Pierce It

Here’s a short introduction to types of Body Piercings. You should get to know them before getting pierced. That way you can choose the type that is right for you.

Ear Piercing

Ear piercing is by far the most common piercing seen. Women have had their earlobes pierced for decades, and men have started to do the same within the last 40 years. The earlobe piercing is the most socially acceptable piercing. Most employers will allow at least one small earring in each lobe, barring safety reasons. This can be for simple decoration, or to show solidarity and a member of a social group. Military personnel, especially naval officers would pierce their left earlobe as a show of camaraderie Gay men used to pierce their right earlobe as a show of “gay pride.” This is no longer case. Men and women now pierce one or both earlobe, either once or multiple times as a matter of self expression.

Also common is cartilage piercing in the ear. Lesbians have begun piercing the right upper corner of their ear cartilage for the same reason of solidarity. There is no widely known symbolism for piercings elsewhere in the ear cartilage. Most portions of the ear cartilage can be safely pierced by an experienced professional.

Nose Piercing

The nose is traditionally pierced in two places, the first being on the side of one nostril. Generally smaller studs are placed in this spot. The second is a cartilage piercing through the septum, or the center part of the nose. This piercing has been affectionately dubbed, “the responsible facial piercing”, because if a small U-shaped bar is placed there, the piercing can be easily be turned back into the nostrils. This makes the piercing more difficult to spot.

Tongue Piercing

Tongue piercings run vertically from the upper to the lower surface of the tongue. This piercing is said to give increase pleasure during oral sex, but most people have this piercing for aesthetic purposes. With proper jewelry, this piercing will heal very quickly, but special consideration should be given when using metal jewelry. Metal can cause damage to the gums and tooth enamel.

Nipple Piercing

Nipple piercing is done equally by men and women. This is a piercing that is considered attractive. However, many also choose this piercing because it increases the sensitivity of the nipple, making sensation more pleasurable. Because individual nipple sizes vary, this piercing is more difficult for some than others. Smaller nipples are much harder to pierce. Those individuals with smaller nipples are encouraged to seek a professional with more experience in this area.

Naval Piercing

In ancient Egypt, this particular piercing was reserved solely for the pharaoh. In today’s society, this is a common piercing. This piercing is usually sported by those that want to show off their mid-drift. This piercing is more common in women than men, solely because there are styles of women’s blouses designed to show this area.

Genital Piercing

Genital piercing is popular in both men and women. Those piercing directly on or very near the sex organs amplify sensation to make stimulation more pleasurable. Some of the popular piercing sites for male genitalia include: the tip/head, at the base of the shaft at the public bone, and the scrotum. For women piercings can be placed on: the clitoris; the hood; the inner and outer labia; and the triangle.

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Knowing how to carry out ear lobe stretching properly can help save you from a great deal of pain and grief, because if carried out the wrong way, stretching earlobes can damage your ears.

Ear lobe stretching, also known as ear lobe gauging or earlobe stretching, is a very old practice used by old civilizations as a status symbol or for religious reasons. It was not just restricted to earlobes, and was applied to lips, tongues and other parts of the body, sometimes to monumental levels. The same basic technique is used in each case, irrespective of the part of the body concerned.

Most ear lobe stretching, or gauging, is followed by ear jewelry designed to fit the expanded hole in the lobe. These can be traditional earrings, hanging decorations or even flesh tunnels designed to emphasis the hole through the ear lobe. These can be made of plastic or metal, and often gold since it is a non-allergenic metal.

The first stage is to have your ears pierced in the normal away, although if you intend to stretch the piercing then it is strongly advised that you have the initial piercing carried out by a professional who can pierce your ear to 16 gauge, or 1.2-1.3 mm. The actual millimeter equivalents of the various gauging can vary between sources, but most non-pros can pierce to gauge 20 – 18 (0.8 – 1.0 mm). Needle piercing is preferred to a gun if you intend stretching it.

Gauging drops with increasing hole diameter, so the higher the g number, the smaller the ear piercing. It is very important that your piercing has healed before you start ear lobe stretching, and also that each stage has healed (3 weeks- 3 months according to the person) before going on to the next stage. Never skip sizes, but go up in size (down in gauge) from one level to the next.

Get your tools together, because without the right stretching tools you will make a total mess of it. Never use plastic or wood that can hold bacteria. Surgical steel is best, followed by gold and so on. It must be metal – if you can. If you can, get the tapers autoclaved by a tattoo salon then placed in a clean wrap for you take home. Otherwise boil them first. You should wash the taper with disinfectant before use, and then rub it over with a lubricant such as emu oil or jojoba oil – or anything water based. Vaseline and other oil-based lubricants can store germs, so don’t use these.

Here are the steps:

Preparation

First have a shower or wash your ears with warm water. This makes them softer and helps prevent tearing. Then wash your hands and earlobe with an anti-bacterial soap – preferably not perfumed. Smear the antiseptic over the taper and then you are all set to start.

