Does it hurt to gauge you ears?

[Rise]

Hey guys I'm really new to the piercing thing. I was curious if I gauge my ears how painful it will be. I wanted something like these. t

[Anonymity]

I went from not having my ears gauged at all to an 8 gauge. It hurt to put it in, but afterwards it was fine. My ears were just a little warm for a while, but they weren't burning or anything. Within two weeks, I was up to a 00. Very quickly after that, I realized I had made a huge mistake. I didn't like gauges that much to begin with, and had only gauged my ears because I was bored. I slowly scaled the gauges down, since that's supposed to help your ears heal, but two years later my lobes still look like cat butts. Long story short, I wouldn't recommend getting gauges. Even if you do really like them, they look really unprofessional. As fun as it would be, we can't all work in Hot Topic for the rest of our lives, and we can't all be tattoo artists and rock stars. If you absolutely must gauge them, start with a sterilized paper clip and loop it on for a few days, just to get your piercing larger than a pin hole. Next buy a 12 guage taper, and don't push it in any farther than what is comfortable. Wait at least a month before moving to a 10, and you really shouldn't go any farther than an 8 (6 at the very most.) Remember to clean them on a regular basis, and that even with regular cleaning your lobes will probably be goopy and stinky (I was lucky enough to avoid this, but I'm the only person I've ever known whose ears didn't reek for the first year.) If you decide to take them out, scale down at half the speed you originally guaged, and hopefully you won't end up with cat butts like me.

Oh, and never under any circumstances should you use shared or used gauges. This is one of the most repulsive and unsanitary things I've ever seen anyone do, Hopefully you have more common sense than that, but just in case, don't do it.

[Commiseration]

I don't have stretched piercings, but I'm thinking about doing it in the future to my lobes. I know a lot of people with gauged ears though. If you do it right, it shouldn't cause much pain. Just go really slow (like one gauge lower at a time) and let it heal thoroughly in between gauges... here's a good guide I've found if you want to read through it:

http://community.tribalectic.com/art...retching-guide

[thefirstlady]

Like Sam said, if you do it right it shouldn't hurt. Tapers are ok for when you first start out, but once you get to the bigger sizes it's not a safe/good idea. If you do decide to gauge up and use tapers, go slow. don't force it through. when it starts to hurt, stop and leave it there for a while. you'll know your own threshold and tolerance once you get started. I've been gauging for years and I'm currently at 9/16" and have never had a problem gauging.

I have a friend who works in the medical field in clinics and hospitals and has 00g ears. It's all about the employer in the workforce. Some are against them, others see that it doesn't make you a bad person and you can do your job like anybody else.

Something else I would like to add is that it varies person to person on how big you can go and have it go back to normal. There are also things certain certified piercers can do and doctors that can bring them back to normal if necessary. Any other questions feel free to PM and ask.

[PutYourHeartsUp]

Just DON'T blow out your ear. people around me are impatient and jump sizes big time. I knew a kid who ended up with a VERY bloody ear from that.

Think about if you want to pay that much for all the different sizes. You'll use them until you move up a size and they sit there useless unless you go back down. It's a lot of wasted money, imo.

[MadPoet]

I don't know if it hurts, but they look terrible IMO.

[bitesize]

This is completely irrelevant, but I dreamt last night that I accidentally did this to one of my piercings and was left with a huge untidy hole in the top of my ear.

I don't think it hurts if you do it gradually?? And i think it looks kinda cool (:

[thefirstlady]

Originally Posted by TranquilChaos

Think about if you want to pay that much for all the different sizes. You'll use them until you move up a size and they sit there useless unless you go back down. It's a lot of wasted money, imo.

My secret is ebay. I can pay around $3-4 for something I could get in stores for $20+.

[Thirteen]

As has been said, it doesn't hurt much if done right, and well, it has to be done gradually.

I stretched mine from a 14 gauge to a 6 gauge over the course of a couple months and it turned out fine, with very little pain.