Freshly pierced. Help a newbie!!

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by Eject91 » Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:39 pm

So I just pierced my ear lobe (16g).
The thing is, I have read a lot 'Wait 4 - 6 months then start stretching', but my piercer told me to return in 3 weeks and she'll start to stretch my piercing. I don't understand. How can you stretch an unhealed piercing? My main questions are What is the method piercers use to stretch piercings? What do they do? How can they start so quickly?

Also - I asked her a lot about sea salt water for aftercare. She said any salt can be used even table salt. Is that true? I have read that only non-iodized salt can be used. What will happen if I use table salt?

I guess that's all for now. Thanks!
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by ViolentJayne » Mon Apr 23, 2012 5:11 pm

you are supposed to wait at least 6 months before you stretch , dont listen to a piercer if thy say they can stretch you faster . the reason they stretch you fast is because they can not feel your pain , they just cram it in . only pain can tell you if you are rushing it or causing damage and only you can feel your pain , thats why its best to stretch your self . wait at least 6-9 months after your piercing then start stretching one size at a time and wait at least 4-8 weeks between sizes

this is a good explanation on why its important to wait between sizes and not rush or skip sizes -From Pauly Unstoppable " The general reasoning behind why you should wait a minimum of a month or so to stretch all boils down to collagen and skin elasticity. Sort of long story short when you stretch your ears you are stretching out the spaces between the collagen molecules of your ear skin, your body needs time to fill back in those gaps with more collagen, when you rush and stretch before your ear has had a chance to replace those molecules you then make the gaps bigger, in turn making the areas weaker and thinner, this is what causes thin spots and weak spots, that’s why it’s imperative you do not stretch faster than your ears want you to go, and you don’t skip sizes. In the same respect when you skip sizes you are stretching those spaces out so far it takes the body wayyy longer to fill them in and sometimes just can’t at all, which is again where you get thin spots. So take it from me take your time have patience and don’t skip sizes your ears will thank you for it and you will thank me later if you listen to me that is, but who am I just some crazy guy with a lot of shit in his face ha-ha"

as for salt yes please use sea salt iodized salt doent really help with healing and can cause your lobe to dry out bad

you can get sea salt at the regular grocery store near the regular salt for about 2 $ maybe less

also invest in some e oil ( wal mart also 2 $ in the pharm section near vits . )

start doing oil massages about a month after the piercing . dont do them to soon or they will cause irritation

good luck
stretch yourself - piercers are piercers not stretchers -dont go to a piercer for stretching

here is a horror story from someone on the forum
by Kookaburra » Sun Apr 15, 2012 10:47 pm

So, I was at the beach and decided I wanted to stretch up. I searched around and was told by a local that the only piercers around that carried plugs were at island dyes. I went there and talked to the lady, she said she would stretch me up to a 4g for five bucks if i bought some jewelry. I decided to do that since it would be cheaper than if I just bought a taper, and I had some single flared glass plugs with me so i figured she would taper them and let me put the glass in. I ended up buying some wood double flares and I handed her the glass plugs and laid down in the chair, closed my eyes and waited for her to get a sterilized taper. BUT while my eyes were closed she shoved the DF wood plugs through my lobe, and tore it. I still can't get that bitch out, and when I refused to pay she called the cops. :/
4ga lobes ,14ga 2nd hole lobes. 14ga tounge
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by corazon_de_oro » Mon Apr 23, 2012 5:34 pm

^ Agreed... it's not enough for your piercing just to be healed/settled to start stretching. It has to be both fully healed AND strong enough to be stretched. Being healed means you can change to jewelry of the same size, which for lobes is usually about 10-12 weeks, but being ready to stretch takes a lot longer.

Table salt can be used as a last resort, like if your piercing is very crusty/irritated and you don't have sea salt. But you definitely will want to get sea salt to use long-term because it has no added chemicals. Also, make sure your soaks aren't too salty (no more than 1/4 teaspoon salt per one cup water) or you'll do more harm than good. You really don't have to soak them every day unless you feel the need to; I used to soak my piercings all the time but now I find they do better just leaving them alone and soaking only when I feel like they need it.

A lot of piercers, even good ones, give crappy advice about stretching (although I do question the quality of a piercer if they don't even bother to research safe stretching now that it's so popular). Also, never have your ears stretched by a piercer, even if they are ready. If you're having it done by someone else they can't feel your pain and listen to your body like you can. If you do it yourself, you can stop if you feel pain or a lot of resistance.

Just be patient, and let your ears get nice and healed before you even think about stretching them. In the meantime, you'll have a chance to learn more while you wait. :)
I'm Lindsay.
I have 1/2" lobes and 11 piercings: left helix x2, both conches, both nostrils, septum, navel, and VCH.
My lobes are small but I know a lot about stretching and how to do it safely, so message me if you have any questions!
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by Eject91 » Mon Apr 23, 2012 6:26 pm

Thanks for all the help girls. I'll stretch myself.

I have read a lot about everything in the stretching phase, but the problem is I don't know much about care right now.

So I'm asking now - How do I clean my piercing? I can not take it out right now and clean it like that. So now I just slide the piercing out a bit and clean it with cotton swab soaked in sea salt water? When is it safe to take the piercing out and clean it like that?

And also what about that vit e? When and how?

Thanks again!
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by KAISERROLLS » Mon Apr 23, 2012 10:32 pm

Ill let someone else answer your cleaning question, but ill tell you about vitamin E...

First off wait until its healed, seeing as most vitamin E comes in a gooey form its great for harboring bacteria. Im a burn survivor I had burns on 34% of my body out of that scars have taken up around 20%. After a talk with my doctor, she suggested vitamin E massages pretty much put it on the scar tissue and massage it out to straighten out the elastin and collagen, since then its gone down to about 15% she's said, for something that large its a ton and hard to relate to ears.

Anyways its simple once you've let it healed (or stretched it up and have waited a week or so so that you know it wont go down a size while your doing it), just apply the vitamin E generously you can get it in stick form like chapstick at walmart, then massage your lobes until its mostly gone, your not gonna get all of it and it should be shiny.

Ill give you my 2 cents about cleaning too seeing as ive already said so much, its fresh right? Neosporin foam cleaner, screw the top off and use a Q-tip to clean it, dont use it as foam its just messy, or H2Ocean is "the best piercing cleaner" but its really up to you. You can take it out after about 5 weeks if your super lucky most of the time it takes a good 10ish months give or take 2 or 3 to get a good heal, thats when you can take it out to clean. Leave it in and clean the front and back at least twice a day with whatever you want until then.

Or you can do a sea salt soak, look around you'll find out what it is on here. But thats generally only for a fresh piercing or a bad stretch, which you should never have BTW.

Have a good time stretching feel free to PM me if you have more questions :)
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by Eject91 » Tue Apr 24, 2012 7:00 am

OK! I think I'm good from here.
Thanks for all the help!
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by Eject91 » Tue Apr 24, 2012 3:58 pm

I still have one small question.

Can I soak my whole lobe (with the jewelry in) in the sea salt water or only swabs around the piercing?
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by ViolentJayne » Tue Apr 24, 2012 5:10 pm

you can soak with the jewelry in
4ga lobes ,14ga 2nd hole lobes. 14ga tounge
full sleeve and 7 other Tattoos

SHE'S ALWAYS NICE
AND GIVES ADVICE
WHEN WE DONT HAVE A CLUE
SHE NEEDS NO HELP
FROM YOU
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