Ear Lobe Stretching Methods

There are many methods you can use, such as tapering, Teflon taping, weights and scalpeling that involves cutting out the larger hole with a scalpel, but it is not recommended that you try that yourself! The old method, used by Africans for their ears and lips, involves hanging a weight form the piercing and stretching the hole mechanically. Again not recommended!

The best way for you to use yourself is tapering. There are three basic ways of doing this, but the principle is the same with each: you insert the thin end of the taper into your healed piercing and then work the taper through until the thicker end is reached. There are now three possibilities for tapered ear lobe stretching:

Insertion Taper: This is about 3 inches long, and is gradually inserted into the ear. The earring or other jewelry is inserted right at the back (thicker) of the end of the taper, and then all are pushed right through. The taper comes out and the ring with the larger pin is in your ear.

Taper Spike: This is inserted in the same way as the insertion taper, only the jewelry doesn’t follow. The spike is retained in the hole with elastic bands until it has healed and then the next size is inserted – and so on until the required gauge has been reached.

Taper Ring: The earring itself has a tapered spike that is inserted in the same as above, and then fixed as normal.

Teflon: Basically you add a layer or two of Teflon tape to your ear jewelry and force it into your piercing. Wait a few weeks and then do the same again and so on. It works eventually, but is not as guaranteed as the tapering methods to reach any specific size, and is basically a simple DIY method. This could be tried if you can’t afford the tapers, and not subject to bacterial infection as the other types of polymers or plastics.

You can also use the dead stretching method, involving simply forcing the larger ear jewelry into your smaller piercing. This can hurt and is not recommended, although many use it. It can go wrong if it causes bleeding.

After-Care of Ear Lobe Stretching

Irrespective of the method used, the ear lobe should be washed with anti-bacterial soap after each stretching. Sea salt can be used to keep the piercing clean at a high concentration (about 3 tablespoons in sufficient water to soak your ear lobe in it). Clean it frequently until fully healed before carrying on with the next gauge. Never use any alcohol-based or peroxide-based antiseptic because they can destroy white blood cells and dehydrate the cells around the piercing.

Stick to these rules and you should be able to carry out your own ear lobe stretching and get the result that you want. One important thing to remember: this should not hurt much, and should not bleed. In either of these cases stop, wait until your piercing has healed and try again.

Further information on ear stretching and details of Ear Stretchers can be found on Mark’s website Flesh Tunnel where you will also find some great ear jewelry.

Stretch piercings in your ear lobes can be obtained by gauging ears to a specific piercing size, either in one go or by means of several successive earlobe stretchings. A lot depends on how large you want your piercing to be, and anything that one gauge more than the last will involve more than one stretching.

Gauging ears is carried out using ‘gauge numbers’ that refer to a specific diameter of hole. For example, gauge 20 is written as 20g, and that refers to a piercing of 0.8 mm in diameter. 18g refers to a piercing of 1 mm in diameter, so as the gauge numbers drop then the diameter increases. Also, gauges drop in twos, so that there are no odd gauge numbers. Thus, the sequence goes: 20g, 18g, 16g, 14g and so on to 00g. Therefore one gauge step down is from one even number to the next and from a lower piercing diameter to a higher.

When gauging ears you should stretch piercings by only one gauge step. So, if you want to change from 16g to 14 g (1.2 mm to 1.6 mm) you can do so in one step. However, if you wanted to go from a 16g to an 8g (1.2 mm to 3.2 mm) you would have to do that in four steps, involving four stretched piercings, each of one gauge level.

When you have your earlobes pierced with the intention of increasing the gauging to a fairly high diameter for some gorgeous large-diameter bars you have seen or even a cool flesh tunnel, then first consider the initial diameter – the greater the initial diameter then the fewer ear lobe stretching steps you will have to undergo to reach your preferred diameter. Do not have your ears pierced in a shopping mall with a gun because these generally pierce at 20g or 18g at the most.

Start With a Professional Piercing

Have the initial ear lobe piercing carried out by a professional using a needle. It is well worth the extra expense, and a pro will pierce your earlobes to 16g, thus saving yourself a whole step of gauging ears to your target size. Let the professional know your intention and you will be given some expert advice, and you might even agree to have the pro do the gauging for you.

It is possible for people to do their own stretched piercings themselves, and most do to be honest, but only once they are certain that the initial piercing has completely healed. If you begin too soon you might blow out the piercing or split the skin, and any attempts to gauge your ears after that might be impossible. Gauging ears is a skill that has to be learned, so follow all the advice you find if you want to be able to wear these fabulous barbells you have seen.

It is also essential to wait until each stretching has properly settled, the skin thickening and hardening properly, before going onto the next gauge. This will take about 3 times the time for the initial piercing to heal, but don’t rush it.

