Ear Stretching Information
First of all before I get into this article, you are obviously reading this as you have an interest in the practice of ear stretching. You may only be curious or you may be looking for information before you attempt it yourself.
However please keep in mind that whilst ear stretching isn’t the most drastic of body modifications, it does however come with slight risks, as do all body modifications, I’ll cover more on this later, but when writing about this sort of article, this information I feel should be the opening paragraphs.
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There are all types of body modifications relating to stretching, but for this particular article we’re just going to focus on ear stretching.
Quite dramatic, I agree. However some people can rock this look, this young lady being a fine example.
The history of ear stretching
Ear lobe stretching, whilst a relatively new practice in western civilization, has long been practiced for centuries by indigenous tribes from all over the world. While today we have devolved specialized earring for the purpose, this was not the case for indigenous peoples. Bones and teeth, hoops too, were regulatory used within the practice of ear stretching.
Today, at least in westernized countries, the practice of ear stretching is almost entirely practiced by the younger demographic, and is more of a culture statement rather than religious and ritualistic reasons, which was mainly the reason for the practice of ear stretching within indigenous tribes.
The practice in certain cultures was also considered to be relative to your intelligence, the larger your lobes the larger your wisdom. Obviously we know that not to be the case today, but culture and religion can be a funny thing, you only have to look at the past of western civilization too envisage what I mean.
Ear stretching for beginners
If you’ve come this far and are still eager, here is a brief guide to stretching your ears. First of all you’ll obviously have to have your ears pierced before you can start the process. If you haven’t, and do decide to have them pierced I’d recommend waiting at least a weeks and maybe even longer before you start ear stretching, this will give you time to reflect if you really want get into ear stretching, and will give your lobes ample time for recovery. The time to reflect is important, because after you reach a certain size when ear stretching, there is no going back.
Stretching your ears is obviously no quick process, you have to give the ears lobes time to recover in between moving up in gauge sizes, this is to ensure the lobe is fully recovered in between enlarging the hole in the lobe. Beginners would ideally start Stretching from 1.6 2 mm expander. You should only move up in gauge sizes when the ear starts to become comfortable with the current taper or plug you already in.
Stretching too fast could result in permanent damage being done to the lobe; obviously this would be counterproductive for our intents, so take it easy! Also remember if you intend to do the stretching, which most do. You have to take into consideration, the chance of infection. Always make sure you sterilize everything beforehand, and remember to wash your hands thoroughly too.
Different methods of ear lobe stretching
Dead stretching
This is simply just forcing larger jewelry into the original piercing. This method of stretching can sometimes lead too blowouts or tearing. This sometimes leads too permanent scar tissue being left behind.
Pierce and Taper
Using this method enable significantly larger tapers to be inserted straight after the scalpel-ling, this method is one i wouldn’t recommend, due to scar tissue and an increased risk of infection.
Silicone Plugs
These can be used to expand the ear lobe after insertion due to being folded beforehand, as they are malleable by their very nature being made from silicone. They do however come with an increased risk of infection, due to their ability of stopping the skin underneath from breathing.
Weights
They’re certainly not recommended nowadays due to the increased possibility potential injury, purely because of the weight used.
Tapering
The method used the most today for ear stretching, a simple cone shape rod is used after lubrication too its widest point, apiece of jewelry is then added to be back where the cone tapers. All different sizes can be used here and often are, some people even improvise at home with household objects such as knitting needles, obviously this isn’t recommended.
This is really the jist of stretching your ears, stretching and moving down in slightly larger gauges at a time. Obviously there is more to it than this, but this article is a whole representation of ear stretching and I’ll go into a full and thorough guide for this in my next article.
The risks of ear stretching
The biggest risk in pursuing any sort of body modification is infection, though this risk is off course there with normal ear piercing, enlarging the hole due to stretching always runs the risk of bleeding, and of course with this comes the risk of infection. This is why it’s so important all materials including your hands are thoroughly sterilized if you intend to do the stretching yourself.
Blow outs are normally caused by stretching to quick, this is why it’s imperative to allow plenty of time between moving up in sizes when ear stretching. Bleeding, scar tissue and potentially surgery may be the unwanted side effects of a blowout.
Jewelry for stretching
Obviously one of the main benefits of ear stretching is the ability to wear all kinds’ jewelry. The jewelry comes in a vast amount of different materials, ranging from metals to stone, amber and bamboos too name a few.
Some of the material used such as bone, comes with a higher risk of infection as bone is porous by its very nature, this can of course cause germs and bacteria to invade the lobe easier than solids such as metal. So this has to be kept in mind when choosing jewelry for the lobes.
This now brings us to the end of this brief article, I hope you have left here more informed than when you started, I shall be writing follow-up articles regarding ear jewelry, plugs, and other assorted topics relating to ear stretching within the coming weeks, till then.
