en-GAUGE-ing story about my earies

See what I did there? Eh?

This story actually isn’t engaging, so I wouldn’t suggest reading it. I’m really putting this down for myself - but you’re welcome to be bored by it if you want!

So, my plan is to stretch my ears to a 0 or 00. Starting from a Claire’s gun piercing (that I got in the 9th grade, and then redone not long after) - which, I KNOW, if I could tell anyone anything: don’t get a gun piercing ever - I knew I was probably at a 20. Which is teeny. But, also, I almost never wear them, so I was probably more like a 22, which is essentially the width of a pin.

So, my plan yesterday was to go a piercing shop, buy a pair of 18g, 16g, and 14g, and then do it all myself every 4-6 weeks.

I love BME, I’ve been visiting the site since High School every time I’ve wanted to get something done. When I got my nipples done, I made myself go on BME and read a nipple piercing horror story every day for 6 months. And since I still wanted to get them done, I allowed myself to. BME is a great community with a wealth of information, worth checking out. So, I went to BME to look around for a great piercer in NYC, and there was a featured one so I decided I’d check it out.

After getting some dumplings, I decided to head over to this shop (on Canal and Broadway), and on my way there I passed New York Adorned. You might have heard of this shop. You’ve definitely heard of them if you’re in the Body Mod community in NYC. It’s basically the most widely known, highest end shop. That’s not to say it’s the Ritz, but it’s the Ritz people know. There’s a lot of business going through there, and they charge for it. I walked right by because my sisters went there a few months ago to get some tattoos and they were charged $200 for 20min worth of work. It was GREAT work, but that’s pretty expensive!

So, I got to the shop I was going to, up a sketchfest staircase, got to the door, was hearing screamo music and I could tell it wasn’t the place for me. I judged a book by its cover. But all Body Mod is incredibly personal, and it’s all about being comfortable, and I could tell it wasn’t going to be the place for me. So I figured “Why don’t I just head into Adorned and see what they have.” So I did. I went in, and the gentleman behind the counter - Evan - immediately asked me what was up and if he could help me.

I told him the deal - I want to “gauge up” my ears (to which he was like, “What? Oh! Stretch!”), but I need to do it in such a way that my corporate part time job isn’t going to be queasy about it - I wear faux, black diamond studs and that’s ok. I want to do it gentle and right, NO SCREW UPS. And I’d just prefer to do it myself. He gave me some options, I could stretch, I could pierce over my piercing to a large gauge (he said no more than a 6, which I thought was INSANE because I basically have no earlobes), or pierce to just a largeR gauge and then gauge up from there. I said I just want to stretch.

He showed me the jewelry that they had - which is nice - and explained that nothing they had is fake - all the gems are real. So, everything starts at $100, or steel balls for about 1/3 of that. My response: steel balls it is. Then, he explained, at Adorned they stretch for free. You buy the jewelry and they’ll put it in at no charge. Awesome! I’ll do that!

We then had to discuss what I wanted to stretch to. He suggested skipping 18 - it’s barely a stretch, just go to 16 and everything will be fine. Sure, he’s a professional. Then he remembered that he had some black disks that would cost the same as a steel ball - I find this way preferential, I just don’t like the steel balls. Unfortunately they only came in size 14. But he thought I could do it. Really? Really. So, we decided to go for it.

It definitely pinched, but it wasn’t as bad as he had implied. That’s not to say he said it was going to hurt a lot; it was probably just my dread. It went off without a hitch - no tearing, no nothing. They’re definitely uncomfortable and tight (I did skip 2 gauges), but not so bad. They’re already looser than they were last night. I won’t be skipping any other gauges, in case you were worried.

We also talked about something else I’m gunna do, but that I’ll save until it’s done and I can show you!

You can see a pic of my ears here. I must note that my gauges are not nearly as wide as they look. I’m wearing studs, not plugs. The front of the jewelry is a disk, remember. 14 gauge is like the tip of a felt tip pen, or the width of a wire hanger. I’ll get there…