Body Piercings and Regret

Body piercing is when a hole is made in your skin or through a part of your body so you can add a piece of jewelry for decoration. Body piercings have developed into an art form, and they are popular among many different cultures and societies today. Some of the most common piercings today are the navel, eyebrows, ears, and tongue. The less popular are male and female genital piercings, nipples, and septum. These maybe less popular than the others but they are still being done.

Piercings on your ear lobes usually take about 6-8 weeks to heal. However, piercings on the side of your ear (cartilage) can take anywhere from 4 months to 1 year to heal. I got my cartilage piercings 1 year and 4 months ago. My sister wanted them for her birthday but did not want to do it alone.

For more than a year I suffered with the sea salt soaks and running them under hot water in the shower. The sea salt soaks were per the instructions of the piercer. No matter what I did my ears were consistently sore and infected from these piercings. They were supposed to take up to a year to heal, but I was still dealing the same problems sixteen months later. For this reason I took my piercings out, I felt I gave them more than a fair chance to heal.

Your piercings will know that you are stressed before you do. Having your body pierced other than your earlobes are like having a child to take care of. If you don't do what you are supposed to do when you are supposed to do it, they are screaming in protest.

If you are still convinced that getting a body piercing is the right thing for you, do your homework. Check out all the risks related to the type of piercing that you are getting. Then if you still want to proceed, check out the piercing studios. They are usually located with tattoo shops. Interview your piercer, make sure they have been trained and have adequate experience.

I love the look of the piercing in the upper ear cartilage but it is definitely not worth the work. I highly recommend against getting any body piercing if you don't have the time or are extremely sensitive to piercings. I have problems with my regular earlobe piercings and should have known that I would have problems with the others as well.

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Tips on Stretching Piercings and Gauging Earlobes

The following tips on stretching piercings are specifically aimed at gauging earlobes, where earlobe piercings can be enlarged to very large sizes to incorporate many different types of ear jewelry including awesome flesh tunnels.

Stretching piercings has been popular in many civilizations throughout history, taking many forms from gauging earlobes to stretching labret and septum piercings. In the very early periods of history the materials used were wood, stone, bone, horn, shells, claws and talons, shaped and carved to facilitate stretching piercings.

The oldest known incidence of humans gauging earlobes was discovered in 1991, in a glacier in the Otztal Alps between Italy and Austria, where a 5,300 year-old mummified body was found with tattoos and an earlobe piercing of between 7 mm and 11 mm diameter. Although the method used was known for definite, this may have been carried out by a method known as dead stretching, where progressively larger ear jewelry is forced through the hole that gradually increases in diameter.

Preparation

In preparation for gauging, make sure that you have a good anti-bacterial soap without perfume. Then you will need a sea salt solution - make it using three tablespoons salt in just enough water to dissolve it, and at least enough to bathe your earlobe in. Never use hydrogen or any other peroxide as antiseptic - the soap and salt solution are enough.

You will also need some warm water to bathe your ear with before each phase of ear stretching, or you could alternative have a warm shower first. This softens the ear and helps prevent tearing of the skin/scar that could lead to bleeding.

Finally, you will need some lubricant: avoid Vaseline or any other mineral oil or petroleum-based lubricant. Most tips on stretching piercings recommend emu oil and jojoba, each of which offers gentle antiseptic and skin conditioning properties while acting as a perfectly adequate lubricant.

Gauging Earlobes

When stretching piercings, the two recommended methods are the taper method and the Teflon method. The taper method involves inserting a tapered rod or pin into the piercing, the narrow end being of the same gauge as the piercing, and the broader end one gauge down. The size of the taper is that of the desired gauge of piercing. So if your piercing is 16g, the taper will be a 14g taper, ranging from 16g to 14g. These are equivalent to 1.2 mm to 1.6 mm.

Never use a taper any more than one step down. However, since piercing gauges are always even numbers, one step down is 16g to 14g or 12g to 10g. Also, as the gauge figures drop, the actual diameter increases. So while 16g is 1.2 mm, 10g is 2.4 mm.

There are a number of different types of taper, including a tapered pin on ear jewelry, so you simply insert ear jewelry tapering from your current gauge to the new one. The problem here is that a fully tapered pin will not stretch your ears evenly - the pin has to be of the same diameter all the way through, or your piercing might also be stretched with a taper.

To overcome that, you can use an insertion rod, which is a tapered rod of about 3 inches. After warming your ears with the warm water or shower, and washing them with anti-bacterial soap, apply the lubricant to the taper and slowly work it through. Once it reaches the thicker end, follow it through with ear jewelry of the new size, and you are done. Wipe off excess lubricant and clean the ear with anti-bacterial soap and then some of the salt solution.

An even safer way is to wind a layer of non-adhesive Teflon tape round the pin of your ear jewelry and push it through the lobe. If you can see any space at all when you pull on the ring, then you can safely do this. Wait until the ear has accepted it then do it again, and so on until you have reached the new size, when you can use larger ear jewelry.

