New To This and I've Got Questions

[coredawg]

Hello everyone. Tomorrow I go to get my ears pierced at 8 gauge. I have a few questions.

1. How long after the initial piercing can I put a size 8 plug or tunnel in?
2. How long until I can stretch my ears to a 6?
3. What is the best method for cleaning my ears after the piercing.

Thanks a lot!

[ireland896]

pierced at 8g is a fun time. Is it being done with a needle or a dermal punch? Because your asking how long before you can put a plug in it, i would assume you are going to have a captive hoop in it to start. I tell my clients to let heal thoroughly before changing jewelry. Your healed when your fistula (or hole) is no longer tender and no longer produces crusty material at the piercing site. As for cleaning, do not use alcohol, peroxide, neo-sporin, or any triple antibiotic ointment. Use a sea salt solution or non scented antibacterial soap. You will need to wash you hands first with antibacterial soap (non scented dial is good). Then clear you jewelry of any debris with a moist Q-tip. not your finger. Clean the front and back of the piercing with a new clean Q-tip and then rotate the jewelry through the piercing. Do not remove the jewelry to clean. As for stretching. You should be good to stretch in a few months time. everyone is different in how elastic their lobes are. When you pull on the jewelry and can see light through the hole, it should be good to stretch. With stretching, you need to remember to take your time. Your lobes need to create new skin cells with every stretch. When you go too fast, your lobes may become thinner and become easer to tare.

Good luck and happy stretching.

[coredawg]

Thanks for the info.
Yes I am going to get captive hoop earrings. It's going to be done by a needle. The reason why I was asking about if I can change the jewelry is because I don't like the look of captives at all. So you advise people to wait until everything is healed...but if someone wants to change the jewelry, like putting in a tunnel, than you still can correct?

[Drrob]

Hi,
I had my initial piercing carried out using a 6 Gauge/4mm Cannula Needle and supplied my own Blackline Titianium Tunnels and that reduced the cost of the procedure.
Therefore I would ask your piercer if he was willing to do the same as I do not see why captives need to be your initial jewellery.

Just my thoughts and welcome to the forum.

Regards
Dr Rob.

[evanking]

I had my lobes pierced at 8g last weekend and my piercer put in eyelets. I had some serious problems with flare end of the eyelet retreating into my piercing while I was sleeping. This was pretty painful and I figured it was only hindering the healing process so I bought some steel pinchers yesterday and put them in. I didn't have any problems changing the jewelry, but I don't think I would recommend changing unless you really have to for some reason.

[corazon_de_oro]

If I could give you one piece of advice, it would be to NOT get pierced with captive rings. I was pierced at 10G with them and ended up having to change to plugs after about 4 weeks because they just weren't going to heal with the rings in. Rings move around too much (contrary to popular belief, rotating/turning the jewelry while healing is one of the worst things you can do for a piercing) and also at a large gauge they can weigh the piercing down and put unnecessary pressure on it. Does your piercer have any 8G plugs/tunnels you could be pierced with?

Oh, and to your other questions... wait about six months after the initial piercing to do your first stretch. 6G is a pretty large jump so you'll be glad you waited. And all you need to do for cleaning are sea salt soaks, just make sure they're not too salty. Other than that leave them alone... don't touch/play with/twist them or anything and they should heal as quickly as a "normal" ear piercing.

[Acacia]

If I could give you one piece of advice, it would be to NOT get pierced with captive rings. I was pierced at 10G with them and ended up having to change to plugs after about 4 weeks because they just weren't going to heal with the rings in. Rings move around too much (contrary to popular belief, rotating/turning the jewelry while healing is one of the worst things you can do for a piercing) and also at a large gauge they can weigh the piercing down and put unnecessary pressure on it. Does your piercer have any 8G plugs/tunnels you could be pierced with?

Oh, and to your other questions... wait about six months after the initial piercing to do your first stretch. 6G is a pretty large jump so you'll be glad you waited. And all you need to do for cleaning are sea salt soaks, just make sure they're not too salty. Other than that leave them alone... don't touch/play with/twist them or anything and they should heal as quickly as a "normal" ear piercing.

+1 to everything she said.

[coredawg]

Thanks guys for the help.

[coredawg]

So I got my ears pierced today at 10g instead of 8. They had just ran out of 8g needles, so I was pretty disappointed but hell, I wanted them pierced so I got the 10.
I did get the hoops because the shop didn't have any jewelry, (kind of a small shop), but I did go to another place and bought some tunnels for later.

I had a question though...when I soak my ears, am I going to put them in Non-Iodized Salt and distilled water?

[ireland896]

distilled is good.

And from my experience, put those tunnels away. Out of sight, out of mind. If you look at them every day, a few weeks feels like a few months and you'll jump the gun and stretch too early. I don't even buy new plugs till my ears are past being ready because I'll put them in as soon as I get home(ready or not). New plugs feel like christmas to people that stretch and I turn into a five year old.