Ear Jewelry: When Gauging Ears and After

The ear jewelry available for stretched piercings is fabulous. When choosing the jewelry to wear during the process of gauging ears you should keep potential infection and allergies in mind, and surgical stainless steel and titanium are best. However, once you have reached your target gauge and your stretched piercings have fully healed, you have a wonderful world of amazing jewelry in materials too brittle to be used in high gauge pins or barbells.

You can use bone, horn, wood, stone and even amber and glass, many of which also help the piercing to stay clean and not get clogged with oils from your skin. You can also use metal and acrylic ear jewelry in many shapes and sizes. Many are happy with large studs, while others prefer large diameter hoops, barbells and regular earrings. Others love to wear solid cylindrical plugs, either flared or held by o-rings and ear weights made of any material under the sun, though silver, bronze, brass and copper are common. The really wealthy have theirs made in solid gold.

Flesh Tunnels Are Popular

An alternative to the regular type of ear jewelry is type of hollow plug known as a flesh tunnel. These are particularly used for the larger diameter stretched piercings, and when gauging ears this is often the ultimate objective. Flesh tunnels are available in many different materials and are held in place in much the same way as the plugs: with flares, o-rings or with a screw on back piece. Some people have beaded or other forms of decorative elements threaded through their flesh tunnels, and they are frequently worn as a mark of just how far a person has managed to go with their stretched piercings.

Gauging ears with stretched piercings is therefore carried out by people both for their decorative effect and as a means of displaying their ear stretching skills. Whatever your reason is, keep in mind the gauge of your initial piercing and that everything involved in gauging ears must be sterilized and kept clean and free from germs. Make sure each stage is fully healed before starting the next, and you should have no real problems.

More information on gauging ears with stretched piercings can be found on Flesh Tunnel where you will also find Ear Stretching Tools to help you do it yourself, plus and some funky flesh tunnels and ear jewelry

Normal ear lobe piercing has been popular for many decades in various civilizations, if not for centuries. Using pierced earlobes to hold decorations such as earrings and danglers is the most common form of body jewellery after finger rings, although it has lately become fashionable to use other parts of the ear, or even of the body, in order to be different. The tragus was the obvious candidate for this, and tragus piercings have risen in popularity over the past several years.

What is Cartilage Piercing?

Cartilage is constructed, not just of skin and flesh as your earlobes are, but also of a tough connective tissue intended to offer structure to features in your body. Your joints use cartilage to protect the bones from abrasion as they rub together, and your rib cage contains a great deal of cartilage tissue. With respect to your face, your nose is mainly cartilage, as is the main structure of your ear which is becoming increasingly popular for this type of decoration.

Forms of Cartilage Piercing

Cartilage is more difficult to pierce than the soft tissue of an ear lobe, and special care should be taken when it is carried out. There are several forms of cartilage piercing that are commonly used, these being:

Helix
Your helix is the outside edge of the ear, which curls back to form a sound channel, directing sound round into the main part of your middle ear. A standard helix will penetrate the ear once while an industrial piercing will penetrate it twice.

Conch
The conch gets its name from the seashell it resembles. It is the central cartilaginous area of your ear, and fairly easy to pierce. If you decide to have conch rings, they are fairly difficult to match to each other.

Tragus Piercing
A pierced tragus is another common form of cartilage piercing. The tragus is the triangular nub of cartilage close to your cheekbone and slightly above earlobe. This is quite a thick piece of cartilage, which is perhaps why it has only relatively recent become popular as an alternative to other parts of the ear. It is commonly decorated with rings, barbells and tragus bars.

Pain of Cartilage Piercing

The pain involved in having cartilage pierced depends on the location, the diameter of the jewellery and whether the tissue is pierced once or twice. Orbital and industrial styles are double pierced, and are more painful than single. Even if you don’t feel a lot during the process itself, you will know about it during healing – but it’s worth it.

Cartilage Healing

The time taken to heal again depends on where it is and how large the hole is. To facilitate healing, your jewellery must be sterile or bacterial infection will hold up the healing process. You can expect to wait anything from 2 months to a year for a cartilage piercing to heal completely, and it is important that you keep the jewellery in while it is healing – it can be taken out, for only for a few minutes or so to thoroughly wash and disinfect the wound.

A teaspoon of salt dissolved in a small cup of warm water is good for washing your ears, and you could also use a commercial solution such as H2Ocean.

Other Advice

Cartilage piercing should be carried out with a needle, and by a professionally trained piercer. A gun can cause great damage to cartilage and bad scarring. Never try it yourself, but go to a professional body piercer who should be professionally trained.

Mark Wilson continues to promote good hygiene throughout the body piercing industry from his website Flesh Tunnel, where in addition to advice of hygiene and an excellent selection of body piercing jewellery, he also offers a unique range of unusual flesh tunnels.