Ear (& Septum) Gauging with some College Rambling [2.19.25]

Howdy! I meant to do a journal entry earlier but have been neglecting to due to brain scramblies. It's midnight, I'm in a writin' mood, so let's get started!

Things have been good. I've been absorbed into a really good group of people and got to fully drop all the shit ones finally. I much like it this way.

This is my Spring semester now, and it's crazy how fast college has been moving for me. Did okay in my classes last sem but this time I'm locked the fuck in. I've got all A's rn and midterms are coming up soon. I'm determined to keep this shit rockin' n rollin'.

Now for the ears. I've been on the fence about gauging my ears for idk how long now. I've always thought they were cool, but didn't know a whole lot about the process or if I would come to regret having stretched lobes. I've finally decided to go through with it though. If I can remember to, I'd like to journal my progress. I did my first stretch before my kit came in just to prepare. Here's how that went:

My ears were at 22g-20g, one of those. I had been attempting to prepare by trying to get my old 16g septum rings in (I'm also gauging my septum so I had these laying around) to no avail. I massaged my lobes with jojoba oil and would try after a hot shower, but it wouldn't budge.

A few days later, I had found some jewelry I got last summer: an 18g silver horseshoe and a 14g black spiked horseshoe. I got the 14g with the intention of stretching my septum, but I couldn't get it through back then. My septum was 5-6 months old at the time so I decided to let it rest. I had been looking for those pieces for a long while and was pleasantly surprised to have finally found them. Since it had been a full year since getting my septum pierced, I decided to try it again. (That, and I had been wearing a little bat septum that had a bit of flare to the bat wing. It would slip through my piercing and had been inadvertently stretching it, albeit a bit painful since that wasn't its intended purpose.)

I took out my bat septum since it was a hoop and I had just watched the trailer for the newest final destination movie. I put in my usual silver horseshoe before remembering I had just found that 14g. I figured it wouldn't hurt to try it out for reasons I had just stated, so I went for it. 

And it went right through, no pain. Hell. Fuckin'. Yeah.

I was excited! Bc it looks cool as shit and it was my first anything stretch! And then I got an idea for that 18g. Could I perhaps used that as a not-at-all-taper taper? Only one way to find out.

No jojoba oil or nothing, I just wanted to see if it would go through. And. It. Did. 

It was that easy? What the fuck? Went in with no pain, so I took it out and got a 16g hoop ready. I took out the 18g and popped that hoop in. There was an ever so slight popping sensation as it exited the other side of my lobe, but little to no pain. It fucking worked. I closed the hoop and had a mini celebration. Now for my right lobe. I did the same method, and I'd argue it went in easier that time since I knew what I was doing. What the hell man!

Anywho, fast forward to today. 8 days since getting that 16g in, I was morbidly curious to see if I could get the first plugs of that set in: 14g. I could not. No oil massages or hot showers were gettin' those puppies in, and that's okay. Like I said, its just now only been over its full week since that stretch. I've gotta be hella patient with this if I don't wanna fuck up my ears. Some people say give it a month between 16g-14g, others say wait the full 6 weeks. 

I'm planning to attempt again around st. patrick's day, but if they don't budge, I'll just wait til the end of March. Gauging is a game of patience. I'm very excited for this journey! My goal is 00g. I know that's the main go-to goal before a buncha people go bigger, but 00g looks like such a good size to stop at especially since I've been able to see the plug size in person. Who knows man, I'm planning to stop there but I could potentially go bigger later on down the line. For now though, that's the dream size. I'm hoping to be at or close to 8g by the time 2025 ends, but you can't put a strict timeline on these things. 

That's my update! If I think about it, I'll be back around mid-March to update about going a size up or anxiously waiting a couple more weeks lol.

-Otis 💚