Thinking about piercing/stretching, help?

[ChrisW]

Hey guys, I've been thinking about piercing and stretching my ears for about a year now, and I've finally decided to go through with it. I had a few questions about the initial piercing/stretching process.


As of now, I don't have any holes in my ears (lol ). Should I pierce my ears at 20g or 18g, wait a few months, and stretch from there, or pierce at a larger gauge first to save trouble? I plan on staying around an 8mm stretch. Also, if I decide to shrink back to 20g or 18g later on, will it be easier if I started at 20g than if I pierced at a larger gauge? Can I start with plugs from the getgo? Do they make 20-18g plugs?


And kind of a stupid question, but will it hurt more piercing a larger gauge initially?


Thanks for the help guys!

[Drrob]

Hi Chris welcome to the forum,

Here is my thoughts on this, I was like you, unpierced and looking to stretch my lobes, I did my research and found out that a few of my local piercers can do an initial Cannula Needle piercing up to 4mm so I decided this is what I would do.
With regards to pain because you have not had a piercing before you have no perception of how it will feel, you will most probably feel sick with worry - Don't!
There will be an initial pain followed by a burning sensation for a few hours - this should subside and voila that is that.
Aftercare is most important and there is a lot of information on here with regards to that.
Yes there will be pain but not as much as you think or not as much as you think there should be.

The most important thing is to ensure that the person you choose to pierce your ear(s) has experience of doing it before, and have the necessary sterilizing equiptment.

Good Luck and we welcome you to the stretching club!

I hope this is worthwhile information for you.

Regards
Dr Rob.

[Deano]

I'm with Drrob here. I was like you, also. I had no lobe piercings, wanted to stretch, pierced initially with an 8g back in May of 2010. It hurts, of course, but it's not that bad. As far as them healing back up, I have no experience with that, but I do know that when I massage my lobes, which I do for about 5 minutes, the hole gets noticeably smaller. No problems getting the jewelry back in, but I wouldn't worry TOO much about it not being able to close up to AT LEAST a normal earring size.

[ChrisW]

Thanks for the polite replies! I think regular earring sized holes would be perfectly fine, I'm not looking for a miracle . Just insurance in case I decide I don't like them in 20 years.


About the aftercare, I've been doing boatloads of research for the past few months to try and educate myself a bit. I've seen a lot of horror stories on some of these forums so I'm definitely going to take care of my ears. That's why I was wondering if piercing at a larger gauge was any less healthy for my ears than normal size. Thanks for clearing that up.

I'm going to look at a couple different places today, but the place my dad and uncle get their tattoos and piercings done at is probably where I'm going to go. They've always been extremely nice to us and I'll probably get a discount anyway, even though I trust their work and sanitation. They put some really amazing stuff on my uncle and I plan on getting some tattoo work done there myself eventually


Thanks again for all of your help guys! I hope to start another thread when I get them pierced with updates/pics, etc.

[ChrisW]

Ugh. Now that I've decided to go through with it, my parents have a problem with it. They thought it was fine up til the point of me actually wanting them to sign something. I'm even paying for it...gah. Guess I'll have to wait another year so I'm legal

[Deano]

Bummer. At least you'll be able to start at 18 instead of 23, like me. Ha.