I have 5 tattoos, and it was getting close to time for another one. They aren’t addictive; I just get a hankerin’ for a new tattoo now and then. This time around, though, I didn’t really have anything in mind for a design, plus I’m not wanting to spend a lot of money lately, plus Burning Man is coming up, which is not an ideal environment for a new tattoo. So. No tattoo for me. BUT! My two roommates both have stretched earlobes. Hmm. I could do that!

I’m looking back through my tweets trying to see when I started stretching my ears… looks like April 27th. On August 9th they went up to 0 gauge, which means it took almost exactly 15 weeks to go from 18 or 20 gauge to 0 gauge. Here’s a size guide if you want to take a look at what those numbers mean. Be sure to measure the square at the top to make sure you’re zoomed in correctly.

Are you following me on Twitter? Here are my tweets of the ear stretching process.

Oh, yeah – new idea this week… I’m going to stretch out my earlobes!  –10:32pm April 27th

My ears hurt! –9:54pm May 1st

My holes are bigger now. My ear-holes, that is. Two sizes bigger than they were 5 minutes ago. And, ouch! –2:02pm May 8th

I think it’s at 14 now. Previously at 18. T & R didn’t have any 16s. The pain has subsided, but they’re very, very tight. –2:34pm May 8th

And, ow, my bleeding ear. –11:41am May 10th

One more size up on my ears. These are 12 gauge. I’m on my way! 10:53pm May 19th

I’m just waiting til they heal then sticking the next size in. Some tugging in the meantime, but it’s been pretty easy up to now. --12:34am May 20th.

My ears are at 10 gauge now! Wheee! –10:36pm Jun 17th

Anybody have some 8 gauge earrings I can borrow for a couple of weeks? –10:48am Jun 19th

Looking for 4 gauge tapered earrings that aren’t expensive. It’s fun to see all the options, but I’m not finding what I want. –12:51pm Jun 28th

Also, ears in pain. I’m at 6 gauge now. –12:03am Jul 7th

Both of my ears are at 2 gauge now. Whee! Zeros by Burning Man! –2:32pm Jul 29th

I’m not going to be a 2 gauge for long. The 2s went right in, so I’m going to start using the 2-0 talon in a couple of days. –1:04am Jul 30th

I have one bitch ear. –5:42pm Aug 6th

My left ear has decided to say, “This far and no further. Oh yeah, and pus.” –9:04pm Aug 6th

Both of my ears are at 0 gauge now. W00t! Goal met! :-) –4:47pm Aug 9th

The whole process went fairly smoothly. There were a couple of times that it hurt when making the new stretch, but that pain usually subsided quickly. There was once that some ooze gunk cut my ear when I took the earring out for cleaning, so there was some blood, but that was also pretty minor. Then there was the “bitch ear” incident I mentioned on August 6th. My left ear just stopped stretching, absolutely would not stretch further. Plus, there was a hardened spot in my ear that was generating some pus. I stopped pushing the ear for a couple of days and regularly cleaned and drained the ear, and you can see that just three days later, it stretched up to the final size.

So now my ears are where I wanted to get, and there are still a couple of weeks left for them to fully heal before Burning Man. My roommate gave me some nice ear tunnels to wear, but soon I’ll be on the lookout for awesome jewelry to buy myself!