I have a lot of jewelry of all types. and I don’t seem to get to wear some of them very often. So I decided to try some combinations. I think I’m going to see what might work and look good threaded through the four small hoops. I’m open to suggestions.
Everything else is stretched or pierced to a 14g, besides my VCH which is a 12g.
this was my end goal when i started stretching my septum some years ago... mission finally accomplished. i've got 8 16g rings in total, 3 of them just plain clickers to fill space. i'm really happy with the look i've achieved, i think all the texture is really neat 😬🖤
Getting married in October and my lobes are at 1/2”. I really want to find a pair of hangers/hooks that are dangly and pretty but aren’t crazy expensive. Fell in love with this set on Etsy but the biggest they go is 00.
I’ve never worn this style of jewelry in my ears before so I guess I want opinions on whether or not they would look ok in 1/2” holes before I buy them or if anyone has recommendations on where to find something pretty in 1/2” ☺️ the vibe for my bridal look is romance fantasy!
I was originally inspired by the style image attached (likely Photoshop/AI, but I didn't know it at the time) and really liked the hoop-through-tunnel look. I thought it added a lot of interest with a relatively small gauge and you could still swap out hoops to mix things up.
Well, after receiving a baby's-first gauging kit, I was surprised to discover how long the tunnels actually are. I had planned to wear my hoops as I went through the sizing process, but that wasn't going to happen with the length. Not a big problem, once I get to the size I want, I can surely buy shorter tunnels. Right?
WRONG. (More or less.)
This is when I started to suspect the image I saw may not be entirely rooted in reality. While hunting for the right tube to dangle my hoops from, almost everything had a lengthy 10mm "wearable surface". Idk if I just have dainty lobes, but this felt long to me. I had (and still have) a lot of extra tunnel poking out the back of my ears even as I worked up gauge sizes.
I found only a handful of posts here on r/stretched looking for shorter tunnels; most of which suggested websites that may or may not still be shipping, or snugging up with rubber O-rings (which would not solve my hoop issue).
It's easier to get custom plugs, especially wooden ones, from folks that make them by hand, but that also didn't solve my hoop issue.
Long quest story short- I eventually found my solution in septum tunnels. Glasswear Studios has a septum tunnel with variable wearable surface lengths down to 5mm (perfect for me).
Note: The flare on these is small. This introduces some risk of it slipping out of the wibbly-wobbly earlobe compared to the more rigid septum, but my hoops have so far helped keep 'em locked in place.
Aesthetically, I would have preferred a gold tunnel and switched my hoops to silver for that mixed-metal vibe but I am satisfied overall. Because of the lower visual weight of the clear glass, I sized up to 0g, which I am excited will let me play with some of the cool hoops and hangers that I encountered while window shopping.
got to 4g the other day! went in like a breeze compared to the 8g to 6g stretch lol. it was my original goal size, but i feel like i still want to keep going now???
I bought a kit that ranged from 14g to 1/2 inch(12mm).This is my second time stretching after closing my lobes from 2g to 14g. I was able to stretch up to 2g and figured I might as well go to 0g. Well after being there for a few months curiosity got the best of me so I decided to try a 00g and that one slid right in no trouble at all. Well give it about 5 months later and once again curiosity got the best of me again and I tried a 1/2 inch plug and like nothing it slid right in again. So after about $200 worth of 00g jewelry I’m here staring my collection all over again with 1/2 inch.
It didn't take really any force, but I was also being super slow and careful. It still hurts, but I think I'm at the point of stretching around/into the cartilage. Is that normal or did I cause a blowout? Also my nose is running like crazy. (Apologies for the blurry pictures, I have shaky hands when taking closeups lol)
I thought I'd share my experience with a conch dermal punch "piercing".
I've taken some progress photos. Mostly it's been a bad healing phase, but it's my own fault due to not taking care of it (I sometimes work away so I wasn't giving it the proper care).
So I got my conch punched at 6mm then stretched up to 8mm. My piercer used a screw back tunnel which didn't agree with my ear eventually. On top of that my 4 year old son head butted my conch. Which sucked btw.
My original plan was to put glass in it to help it heal. I swapped to an 8mm glass plug from customplugs which felt nice to begin with.
Eventually working away gave me an infection as I didnt take the correct cleaning stuff with me.
I ended up getting a bacterial skin infection which antibiotics cleared up.
I've now down sized and swapped to a 6mm glass plug to see if the healing would improve and it has greatly!
I think the extra 2mm stretch was causing issues since cartilage isn't great at stretching to begin with.
Here's some of my progress photos. I didn't take them to share, but decided I would as it may help people decide whether or not they want this and the kind of issues I've had.
I believe I was either 20 or 22 mm at that point... might have been 18 mm as well🤔
My client was absolutely amazing and so brave!!! I figured this may be worth sharing here!!
Discoloration on second pic is the gentian violet I used to mark!😊
Im starting a job that doesnt have a problem with the appearance of my stretched lobes per se, but they see it as a safety concern. Im at 25mm so theyre pretty floppy. What do you recommend??
After about a year of stretching with weighted hangers, finally made the jump from 8mm to 10mm. Pretty stoked 😁
i want to stretch my lobes so i’m gonna ask for a dead stretching kit for christmas but i have no idea which brands are good. should i go for glass plugs? also is dead stretching better than tapers or what?
thank you!!!
Ignore the fact my septum is really crooked in the photo.
Im curious why you chose your goal size!
I know a lot of folks go past their initial goal size too.
And is anyone here hesistant to stretch too big for any reason?
For me, I prefer the look of smaller plugs on myself so I plan to stop soon at 2g. On the other hand, my partner is at 18mm with no goal in mind.
Out of curiosity, I’d like to ask you all how annoying/special/sensitive are your piercing(s)?
Is there anything reoccurring that you experience often when going to the next size? What would that be, and how do you manage with the process?
For myself, although I am patient, listen to my body, follow the guide on here and do my best to avoid irritating my lobes…my right side is the annoying one. After a sizing up to whatever is next on my journey, it’s usually my right lobe that decides it wants to play games from days 2-14 after having a new size in. The backs of my lobes beside the fistula tend to build a protective barrier of very thin and light scabbing or a tiny blood blister forms. For reference, I use single flared borosilicate glass plugs from GlasswearStudios and always make sure to be sanitary and patient in the process. But this has happened for almost all my size changes (16g/14g/13g/11g/10g) and on the rare occasion, it is on both back side of the lobes. My guess is the o-ring slides down and causes contact friction/irritation while I sleep but with time and patience it heals itself and is no problem.
TLDR: Which of your piercings is special/sensitive, what’s it do, how often does it occur, and how do you deal with it?