Quick Stretching That Actually Worked.
(First Published on BMEzine.com, Spring, 2002)

So I've already got 8g plugs in my earlobes, pierced by Dustin @ Stainless Studios in Toronto right? So I've had them in all fine and dandy... I get the notion. I should stretch. After all, I've got this great guy I wanna be with, telling me if we go out I gotta take out all my piercings and not be tattooed... (Long story, check IAM) so why not? I can take out stretched piercings can't I?

Well off I go then! My ears had been healed with titanium plugs, and I'd been wearing acrylic which has been alright, so I can wear it, why not stretch with it? Go into this parlor, and I check out the acrylic spikes. The piercer there (I think named Sally or Sandy) shows me a few different types, all in I believe autoclaved bags. (I thought acrylic wasn't autoclavable?) And I pick a pair of cheap $20 dark blue acrylic that supposedly went from 12g to 2g. There were also these indents where the o-rings were because it was sterilized with the o-rings on (again, how was this possible?)

Alright. I take them home because I was done for the day of school, picking stuff up for myself and my roommate, and dropping off a very late tip for Dustin at Stainless, and I wander home.

Lubricant... lubricant... I have condoms as far as the eye can see but no lube? Alright then, random hand lotion it is! Because my left earlobe seemed a bit cranky, I thought it best to only stretch one at a time. I squirted some hand lotion onto the back of my left hand, then rubbed a little onto the small end of the spike, and proceeded to push it in, to where it'd stop on its own. Wiped off the excess lotion, then grabbed an o-ring from the 8g plug and stretched it as far as it would go to hold it in place. Here's an idea of what I did.

So I left them there. Friday I took it out for work and kept the 8g plug in (although it fit loosely) and put it back in at night. Saturday I took it out for work, left it out because I went home to mom; put it back in Monday morning when I got back to Toronto. It fit about 2/3 of the way up, so I stretched pretty quickly! Tuesday morning I wake up, and the spike had worked its own way to nearly the other end of the spike!

I go to Passage on Church St. because I was interested in getting my tongue web pierced (although was turned down due to lack of tongue web) but then get interested in their "up to 90% off on jewelry" sign so I take a gander. I end up taking home two 4g tunnels with a flare on one end, plus a 10g septum retainer (the 12g keeps slipping out). I go home, take out the spike, tug a little and get the tunnel in. Yay me! That means 8g to 4g in five days, with 2 and 1/2 days where I didn't have the spike in!

Well then. Next ear! After all, I did buy a pair of tunnels didn't I? I put the spike in, same hand lotion, same lube, and same technique. I put it in Wednesday night leave it in during work on Friday much to a few co-worker's disgust of "eww that's huge!" (They’re in their 40's and conservative, its ok) and by Friday night I was able to put the other 4g tunnel into my left ear! This was stretched in... Less than three days! (There was another "I fell asleep at around a 6g and woke up at a 4g" one night) So Saturday I have two tunnels, and I'm at home, trying to hide the fact you can see daylight through my earlobes from my parents, and everything's all fine and dandy! My only problem is, I wanted to put my 12g CBB through the tunnel but it won't fit, *Sigh*.

There you have it. I skipped a gauge (went from 8g to 4g without a 6g) I didn't really take my time (averaging 3 days for the stretch from one to another) and I didn't use proper jewelry (acrylic? a spike that went that many sizes all at once?) But for ME it worked out well! I've not had any blowout, or redness, or infection as of yet and they look as healthy as can be! Of course, maybe my getting pierced at 8g has something to do with it (I started with more skin so it's more stretchy?) and maybe I just have extremely good luck? Either way, I won't stretch this fast again just due to safety sake and I don't plan on going much bigger! Happy stretching! :)

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