does require a lot of patience. It can take years to get to some of the larger sizes. There are ways of getting there more quickly and will be addressed in future guides. Dermal punching is great when it comes to cartilage as it removes part of the tissue, but for this reason it is less than optimal for lobes. Scalpelling is a great way to gain size quickly, deal with scar tissue or re-position a piercing, but you need to find an experienced artist to perform this for you.