About Ear Stretching

About two years ago I decided to stretch my lowest earlobes from a 14/16 gauge ear ring to 12 gauge. I did this because I thought that most captive bead rings or curved barbells didnt really show up. They didnt catch my eye in the mirror next to my long hair. When I fell in love with some oblong / oval rings at LeRoi.com I ordered them in size 12G hoping they would stand out better. I didnt pay much attention to this initial stretch and popped the new rings right in with little discomfort. After happily wearing these for over 1 year I became anxious again to change. I ordered some horn spirals in 12G, but when they arrived I was sorely disappointed. They were much smaller than I thought they would be. When I had my rook pierced (which btw, finally healed in December) I looked in the cases at the body jewelry and realized to get the desired look, I would need to go to 4G or 2G. But, stretching takes time, and patience.

I bought a pair of 10G captive bead rings and knowing that I should now start using lubricant and a tapered end to stretch, I looked through my knitting needles for the appropriate size. Using Vaseline, I slid the knitting needle in then followed quickly with the rings. Here are some pictures from the adventure.


































A month or so after this stretch I stumbled across Zebrawood Spiral rings at OneTribe.nu and fell in love. As I perused their site I also found a great guide for stretching.
After almost 6 weeks of rest my next round of stretching (to 8G) came after a trip to the mall yielded stainless steel tapered rings in my next two sizes (buying rings for intermediate sizes at LeRoi.com was getting pricey). No pictures from that stretch.

During my annual Christmas trip to Chicago to see my family I noticed that the cold weather was taking a toll on my ears. They were itchy and flaky and dry. I knew that OneTribe carried oils for ear care but I was not quite ready for my zebrawood rings (need to wait for some cash inflow - plus, I'm not there yet gauge-wise) so I decided to look elsewhere. Chameleon Tattoo and Piercing in Boston did not carry any products but a staff member recomended using generic Vitamin E oil from a drugstore. I hit up the Fenway Rite Aid and grabbed a small bottle of Vitemin E (28,000 I.U.) for $5.99. Then I spotted some Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream. The ingredients are almond oil, beeswax, lemon oil, cocoa butter, Vitamin E, candelilla wax, sunflower oil, rosemary leaf extract, beta carotene, and vegetable oil (95% natural!). Knowing that all of those components are very good for your skin I snatched it up at $5.99. While I was at REI I went ahead and grabbed some Dr. Bronner's Hemp Lavender Castille Liquid soap for $3.99, just in case it was myuse of bar soap that was drying my ears.

So far I've used the soap and its nice. I've used the Burt's Bees at night, it smells wonderful and seems to soothe my stretchings. I've also used dabs of Vit E when re-inserting my rings, so it would get inside to heal the piercings. So far I'm not a fan of the sticky-ness of the Vit E. I might try and dilute it with some other kind of oil. Maybe Safflower or something else I can get my hands on.

After another week or so of using the Burt's Cream at night I'll see how I feel about going to 6G. It's been 6.5 weeks since the last stretch. I might try to hold out for 8 weeks, just because I dont want to damage my ears. I'll see how antsy I get.

the needle tears a hole

I hurt myself today
to see if i still feel
i focused on the pain
the only thing that's real
the needle tears a hole
the old familiar sting
try to kill it all away
but i remember everything

Pain and I have a funny relationship. I've had migraines for nearly all my life (diagnosed at age 9) and so pain, excruciating want to die pain, has been more a part of my life than the average person. For some strange reason I think this has actually caused me to like some kinds of pain. It kinda feels rewarding to endure self inflicted pain , I almost want to shout "I win!" I'm not saying I go around cutting myself or punching myself (that would be altogether weirder than I can handle) but I have a long history of piercing and tattooing my body. I've been quite introspective about my migraines and pain lately, mostly because there is a new blog on the New York Times discussing migraine and issues around it. I think its great that this neurological disease is finally being accepted as a major issue by doctors and the general public, even if I don't always agree with what the bloggers are saying. For instance, several contributors to the NYT blog make it seem as though they are grateful for their migraines, and espouse all the wonderful things resulting from them (ie: the feeling of euphoria, clearheadedness, refreshment, and creativity that often comes after a migraine has successfully ended). I'm sorry, but I'd give that up in an instant if I could just never have a migraine again.

So that's my long winded explanation of my weird relationship with pain. Now why am I discussing this today? Why do I have Trent's wonderful voice singing Hurt stuck in my head?

Because last night I got my rook pierced. I haven't had anything pierced in 8 years and ever since I saw a girl with her rook and conch pierced I've been itching to pierce something. So I did my research and decided to go to Stingray Body Art over in Allston, hoping that I could get Abbey Z since there were so many raving reviews of her online. Just my luck she was there last night. I went by myself since for some reason it HAD to be last night and no one was available to accompany me. Well, its a good thing Abbey was so awesome b/c I did end up getting dizzy when she was putting the ring in. The actual piercing didnt hurt that bad and was quick, its always after that I get the spins. So she sat and chatted with me until I felt better. Also, major props to the studio - they were super clean, everything was autoclaved, and they understand sterility. As in, you change your gloves if you touch something unsterile. So I would def recommend going there for any piercing you are thinking of getting.

Now this would be an awfully boring post if I didnt actually include pictures, right? (:
Here we go, side by side before and after pics of my left ear.