Gauging your ears can be a very fun and exciting process. It gives an interesting look with endless options for gorgeous jewelry to wear. All you have to do is be patient.
The first thing to do is pierce your ears. You can get this done at most any mall or tattoo shop. Wait until your ear piercing is FULLY healed before you start gauging. The healing process for a regular ear piercing is 6-8 weeks.
If you get your ears pierced at a tattoo shop, you may be able to ask them to pierce your ears with a larger gauge needle. This will save you a few steps in the end.
A normal ear piercing is (I'm guessing) around an 18 gauge/18g. Right off the bat, you can probably fit a 16g or possibly a 14g earring with no trouble. See what size you can fit comfortably and start from there.
There are four main types of jewelry for gauged ears. Tapers look like a long spike. Tunnels are circles that have empty space in the middle. Plugs are solid, flat round pieces, and pinchers look like a C shape with points at the ends. Always use tapers when going to a bigger size.
Gauging (or stretching) your ears is a relatively simple process. Start with a small earring and move up, one size at a time, until you reach the size you want. That's really all there is to it.
However, while the concept may be simple, it's easier said than done. Here are a few tips to make the gauging process easier.
1. DO NOT SKIP SIZES. Just don't.
2. Wait at least two weeks in between sizes, the longer the better. I recommend one size per month.
3. If your bigger gauges won't fit, try rubbing lotion all over both your jewelry and your ear to help slide it through.
4. If that doesn't work, try wrapping a single layer of electrical tape around your earring. Each day, try the bigger size again and if it still won't fit, add one more layer to your smaller gauges.
5. If you're trying to get really big gauges, try hanging padlocks through your gauges to help stretch the skin.
6. This is just my personal opinion, but I don't consider anything smaller than an 8g as "having gauges." Less than 10g is just earrings, 8g - 00g are small gauges and when you start measuring your sizes in fractions, you have big gauges.
7. Some people have a very snobby attitude about body modifications. These people insist that they are called "stretched ears," and that if you call them "gauges" that you are a complete novice in the body mod world. Forget these people (and never end up like them!). Call them whatever you want to.
8. Don't be surprised when you find out that gauges stink. A lot. Clean your ears and your jewelry regularly to keep your gauges smelling fresh. Also, wood and silicon earrings tend to stink the least while metal gauges stink the worst.
9. If you can't get a larger size gauge to fit, do not force it. You will tear your skin and possibly rip right through your ear. It looks gross when that happens and it requires surgery to fix so don't push it. It's not worth the risk. Refer back to tips 3 and 4 for helping get big gauges in.
10. Before you go through the effort of getting huge gauges, think about whether or not you might want a nice job at a bank or a jewelry store, or some other job that might not hire you because you have gauges. Also remember, gauges will shrink over time, but the bigger you go, the harder it is for your skin to shrink back down to a normal size and it may never be the same after you have gauges.
11. Finally, BE PATIENT. Rome wasn't built in a day. Gauging, especially to big sizes is a long process and rushing things will only end badly.
Good luck!
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