How do I start gauging my ears?

Please don’t do this to yourself. If you are ever going to look, apply for a job, they will hold this against you. I know it seems like a good idea right now, but it isn’t.

The best advice I can give you is to start out at the smallest size and wait a minimum of one month between each size. Otherwise, your ears will develop scar tissue and they will never go back down to their original size. Of course, everyone’s ears are different, but where I work, we sell gauges and I sell a lot of gauges to people who have to wear them because they damaged their ears too much.

The smallest size the size regular earrings are is size 20. The next size up is 18. I would suggest starting there. If you want to go bigger, you can probably put a size 16 in but that’s the biggest I suggest you go. Once you’ve had the 16’s in for at least a month though three months is recommended put the 14’s in, then wait, put the 12’s in, so on and so forth. The size goes up to 00 and the next size after that is a ½ inch. I would talk to a piercer before you do anything.

What kind of piercing do you have so far? If you don’t have any piercing at all, you would want to go to a piercer (not one of those earring stands at the mall). They will usually start with a 12 or 14 gauge (depending on the piercer). Here is a chart discussing the sizes and here is a chart that gives the measurements and shows you the sizes (about a quater down the page). Once you have the piercing, you will want to let that heal for a bit before stretching it to another size. The best way to stretch it to another size is to use a taper.

Talk to your piercer and they will have tips and tricks based on their experience.

@KatawaGrey If I start with an 18 how would the piercer do it? I mean as in what tools they would use and such.

You get your ears pierced normally then you buy the next size up and put some vaseline or vitamin E oil on them, and put them in, and twirl them occassionally and keep them clean and leave them in for at least a few months. Then you repeat the process. Mine are size 6 right now and they don’t look “unprofessional”, in fact I personally think they look really good! They are simple and cooler than most of that dumbass dangly shit. And when I take them out, there is not a huge hole. There is a tiny one, not much bigger than the hole regular earrings make on your ears after youv’e worn them for a bunch of years.

@deni I want somewhere between 8 and 4g eventually. But anyway, when you go up are they like regular earings in the sense that you can’t take them out or change them for so long or they will close up (in this case shrink back to the previous size)?

@ivysaurgoesrawr Yeah, unless you’ve had them at the same size for a while. I was finding that once I put these current ones in, which are 6’s, if I took them out at all, to clean them or anything, I would struggle to get them back in. But now I’ve had them in for about 6 months and not changed them, and I had to take them out for surgery and I left them out for a day and a half and they went back in perfect. So I think if you wait long enough, you CAN take them out for a little while. Obviously at some point they’re gonna start shrinking though.

Also, my friend who has gauged her ears just informed me they smell like rotting flesh, even when properly cleaned. (Gross.) Is there anyway to avoid this?

@ivysaurgoesrawr mine haven’t smelled at all since the last time I went up a size. I think once your ears get settled into that size of earring, they stop fighting it and it quits smelling. The only time I smell anything is if I take the earring out and literally stick it under my nose, then I might get a wiff.

I’m going to start off with some important things to remember. Ear stretching can be VERY painful if not done correctly. I rushed mine a few times and it was HORRIBLE! Another consideration is what @chyna is talking about. Any job where you are around people or deal with the public can be counted out of the question.

It’s generally accepted that if a person stretches larger than a 00 gauge (about 3/8in or 9.266mm) than the hole will never naturally close up. That’s another thing to take into consideration when deciding how big to go. I’m here to tell you, stretching can become addicting. I’m out of my piercing phase and I still catch myself wanting to stretch up to a larger gauge.

The process is for stretching is simple. Most piercers don’t do it for you but they tell you how. It all starts with the first piercing. Most piercings are done with a 14ga or 16ga needle. From there, you heal it like you normally would which can take anywhere from 2 weeks to a month. Then you purchase the next size up, which is actually a smaller number, and stick it in. Then you repeat the process.

Like a fresh piercing, a fresh stretch will quickly close during the healing process. Once they are healed and stretched to a size for a few weeks, they won’t close too quickly.

The smell is caused by sebum which is an oily/waxy matter used to lubricate the skin. The sebum begins to break down under the jewelry and it reeks! The best way to deter the smell is to use organic jewelry (Wood, bone and other porous material). Be careful when stretching with porous material though because bacteria can invade the pores and cause infections which cause a serious problem with any piercing.

I’m currently at 5/8in and here’s a picture of the jewelry in and here’s
one out so that you have sort of an idea of sizing.

I forgot to add, that I highly reccommend when you go up a size you used tapered earrings. The ones that are the same size the whole way can be really hard to get in. With the tapered ones, if they don’t fit at the thickest part the moment you put them in, you can just leave them and keep pushing a little day by day.