Cultural Reciprocity: Next Steps: Ear Stretch 16 gauge to 14 gauge

Hi all!

As I showed you in one of my last entries, I'm stretching my second hole. Well, today I stretched to 14 gauge and it's so cute!

First things first..I waited about 3 weeks between putting 16 gauge in to stretching to 14 gauge. I got my products from Bodyartforms. I also sanitized my jewelry (the taper, plugs, and o-rings) by soaking it in boiling water and alcohol for about 15 minutes. While my jewelry was soaking, I removed my 16 gauge jewelry and soaped up my ear with the dial soap and rinsed thoroughly with water. I then took a shower and while in the shower I massaged my ear to allow more blood to flow to the ear and maximized circulation (supposedly, this makes the stretch easier). After my shower I rinsed the jewelry with clean water and washed my hands again. I then put a drop of the jojoba oil on my finger and spread it across the taper. I slowly pushed the taper through my ear and it went in smoothly until about the last third of the way. Then I felt a slight tingle (but no resistance!) and continued to slowly push through.

THIS SHOULD NOT HURT YOU! If it hurts, stop, and put your other jewelry back in and wait because your ear is not ready. You should only feel a slight tingle or burning sensation..NO RIPPING, TEARING, TUGGING!

I then let the taper sit for about a minute. I placed the end of my o-ring onto my plug (the star) and then pushed the steel plug through the front of my ear ear while simultaneously removing the taper out of the back end of my ear. I then placed my circle o-ring on the backside of my ear to hold the plug in place and voila! I am now stretched to 14 gauge! I do not feel any major soreness, but I do feel a slight tingle still in my ear. I will be sure to rotate the plug and do my Dial soap washes. So far so good!

When I get to larger gauges there is much cuter jewelry available but for now I will settle for a simple steel plug (which is probably healthiest for my ear anyway) and just jazz it up with different o-rings. I got them in black, red, glitter charcoal, cobalt, flowers, etc and they were super cheap!