How can I reduce the pain of stretching my ears without Tylenol?

[brifaye]

So the question is pretty self explanatory, but just in case you're wondering about the details...

In the past I had stretched my ears to a 6 in one hole and an 8 in the other. I had to let them close up for work, but I got a new job and I want to stretch them again. About a week ago I got myself back up to an 8, and I'm attempting to make the final gauge to 6 but it's super painful (and I have a pretty high pain tolerance I have near constant nerve pain from an injury that doesn't even bother me) for some reason.

When I gauged my ears before I was dumb and impatient and jumped from a 16 to an 8 in one go, and I got a small tear in my hole (luckily didn't tear all the way through, just bled a lot and made my hole look weird), would that make it hurt more now that I'm re-stretching them even though I'm going size by size this time?

Should I just give it more time to heal completely before stretching again is there a simple way to reduce the pain without taking Tylenol or something similar?

[Anonymous]

Ugh, gauges are so unattractive. I hate the affects that pop culture has on our society; a bunch of idiots decided to copy the body mutilation practices of a certain native tribe and then all the sudden when certain peoples favorite bands or celebrities start using these for fashion now all the sudden entire impressionable young generations decide it's cool since others have them and want to copy them and be apart of it. It looks terrible and stupid, like someone shot a cartoon like bullet hole in your ear, and not to mention not very good for your body. Next thing you know certain bands and celebrities will start using Indian neck elongation rings and African facial scarring and the whole new generation will go running around looking like primitive floppy ear giraffe monkeys...

Since I know you don't care at all about my opinion or what I had to say above and are going to get gauges anyways, I'll give you your answer from scientific stand point in the form of a metaphor. Your skin is elastic, it is held together by various structures but the one that supports it's elasticity the most is collagen. As you get older the collagen in your skin begins to wear away which is exactly why your skin eventually wrinkles, sags, and does all that sh*t that women are terrified of. Now imagine your skin like silly puddy, if you stretch silly puddy too fast it will just rip and tear and eventually break apart, but if you stetch it slowly you will be able to keep it in one piece without rips or tears and make it do whatever you want. Now imagine old dried up silly puddy, you try to stretch it but it's so old and dried up that you can hardly stretch it at all without it tearing apart and then putting it back in one piece requires a lot of work of mushing it together and repairing it to one piece. Well the silly puddy is basically your skin and the old dried up silly puddy is your skin after you age and your collagen wears out. Right now you need to take it slow like with the new silly puddy and slowly stretch your earlobes one size at time before you cause any tearing and damage. While you are young the collagen in your skin will allow for your skin to heal up and repair these gauged ears (depending on their extent) to what will only be permanent earring holes. Eventually however the longer into your life you keep these things your skin will lose it's collagen strength and become like the dried up silly puddy where your ears will just forever droop about like your mother just yanked your ear and dragged you across town. The part about the silly puddy was meant to tell you why it is important to take it slow while increasing gauges, the old silly puddy metaphor was meant to forewarn you that you can permanently damage your earlobes leaving you looking like a victim of something when you're older. I get the feeling though anyone who is already gauging their ears doesn't care what I have to say against their "fashion" choice. Sorry to rant...

[brifaye]

I actually originally stretched my ears when I was younger and in a spiritual phase, and yes, I thought it looked really cool, and yes I wanted to look like punk. Now that I'm a bit older I'm doing it to honor my Native American heritage, along with my spiritual background. I would still have them if my job had not required me to take them out. I'll agree that there is an appeal younger kids to look more rock and roll, that's not the case here.

[blackkid2]

Gradual inceases. Topical analgesics would work, they are not tylenol, also anything with a cooling effect like menthol would work as well to possibly alleviate pain in some people. Depends on who you are. At worst: Orajel. It's for tooth pain and so it's ridiculously powerful numbing whatever it touches with relative ease.

[Anonymous]

don't skip sizes! Leave them in for longer than the recommend time(instead of 2 weeks(?), 3 months), leave them in til they are healed and you can comfortably move them, pull on and stretch them. Don't rush! To reduce the pain put ice on it or go down a size. Most likely the pain is do to infection, use stainless steel jewelry (plastic, wood and glass can harbor bacteria, even if you clean them), clean jewelry often with alcohol, use Neosporin to prevent infection. Use jojoba oil to help stretch. Also wash with salt water.

[katskie]

I use silicone tunnels to stretch mine. They're WAY less painful than solid tapers, not to mention they're cheaper. Just smoosh them down, pop them in, and put a cold washcloth on them for a few minutes. (The colder the better - reduces both pain and swelling.) Hope this helps :)

[krissykarma]

It's best to do it gradually, that's the least painful.

[palek]

I stretched my nose and now I can pick it with both hands. I'd coat my nostrils with Vaseline and then insert larger and larger objects into them. I eventually worked my way up to a tennis ball.

[Anonymous]

You have to gradually open the piercing up by going to bigger size gauges. I don't see what the rush is, so take the time to get used to different size gauges and do it the right way.

[Anonymous]

i hate when people streach their ears

[Anonymous]

why do you want to do that to yourself?

[heyitsdan]

oxy

[Anonymous]

maybe with ice it could wrok

[jmmmfi]

Looks fuckin stupid