If there has been any severe pain or the piercing bleeds, then you must stop immediately and allow the piercing to heal properly before trying again. If you try stretching piercings too soon, before they have fully healed, then you can tear the skin and even have a blowout, both of which will make it difficult to stretch again.

Gauging Earlobes: After-Care

After-care when gauging earlobes is fairly straightforward. It should not be so much a matter of tending after a piercing until it heals, but more keeping it clean, and turning the new sized jewelry now and again. You are waiting until the ear has accepted the new size of hole permanently so that you can perhaps change the hole diameter once more. The stretched skin has to be allowed to thicken and get harder - give about three times longer than your original piercing took to heal. If you want to use a flesh tunnel, then you can continue stretching piercings until the diameter reaches an appreciable size.

Done properly, and following the above tips, stretching piercings is safe and relatively easy to do. Many extend the diameter of their piercings this way, and gauging earlobes is likely the most popular form of pierce stretching carried out at the moment. Take your time - waiting is difficult, but if your ear is not ready for the next stretching it will likely be damaged.

More tips on stretching piercings can be found on Flesh Tunnel where you will also find a selection of Ear Stretching Tools and some great ear jewelry and flesh tunnels.

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Belly Rings Are Quickly Becoming The Most Common Of The Piercings

Belly rings are one of the newest piercings to be found and yet they are swiftly becoming the most common of them all.

Belly rings came onto the piercing scene in the mid 1990s and started a revolution. Prior to them, piercings were seen as something the Punk crowd did to garner attention. Once several super models were seen baring their midriff and showing off their belly rings, piercings became more mainstream.

Today a large percentage of the population has at least one piercing if not multiple. It is more common than not to see earrings on a girl and at least one facial piercing at any event with teenagers. From being taboo, piercings are now commonly accepted in most areas of society for most age groups. And this is all thanks to belly rings.

The majority of belly rings are found on females ages fifteen through thirty. Used primarily as a fashion statement, they can be simple silver studs or elaborate jeweled pieces that cover the entire navel area. That is one of the best things about them. No matter what your taste and style is, you can find one that suits your mood, wardrobe or general personality.

Even more than just changing the way piercings are viewed on a whole, navel rings are helping to change the stereotypes that piercings of that nature are for females only. While the majority of them are still found in female navels, more and more male navels are showing up pierced and bejeweled.

The lines between Punk and Prep, and male and female are slowly being blurred and a lot of this is thanks to belly rings. Simple piercings done in a "safe" body part they are showing the world that you don't need to be trying to make a statement or stand out to want to have your body pierced. Today they are just as common as pierced ears on a girl.

Belly rings can be called many things, but they are very simply the forefathers of taking piercings mainstream. A trend started by a supermodel, they are poised to be around for several more decades, so get used to them and start seeing the beauty in them.

Julie enjoys sharing health and beauty tips. A great resource for flat irons, curling irons and hair styling tools of all kinds is My Hair Styling Tools.

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Common Problems With Piercings

So long as you get your piercing done by a professional piercer using sterile equipment, serious complications are rare. However, as with any medical procedure, there is no way to make anything 100% risk free. Infections, scarring, and accidents like tearing are always possible, and it's important for you to be aware of these risks, no matter how remote the chances.

The single biggest concern after any piercing is the immediate risk of infection. The most important thing to do is make sure the needle the piercer uses is sterile, which any professional piercer will do. Some piercings take more work to keep clean though - tongue rings in particular are hard to keep clean, as the mouth is such a breeding ground for bacteria. Regularly cleaning your piercing with hydrogen peroxide, and following any cleaning instructions your piercer gives you, are excellent ways to make sure this does not become a problem for you.

A serious infection, or a poor piercing job, can result in scarring. Any time your body has to heal itself the risk of scarring comes is there, and when you're talking about piercings you can end up with a hole that is unusable due to scar tissue that builds up inside it. This can also be a problem if the body rejects the material that the jewelry is made of, and therefore tries to force it out. The body usually does this by pushing the object out and then filling in the hole with scar tissue. This is usually preventable by wearing jewelry made of non-allergenic material like stainless steel for the first several weeks.

The gauge of the piercing lets you know how big you can wear your jewelry. If you try to wear earrings or belly button rings that are a larger gauge than the hole is, you can end up stretching or tearing the hole to the point that it becomes unusable. This is preventable by making sure you understand exactly what weight your piercing can handle, and what size gauge you can safely wear. For heavier jewelry you can also get piercing protectors, which you can fit into your piercing to help spread out the weight of the jewelry, and prevent it from stretching your piercing out.

Speak with your piercer to find out exactly what you can expect during the healing process. Generally speaking, piercings should not hurt for very long after the procedure - no more than a few days to a week. If you are experiencing pain for significantly longer, or the piercing is red, warm to the touch, or has the appearance of being infected, contact a doctor or your piercer immediately, as the complications can make the piercing much less attractive or even cause it to seal up entirely.

Philip has put together collections of belly button rings and tongue rings that are suitable for most occasions and styles.

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Gauging Ears With Stretched Piercings

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

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