Ear Stretching 101: So You Want to Stretch Your Ears?

Hello Lovelies!

Welcome to the first post in my Ear Stretching 101 series that I’m doing for the next few weeks on my blog!

But FIRST: I am not a licensed piercer and cannot give you the same professional advice that a licensed piercer can. Everything that I share about my piercings and advice relating to piercings that I share are things I have either learned from my own experiences, researched, or been told by a piercer.

SECOND: Some terminology.

• Stretched Ears are not called gauges.
• Plugs are jewelry that are solid.
• Eyelets are not called tunnels. Eyelets are jewelry that have a hollow center.

• O-rings are the small and sometimes black or clear little rings that go on the ends of your jewelry to keep it from falling out of your ear.

Now that we have that over with, let’s get to the good stuff, ok? Ok!

So, you want to stretch your ears? There are many reasons to stretch your ears and the most popular is because it looks awesome! If that’s the only reason you want to get it, then cool! Just like tattoos, you don’t need a reason to stretch your ears aside from you wanting them. There are just a couple things you need to know before you decide to take the plunge. At least these are some of the things I wish I knew before I stretched mine.

1. Your ears are going to smell HORRIBLE. Yes. They will smell. The better you keep your ears clean the less they will stink, but they will still stink at some point and for some they’ll stink more than others.

2. People will judge you/question you for your stretched ears. For some reason, even though body modifications are becoming more widely accepted, people still think that they have a right to make rude comments about what they think of your stretched ears. This can be family, friends, and even complete and total strangers. Just be prepared to hear “ewww, gauges are so gross!”

3. THEY’RE NOT CALLED GAUGES. I don’t really mind when older people or people without stretched ears call them “gauges” because… well… they just don’t know. However, if you are stretching your ears/have stretched ears, and call them “gauges” you will sound like a total moron. That and it will show you have done ZERO research about what you are doing to your body and says that maybe you shouldn’t be stretching your ears until you do.

4. It may affect your getting a job. Touching again on the second point: there will be people that don’t like stretched ears. There are some employers/companies that simply won’t hire you if you have stretched ears. Period. There are also some that just don’t care. It’s really just a crap-shoot. Do your research.

5. If you stretch them too big, they will not shrink back. If you go past 00 gauge there is a HUGE chance that your ears won’t shrink back to normal and if you decide you don’t want them anymore you’ll have to get surgery to get them to "look normal again”. The way you stretch your ears also has an impact on if they’ll shrink back or not. The more scar tissue you have, the harder it will be to shrink them back.

As of this moment, these are 5 things that I wish someone told me before I stretched my ears. Next week I will tell you what you need to start stretching your ears at home using the method that I used to stretch my own ears (Taper Method). You can go to your local LICENSED piercer to help you stretch your ears if you want to, but I haven’t done that so I can only tell you the proper way to do it at home.

I hope that this was helpful to you in getting a better idea about if you want stretched ears or not. Let me know if there is anything else you would add to this list in the comments below or on my Instagram or Twitter! (Links to my Insta and Twitter are in the Follow Me page)

XOXO!!! Sarah