What are ear expanders?

What are ear expanders?

Ear stretchers are used for a type of body modification practiced globally and actually dates back thousands of years! To start, you’ll need a traditional ear piercing and then you’ll use earlobe stretchers to start making the hole larger until you can wear plugs and tunnels. …

Why do people wear ear expanders?

History has shown us that ear stretching was initially used to show that an individual belonged to a group or a tribe. It was accepted by the group and they were marked as being “one of us”. When someone did not have stretched ears they were considered to be an outsider or someone who did not belong to the tribe.

Do gauges permanently stretch your ears?

Almost any hole in the ear eventually doesn’t close. So, for the people stretching their ear holes with the gauges, it’s a permanent thing.

Are ear stretchers bad?

All About Ear Stretching (Ear Gauging) Ear stretching (also called ear gauging) is when you gradually stretch out pierced holes in your earlobes. Ear stretching takes time and effort. If you don’t do it right, you can cause permanent damage or scarring, and raise the risk of infection.

When should I size up gauges?

It’s usually recommended that you go up one gauge at a time (expressed in measurements of 2) when moving to a larger piece of jewelry to avoid developing a blowout. Many people also recommend waiting 4 to 6 weeks before increasing sizes. The amount of time you need to wait may increase as your jewelry becomes larger.

What are the gauge sizes for ears?

Standard ear piercings are usually pierced at 20g or 18g. Gauge sizes go up (or down, depending on how you look at it) in even numbers from there, so the next largest size from an 18g is 16g, then 14g, then 12g, and so on. When you get to 0g, the next size is 00g (pronounced “double zero gauge”).

Are gauges healthy?

Each time you insert a new gauge, you run the risk for infection. Here’s why. When you stretch the ear lobe, you are opening up a wound that is trying to heal. Any gauges or instruments that aren’t sterile have the potential to introduce bacteria into the wound.

How big can you get gauges before they won’t close?

What size can I stretch up to without permanent damage? There are a lot of different opinions on this topic, but the majority of professionals in the body modification industry recommend never going any larger than 2 – 0 gauge if you want your ears to totally close up where you can’t see through them.

Do gauges smell?

Cleaning your gauges The reason your ear gauges smell bad is because they’re sitting in your ear. Your skin sheds almost every hour on the hour and all of those dead skin cells are left sitting on the gauge. Thus the stinky smell. To prevent this, a strict cleaning regiment is needed.

What’s the smallest ear gauge size?

18g
What is the smallest size gauge? A standard ear piercing is 20g or 18g so the smallest gauge size is 20g. Gauge sizes are always even numbers and the smaller the number the bigger the earring, so from 18g the next size up would be 16g.

What’s the best gauge for stretching ear piercings?

What Gauge Should You Start Stretching With? This is probably the first question that most people have when they begin stretching. After making sure that your ears are fully healed from the initial piercing, you can start stretching at a 16 gauge. Most regular piercings are at 18 gauge.

How does ear gauging work for ear piercings?

The technique of ear gauging involves making an already present ear lobe piercing even bigger in size. The benefit of having gauged ears is that the person can wear ear jewelry of different sizes, which may not fit into small sized piercing otherwise.

What’s the best way to stretch ear plugs?

The tape wrapping method is usually used once you get above a 0 gauge. The tape wrapping method helps to stretch your lobes slowly and carefully. It is used by a lot of people who stretch over an inch as well. 1. Take tape (we will talk about the kinds of tape a little later) and wrap it around your current plugs about two or three times.

How is ear gauging used to prevent infection?

Preventing Infection in Gauged Ears. Ear gauging is a gradual process and the size of expander should be increased very slowly for best results. For preventing infection in gauged ears and other related side effects, it is advisable to keep a long gap between switching from one size of expander to another and so on.