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cant use stainless steel

Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 5:55 pm
by rebel_logan_24
so my wife is wanting to start stretching after watching me do it for a year and a half! so she has been at a 18 gauge all her life but has always had problems with metal earrings and has touble with the metal 16 gauge screw ons i got her what is an alternative to metal to stretch i know of glass but they dont make them that small from what i have gathered.. any help?

Re: cant use stainless steel

Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 6:03 pm
by ViolentJayne
perhaps titanium or niobium Ive heard they are good for troublesome ears .. try to get what ever you can find with the lowest nickle content its the nickle that irritates people , Im not sure how small they make glass and I do know even if you find some its going to be super fragile at that size ... good luck and just expirement around with various materials and see what works . I also know baf makes some real gold and silver jewelry but its pretty expensive even in sizes like 12 and 14 Im talkin over 100 $ a pair

Re: cant use stainless steel

Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 11:09 pm
by stashapistachio
Glass (or quartz which is stronger in smaller sizes) labrets come as small as 16g. GWS make 18g nostril screws too, so I'm sure it wouldn't take much to get them to make labrets too. (You could probably get them to do pretty ends too) They're really nice.
https://www.glasswearstudios.com/cgi-bi ... arent=JEWL

It seems like it would be super fragile, but its not really. I have a bunch of 14g retainers (really long with more to break), and I've never had any break or felt the need to be super careful with them. Obviously not for contact sports, but pryex does at least break in chunks rather than splinters.

Titanium is nickel free, though it sometimes does pick up traces in the manufacturing process. Its not hard to find good implant pieces of that (I'd suggest anatometal or industrial strength for the best quality). You'd have to be REALLY sensitive to react to that.
Gold and silver especially aren't pure (otherwise they'd be much too soft), and are mixed with other metals. So they're not great for nickel allergies either, like some people seem to think.

Re: cant use stainless steel

Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2011 1:14 am
by ast.riske
Even with steel, there are different grades. I recommend getting steel jewelry from any of the "big names," but I have a particular place in my heart for body circle. They use implant grade steel which is good for a large percentage of the population, save for the most sensitive. I'm lucky in that I don't have any metal allergies, but getting high-quality, implant-grade materials should resolve most issues. Where did the jewelry come from that she's wearing now?

Re: cant use stainless steel

Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2011 9:16 pm
by rebel_logan_24
what she is wearing now is from the tattoo/ piercer in our area bc they are the onlyones who has small screw ons